Payday Super payments
I have staff on payroll and three that are contractors. I enter them as a purchase each week, group it with electronic payments for staff and then pay. How will this work for payday super? If I star...
Forum Discussion
Hi Louisemarie4217,
You’ve set things up neatly already, with your staff on payroll and your three contractors coming through as weekly purchases In AccountRight, any super that goes through Pay Super needs to be processed via payroll. For contractors who are entitled to super, you’d set them up as “employees” purely for their super, then keep paying their invoices as normal through Purchases, which means their bills stay the same while their super gets handled in the payroll and Pay Super workflow. You can also check the "How do I pay super for contractor?" under FAQs using this link.
Cheers,
Doreen
Hi Doreen, can I jump on this question and your reply. The ATO seems to be requesting that QE earnings for contractors be submitted along with the super info through STP. See attached ATO doc. I've highlighted the contractor bit. Do you know what is meant by this and how it is possible to report QE earnings for contractors that we pay through AP in MYOB?
"STP reports that don’t include both amounts by 1 July 2027 will be rejected"
The company I work for has always paid super to contractors so I am used to reporting all super payments through STP for both our people on payroll and those contractors who are eligible for the SG. I also don't understand why the ATO wouldn't just extrapolate the QE from the amount of super being reported. Surely that is simply Super reported divided by .12 = QE.
Thoughts on this appreciated.
Hi SuFish,
You’ve read it right: from 1 July 2026, the ATO wants both QE and super liability for anyone you actually report via STP, and from 1 July 2027, they’ll reject STP reports that don’t have both. Independent contractors paid mainly for their labour are included in QE for SG purposes, but reporting contractors in STP is still optional; if you choose to report them, then you must send both QE and super for them.
In AccountRight, the usual pattern is: keep paying contractor invoices via Purchases/AP, and if they’re entitled to SG, set them up as an “employee for super only” with Employment basis = Other (not reported), then run super‑only pays and send those via Pay Super; that keeps you on Payday Super timing without pulling them into STP. ATO’s QE explainer is here: https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/super-for-employers/payday-super/payday-super-resources/explaining-qualifying-earnings and our contractor super help is here: https://www.myob.com/au/support/myob-business/payroll/superannuation/paying-super-for-contractors.
Regards,
GenreveThat is great info. I'm going to have to change over our existing contractor "employees" from just regular employees to the "other" but that looks like the perfect solution and not hard to action. Much appreciated..
Hello again. Another related question. We have a few contractors set up as employees already. I will have to change their set up to avoid the STP reporting. I noticed on your Paying Super for Contractors page this -
- Click the Taxes tab.
- For the Tax File Number, enter 000 000 000.
- For the Income Type, choose Labour hire.
This information is required to avoid AccountRight prompting you with a message about missing information every time you pay the contractor's super in a pay run.
So even if I have someone's TFN I should change it to 000 000 000? Do you know what happens if I don't? Cheers Su
Hi SuFish,
Yep, you’ve got it right.
For those super‑only contractor records, even if you know their TFN, pop in 000 000 000 and set Income type = Labour hire. That just tells AccountRight they’re contractors and stops it bugging you about missing details every time you pay their super.
If you don’t change it, it’ll still work, but you’ll keep getting those warnings, and it’s easier to accidentally treat them like normal STP employees later on.
Regards,
Genreve
- Click the Taxes tab.
Hi Genreve, I've followed the guidelines for setting up contractors as employees to pay super but when I got to the end of the payroll process and hit record I got that message asking if I want to record a $0 pay cheque for each contractor, I said yes because otherwise I didn't think it would record. Means I ended up with this in STP Reporting.
Am I missing a step? Best Su
Hi SuFish,
That $0 pay cheque can sometimes trip up STP though, which is likely why the ATO knocked it back. Good news is this one's pretty fixable. Here's a link that can help you work through the rejection code and get things sorted step-by-step: Fix rejected reports in Single Touch Payroll.
Give that a go and it should get your report back on track. If anything doesn't quite line up or the error sticks around, jump into our live chat support through our virtual assistant, MOCA, or submit a case via My Account and we'll help you dig into it a bit further.
Regards,
Sai
