Your guide to stapling

The government was concerned that many working Australians had more than one super account. This generally results in multiple sets of fees and can erode the retirement balances of Australians.

Stapling aims to reduce the number of super accounts Australians accrue throughout their working lives and eliminate unnecessary fees workers pay for multiple super accounts.

The government estimates that the Your Future, Your Super stapling measures will save Australians $2.8 billion over next ten years.

In 2021, the Australian Government introduced Your Future, Your Super reforms. This included measures to ensure workers automatically stay with their existing super fund when changing jobs — unless they actively choose a new fund. 

From 1 November 2021, stapling legislation requires employers to make super guarantee (SG) contributions to their new employee’s existing super fund unless otherwise instructed. The employee can still choose to join the employer’s default fund or another eligible fund.

For details about the Your Future, Your Super reforms, see Treasury.

When a new employee joins your business and doesn’t provide instructions to pay to a particular super fund, the employer must check with the ATO to see if the employee has an existing ‘stapled’ super fund. The stapled fund process only applies where the employee doesn’t exercise a choice of fund.

If the employee has a stapled fund, the employer must pay that employee’s SG contributions into that fund. If the employee doesn’t have a stapled fund, the employer must pay contributions into the employer's default super fund or other fund that meets the choice of fund rules.

See the Decision process for new employees.

Yes, it applies to all employers.

Note: If you're a Tasmanian State Government employer, the Public Sector Superannuation Reform Act 2016 (section 21) remains compliant and you don’t need to consider stapling.

If the employee wants to join the default fund and completes an Standard choice form nominating the default fund, you must make payments to the default fund. However, if the employee doesn’t complete an Standard choice form, you must check with the ATO to see if they have a stapled fund.

You should keep a copy of the completed Standard choice form – this is an existing obligation.

If a new employee makes their own choice of fund, you must make payments into this nominated account. There’s no need to check for a stapled fund with the ATO or do anything different from existing processes.

You should keep a copy of the employee’s choice of fund – this is an existing obligation.

A stapled fund request can only be made once your new employee has started work and you’ve submitted a Tax file number declaration form or Single Touch Payroll pay event linking them to you.

Use the ‘request stapled super fund service’ through ATO online services. There will be a second phase that will see this automated through payroll software, but this isn’t expected until at least July 2022.

To request a stapled super fund through ATO online services, you or your authorised representative need to:

1. Log in to ATO online services.
2. Enter the employee's details, including their:
• tax file number (TFN) – an exemption code can be entered where an employee can’t provide their TFN, but this could result in processing delays
• full name – including ‘other given name’ if known
• date of birth
• address (residential or postal), if TFN not given.
3. The ATO online system will use rules based on the regulations to work out and return a stapled super fund in response to a request.

You’ll receive the response on-screen, and should be notified of the result of the stapled super fund request within minutes.

If the request was made on your behalf by an authorised representative, the ATO will notify you of the outcome of the request.

A bulk request form is available where you need to request stapled super fund details for over 100 new employees at once.

The bulk request form is a xls or xlsx file that can be downloaded from 1 November 2021.

Once the spreadsheet is completed, it can be sent to the ATO using the secure mail function within ATO online services.

The ATO will then process the bulk request and send information back securely. Bulk requests will have a service standard of up to five business days.

A bulk request form can be completed if you need to request stapled super fund details for over 100 new employees at once. Bulk requests will have a service standard of up to five business days.

Before you can submit the request, you need to have an employment relationship link with each of the new employees. You can then request your employee’s stapled super fund using the bulk request form.

You can download the Stapled super fund bulk request form. This link will download a file for you to complete the information required within that form.

Once the file is completed, you or your authorised representative, can submit it through the secure mail function using ATO online services.

It’s important to note:

• only one form should be submitted per request
• if you’re a member of a consolidated group, each entity must submit their own forms separately
• only an authorised person can submit a request.

Once the file is processed, you’ll receive a response through the secure mail function within online services. The response message will contain the file submitted to us with the outcomes of the stapled super fund request for each employee.

If the ATO provides a stapled super fund response to an employer, they will contact the employee and advise of the request.

Employees will receive an SMS if they have a valid mobile number in the ATO records and/or a letter (through myGov or paper) advising who has requested the information and more details on the options available to the employee.

Stapling requirements are the responsibility of employers — not employees or super funds. 

Super funds will be able to provide general details about the operation of stapling but won’t have access to any employee’s fund details held for stapling purposes by the ATO. For more information visit the ATO website. 

Where the ATO identifies multiple funds that may be stapled to an employee, tiebreaker rules will apply:

1. The most recent fund identified by the ATO will be the employee’s stapled fund for the selected period (from the start of the previous financial year until the day when the ATO applies tiebreaker requirements).
2. If 1. doesn’t apply, it will be the fund that received the most recent contribution over the selected period.
3. If 1. and 2. don’t apply, it will be the fund that held the largest balance at the end of the previous financial year.
4. If none of the above applies, the ATO will consider factors like when an employee joined a fund and other relevant information to identify the stapled fund.

Employees can see details of their stapled super fund in their MyGov account.

To be a stapled fund:

• the fund must be a complying super fund or scheme for that financial year or a Retirement Saving Account (or RSA)
• the employee must be a member of that fund or RSA
• the fund must be able to accept contributions from that employee.

Any eligible fund, including a defined benefit fund, can be provided as a stapled super fund. However, some defined benefit accounts may not be able to accept contributions from all employers.

In the first instance, you should try the ATO Online request form again to see if the ATO has received updated information reported by the super fund.

If you receive the same result again, contact the ATO on 13 10 20 to request an alternative stapled account. If there’s no alternative fund, the ATO can advise whether contributions can be made to the employer’s default fund or another fund that meets the choice of fund rules.

This shouldn’t be an issue, as the ATO states that you can expect a response ‘within minutes’ once the form is completed. Employers who haven’t enabled online services will have the ability to access this information over the phone.

Where a stapled fund (as notified by the ATO) doesn’t accept contributions and contributions are made late to another fund, the Commissioner has discretion to reduce the amount of the shortfall.