At the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees Chairs Forum, the ATO's Deputy Commissioner of Taxation has confirmed that as a result of STP, the ATO now has an "unprecedented level of visibility" of super information.
In particular, the ATO can data match the SGC superannuation contribution due to be made by employers for each employee to the actual contribution paid. The data matching is such that the ATO has noted that in the first three quarters of 2019 (for approximately 400,000 employers) 90 - 92% of contribution transactions by volume and 85 - 90% of transactions by dollar value were paid on time.
The ATO is now starting to actively use this data to warn employers who appear not to be paying the required SGC on time (or at all). There were 2,500 employers notified that they had paid the SGC contributions late during 2019 and 4,000 employers were sent due-date reminders. It is anticipated with the extension of the STP system to small employers that this number will increase.
Employers should now be vigilant in setting up systems that ensure SGC payments are made on or before the due date (28 days after the end of the quarter). It is expected that the ATO will increase SGC audits and resultant penalties as more data becomes available.