The proposed Law Administration Practice Statement PS LA 2021/D1 – Remission of additional Superannuation Guarantee Charge provides written guidelines the ATO must have regard to when considering the remission of additional Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) under Part 7 of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (the “SGAA”).

Chartered Accountants ANZ and CPA Australia welcome the draft PSLA.

We have long had concerns about the severity of SGC for all employers especially for inadvertent errors and late payments that could not have been reasonably foreseen by an employer which had been doing its best to comply with the SGAA provisions.  We have also had concerns about the complexities employers face when seeking to comply with the SGAA and the requirements of industrial relations instruments, especially when these might be in conflict.

We have advocated previously for more concessions to be available to employees.

In our view the draft PSLA generally achieves its objectives and are broadly happy with the proposed approach.  

However, there are a range of situations in which the PSLA could offer employers full remission of their SGC for situations largely against the employers control, when they have no knowledge that a super contribution has been made late and unintentional compliance with the SGAA.