We have a new casual employee who is under 18. Do I need to set up new pay item for under 18 or use existing pay hourly pay item?
Hi @lewisandmcconnell
Does this employee work more or less than 30 hours per week?
I also recommend taking a look at this post for more information:
How to handle Super Guarantee for employees under 18 (Reckon Accounts Desktop)
Thankyou Jason. I thought this was the case as only a couple of hours fortnightly. Can you please confirm that the new pay item I set up is does not need to be ticked for QE as there is no super to be paid? Thanks
That's correct. QE does not need to be ticked.
interesting @Jason Zhu . So if you use the standard rate but don’t put super in the employee’s details something will be wrong?
@Kris_Williams
Good question. I'm not sure in that case, but let me check with my team and I'll get back to you with an answer.
Hi @Kris_Williams
I ran this by a colleague of mine. They said it would still be a problem because if you use a QE-enabled earning item, the earnings will still be reported as QE even if you manually remove the super amount in the pay run.
For this reason, the recommended approach is to use dedicated pay items for under 18s.
You don't need to use any different Payroll Items !
In the latest RA/RAH update, there's actually now a prompt that will even TELL you when an employee's turning 18 ! :
Therefore, you just don't add any Super Payroll Item to the employee record/Paycheque. As long as the employee works less than 30 hrs p/wk, you will be alerted by the prompt, when it becomes payable.
Qualifying Earnings is just replacing the previous Ordinary Time Earnings & - at this stage - compulsory SG Super is still not payable for employees under 18 (unless they work in excess of 30 hrs p/wk). This is still a stand-alone exception - It doesn't change that the "Gross Pay"-type itself, is generally classified as QE. The omission of the Super liability here, is due to the employee age, NOT the Payroll Item.
As per the ATO (updated 6 days ago) :
That’s good to know, I have mine setup with no super in their details using the normal pay rate. I do like the reminder though when their birthday is approaching
The under 18 employee only works 2hours fortnightly so not QE according to the above?
I think the wording is what’s causing confusion - The only reason that it's not QE for Super, is purely BECAUSE the employee’s age overrides that status.
Hi everyone
Just wanted to jump in and provide a bit of clarity here because this is definitely one of the more complicated parts the Payday Super changes.
I can only speak from a Reckon Accounts software perspective so just to confirm, if you're using an earnings item that is set as QE but remove the super from the employee/pay run, those earnings will still be reported as QE earnings in your STP submission.
Now that Payday Super is in effect, its important that if you have an employee under 18 working less than 30 hours per week, its highly recommended that you use a dedicated earnings item that has QE unticked as outlined in the help guide my colleague Jason has shared above.
In regard to the new 18th birthday message that is included in Reckon Accounts 2026, that is a notification message to prompt you to review the employee's pay setup to ensure they have the correct items once they turn 18. It does not make any changes in the background to QE etc.
Hope that helps but let me know if you have any questions.
@Rav … we'll have to agree to disagree on this one ! 😁
Whilst a separate Payroll Item can be used, I don't believe it's necessary or required, as per my explanations above 😬
I just tested this with 2 employees, one under 18. The STP included both in Qualifying earnings, using the same payroll item for both, and no super for the under 18. If the qualifying earnings is the figure the ATO bases the super on it will be wrong
Here's a very quick and basic example I've just put together, its not the most elegant but let me know if this is the same process you're following and referring to here.
In this example you'll see I have an employee who is under 18 and is paid using the regular hourly pay item which is set as a QE item for less than 30 hours in a week.
In the pay run, I then remove the super that is calculated in their pay from using that item so there's no super in that specific pay run. If I then proceed and view the STP Preview, you'll see the earnings from using that item are reported as QE.
Is this the process you're using when it comes to using a 'regular' earnings item for an employee who is under 18 and working less than 30 hours per week?
https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/super-for-employers/paying-super-on-payday/what-payments-are-qualifying-earnings#ato-Paymentsthatarenotqualifyingearnings
