Paying Super for Contractors

Oh gosh, this is doing my head in. Step 3: Set the Employment basis to Other (not reported). This means you won't be reporting the contractor's super payments to the ATO, which complies with the ATO's rules for Single Touch Payroll reporting. Do I want/need this? Would it be better to set a contractor basis to Labour Hire?

I am getting conflicting information, and I can't understand a word of that complicated reporting link...

Also, I need to back-pay to December 2025. Do I do one lump sum, or 12% on each individual past invoice?

Hi Isaiah_C​ 

I have just set this up for the first time for our one subcontractor as you outlined above and when I went to submit the pay I got an error that the Payment Basis Code is invalid - which is set as Other (not reported) as you said above.  what am I meant to do???  I need to know ASAP.

Thank you.

Hi SharonSL,

That would be confusing when you’re only just getting this started. This error usually means the contractor's Employment basis is set to "Other (not reportable)", which isn't accepted if that contractor needs to be reported through STP.
 

The quick way to check it is:

   -If this contractor should be included in STP, update their Employment basis to a valid reportable option, then try               lodging again.

  -If they're only being paid super and aren't meant to be reported through STP, "Other (not reportable)" can stay as is         and you should be able to continue with the super payment.
 

Because contractor reporting can vary, it's worth confirming the right treatment with your accountant or the ATO before making any changes.

Regards,
Earl

Hi Earl,

I know we need to pay super for him - I'm not trying to report through STP - I need to pay super only. Have consulted with our accountant also that this is correct. I've followed MYOB's instructions above and from the link provided in this MYOB thread:

https://www.myob.com/au/support/myob-business/payroll/superannuation/paying-super-for-contractors?productview=Browser

and it gives an error.  Your own instructions tell us to pick "Other (not reportable)". I've tried again this morning - see the error in the screenshot - the error for the Pay Run Date is new, I can't see what's wrong with that? Despite the errors I clicked record and it was rejected by the ATO and the super isn't there to pay either.  

Please help asap.

Thanks. 

Hi SharonSL,

Thanks for explaining that clearly, and for sharing the screenshot. Yes, for a contractor setup like this, the Employment Basis should be set to Other – not reported and the Income Type should be Labour hire. If you’ve already got that set up and you’re still seeing the error, it’ll need a closer look from our team to check that contractor setup properly. Please reach out using one of the support options on our Contact Us page.

As for the other error, this forum thread explains it a bit further and may help with the fix.

Cheers,

Princess

Hi Princess,

Thanks for your reply.  Firstly in regards to the date error and the final reply in the thread you linked:

 'Please ignore this post. I think I found the problem. I was trying to submit a $0.00 paycheque to adjust so leave balances. I found a post on the MYOB page mentioning I had to submit as a Bonus / Commission pay run instead. It has gone through to the ATO without issue'.

This poses a problem - for recording subcontractor super through MYOB Payroll, it will always have a Nil value so I don't see how that will work.  Also I have never experienced this error before when correcting leave balances etc and the pay has a Nil value so I suspect that for me this error is due to the subcontractor set up only.

I will open an online chat with your team to try to resolve the other error thanks.