BOSSES across Australia have been hit with a bill for more than half a billion dollars after failing to pay staff superannuation entitlements during 2011.   :-?

The Australian Taxation Office, which administers the nation's superannuation guarantee scheme, issued a new hit list this week that features cafes and restaurants, real estate agents and carpenters as "higher risk" industries for not paying full entitlements.

Others in the ATO's sights include hairdressers and beauty specialists, building and construction companies, road freight groups, car mechanics, and hotels and motels. The ATO and government were alarmed by a near-doubling of unpaid super to $517 million in the two years to 2011.   :(

Industry experts and union officials branded it "theft" and a "rip-off".

By law, bosses must pay at least 9 per cent super to almost all staff.   ;)

Union boss Tara Moriarty, NSW head of the liquor and hospitality division for United Voice, said rorting was common among restaurants.

"Pretty much every time we do a wage claim - when people realise they're not getting the right hourly rate - it'll come up they haven't received superannuation or it hasn't been paid properly," she said.   :( 

"Clubs are okay but in restaurants, unpaid super is very common."

Former ATO senior auditor Chris Seage said errant bosses were committing a crime.

"Employee entitlements are trust monies held by employers on behalf of the employee," he said.

"When they fail to pay the money to the superannuation fund, they are effectively stealing from their staff.   >:(

"The law needs to beefed up to give the ATO more powers to bring these employers to justice."   [smiley=thumbsup.gif] 

Ms Moriarty said the main victims of unpaid super in the restaurant trade were "young people who wouldn't even realise it's an entitlement".   :(

It has been claimed new draft tax legislation, released last week, would allow the ATO to withhold tax refunds for at least 60 days without challenge.

BDO Tax Partner Mark Molesworth said the legislation would allow the ATO "more power to retain refunds for any period of time to undertake checks to verify the correctness of the amount claimed".

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/money/superannuation/bosses-on-australian-taxation-office-hit-list-for-skimping-on-super/story-e6frfmdi-1226280232210#ixzz1nKsXPdXH

By law, bosses must pay at least 9 per cent super to almost all staff.   ;)

wrote on Feb 25^th, 2012 at 5:10pm:

By law, bosses must pay at least 9 per cent super to almost all staff.   ;)

Compulsory super is the biggest fraud forced onto the Australian workers.
It benefits mainly the high income earners who can salary sacrifice and benefit from huge tax concessions, and many will set up their own Self Managed Super Funds, while most of the workers super is paid either into an Industry fund or retail fund, and in both cases the people who manage the funds profit handsomely, in the Industry funds many Union leaders and in the retail funds, the funds managers.
The Australian government is so inefficient that the employers can get away of not paying the 9% for a long period, or not at all.
I have been trying for the last four years to bring this fraud to the attention of the Australian people on my own website hawilspointbut with little success.