ATO issues tips to avoid common SBSCH errors

The Tax Office has issued tips to avoid common SBSCH errors by agents and their clients.

According to the ATO the most commonly seen errors include the Unique Superannuation Identifier (USI), commonly known as a super fund product for APRA regulated funds; the ABN, bank account and electronic service address for SMSFs; and the super fund member account number.

The ATO has advised agents and clients to make sure the super fund name only includes alphanumeric characters and no symbols such as '&', and to check that the payment matches the payment instructions and the correct payment reference number (PRN).

“If an employee's details change after submission of a payment instruction, but before it has been processed, you or your client will need to delete and re-lodge the payment instruction,” the ATO has said.

“Once a payment has been received by the SBSCH and successfully sent on to the nominated super fund, you can see it in the clearing house under the Historical tab.”

If there are errors with an employee's details, super funds may send the payment back to the ATO. If this does occur, the Tax Office will then contact an agent or their client and ask for the information to be updated within seven business days.

“If the information is updated, we will re-send the payment to the super fund with the new details. If not, the payment will be refunded back to the employer,” the ATO said.

The SBSCH joined ATO online services on 26 February 2018. The new SBSCH has functionality including the ability to sort employee listings and payment by credit card.