Overpayment of Super

My company pays super quarterly. An employee who is part-time and works three days a week 18 hours in total was paid incorrectly as she had been doing more hours and days.

We investigated pay todate and did a pay adjustment to recalculate her pay so any hours over 18 hours were all paid at time and an half.

This resulted in her pay being adjusted back to 18/8/2021 and a substantial payment.

This means she has been overpaid her Super as she was paid for every hour worked rather than her ordinary hours of pay.

How can I put in an adjustment to recover the overpayment and this appear on her EOY Payroll Summary and deducts the payment from the next Super payment due by 28 October.

Can anyone advise please.

Thank you.

Liza

Comments

Acctd4

Hi Liza

This is a little tricky as - at the time - her Super allocation was correct (eg it was calculated on her ordinary hours paid) The fact that you've subsequently changed some of those hours to being "Overtime" doesn't negate the Super originally paid. You can try requesting the excess amount back from the fund. They're not legally required to refund it but sometimes they will 😊 Super is payable based on actual PAYMENT of wages, not pay period but there are a few other options:

You could revert that Paycheque back to what it was originally & create a new CURRENT Paycheque for adjustments (including the Overtime paid to her with no super on)

Allocate the overpaid portion of the Super Liability payment as a partial payment toward the next quarter. You'll then pay the balance only for that quarter (I would contact the fund to advise of the amended liability & allocations though so that their records also match with this)

Liza Oates

Thank you for your response.

I would prefer to go with second option - would this be done as a journal.

I would contact the Super Fund to advise of situation.

If I choose second option - will their final summaries on their payslip be correct for the amount of Super paid.

The underpayment I just entered as an adjustment on her paycard and ensured tax was deducted.

Acctd4

Hi Liza

The Payslip/STP summary will reflect whatever the liability was on the Paycheque NOT any under/overpayment. If you want to reflect the full Super (over)payment, you will need to increase the employee's Super payable amount to match via Adjust Payroll Liabilities (under the Employees dropdown menu > Payroll Taxes & Liabilities)

Liza Oates

Hi Shaz

I do not use payroll liabilities to pay my super. I have Australian Super set up as a supplier and write a cheque but pay these to my Super Liability account code 24010.

Kris_Williams

Yes @Liza Oates I do the same, but I enter a bill for it dated the end of the period and that way the super liability account should be zero at that date and the bill gets paid and dated when it is paid

Acctd4

Super shouldn’t be in Accounts Payable as the liability is already sitting in the Super Liability account expensed on the Paycheque 😬

The correct process is via Pay Payroll Liabilities in order to clear the Payroll Item each time.

Kris_Williams

I enter a bill to the Super Liabilities account so I can show a zero balance at end of the period, it then shows as an outstanding bill, instead of an outstanding super liability. Have always done it that way, same with PAYG Tax and tax payable, and if at the end of the financial year it hasn’t been paid I change the date of the super bill to 1/7 for the accountant’s reports

Liza Oates

Hi Shaz

The cheque still clears the liability account. The Bookkeeper before me used to use Liability Cheques, however, I was advised by my CPA Accountant not to use the liability cheque function for Super.

Liza Oates

I use the liability cheque function to clear my PAYG, however I also use the write cheque function to pay the ATO BAS

Acctd4

Hi Liza

Unfortunately, most accountants don't have much understanding about day-to-day bookkeeping & even less understanding as to how this process works in RA/RAH 🙄

If using payroll, the BAS - including GST & any other liabilities - can (& should!) all be paid from a single Payroll Liability Cheque. You just enter the other liabilities on the Expenses tab & click on Recalculate at the bottom to update/refresh both tabs:

By doing it this way, you correctly impact the applicable accounts AND the Payroll Items at the same time as well as having just the one payment amount as per your bank transactions 😊

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