Is an employer contribution to an employees super fund always RESC?

Hi LindaJB,

If salary sacrificed super payments are set to be paid to a super fund (either in the deduction settings on the employee's pay run inclusions page or on the deduction line in each pay run) they will appear on the income statement as RESC. You can refer here for more information on recording RESC in payroll. The ATO also provides a guide on what constitutes a RESC payment if you are unsure whether or not your contributions should be recorded as RESC.

-Kass

Thanks Kass, yes I am aware of the rules around salary sacrifice. My question was more about other employer contributions. An employer has made a $12000 contribution to his employee’s fund to maximise his tax deductions. Employee had no input into this. Is it RESC? If I enter it in Keypay as EC it puts it in RESC, so I think I need to leave it outside of payroll. 

Hi LindaJB,

Thank you for clarifying!  A pre-tax contribution will only be recorded as a RESC payment if it's set up as paid to a super fund, regardless of if it is a salary sacrifice agreement or a direct employer contribution. There are three ways the deduction can be set up to be paid: to a super fund, a bank account or manually. If you don't want it to be recorded as RESC in the pay run, you would need to select one of the latter two payment options. The ATO determines what should and shouldn't be recorded as RESC and we are unable to advise if this particular payment falls under that definition - the ATO guide linked above has a section on working out if contributions are reportable as RESC which you may find helpful if you are unsure. 

-Kass