A large number of employees in Australia never receive their occupational superannuation entitlements, and the Federal Government has now introduced legislation to try and bring greater protection to those entitlements.

Effective 1 July 2003, the following major changes were made to the superannuation guarantee legislation:

• Employers are now required to contribute superannuation for employees at least quarterly; and
• Employers must now report superannuation contributions to employees at least quarterly.

The amended legislation is known as the quarterly superannuation guarantee.

Under the new legislation, an employee should receive superannuation reports from their employer within 30 days of the final superannuation contribution being made for each quarter.

If an employer fails to pay superannuation as required, an employee may contact the Superannuation Infoline on 13 10 20 (for the cost of a local call) and request that the Australian Tax Office (ATO) investigate the matter. Employees will need to provide the following information to the ATO:

• their tax file number.
• their employer’s ABN.
• their employer’s name, address and telephone details.

Note: The ATO Fact Sheet on this subject can be downloaded from: www.ato.gov.au/content/downloads/nat8435.pdf.