The SBSCH service will be closed from 1 July 2026
The recent government announcement provided more detail about the implementation of Payday Super.
As part of this reform, from 1 July 2026 the ATO’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will be closed.
We’ll ensure there is sufficient notice and information for small business to transition to an alternative. Find out more about Payday Super.
Eligibility
You’re eligible to use the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (clearing house) service if your business has either:
- 19 or fewer employees, or
- annual aggregated turnover of less than $10 million.
You must meet one of these eligibility criteria each time you use the service.
If your circumstances change and you’re no longer eligible, you will need to make other arrangements to meet SuperStream requirements.
About the SBSCH
The clearing house is a free online service provided by the Australian Government through the Australian Taxation Office.
You can use the SBSCH to pay super for all your employees through a single payment. The SBSCH will then distribute the money to each employee’s super fund according to your instructions.
With the SBSCH, you can:
- nominate a regular amount for each employee or change the amount when you make a payment
- meet your super guarantee (SG) obligations when your payment and instructions are accepted by the SBSCH by following the terms and conditions
- pay online to meet SuperStream requirements
- see records of your past super contributions.
Using the clearing house for the first time
You must register the first time you use the clearing house. To do this, you’ll need to provide information about:
- your business and employees
- your employees’ choice of fund
- your default fund – this is where payments will go if the employee doesn’t choose a fund
- anyone authorised to use the clearing house on your behalf, such as a bookkeeper.
If you need to provide information about an employee whose chosen fund is a self-managed super fund (SMSF), speak with your employee to ensure that:
- their fund’s bank account information is correctly recorded with us (in Online services) against the fund’s superannuation account
- the details they have provided to you exactly match those listed on the SMSF record.
You won’t be able to make a payment to the employee’s SMSF if the bank account information doesn’t match (or no details are listed on the SMSF record).
Print the clearing house privacy statement and give this to your employees.
Accessing the clearing house
Using Online services for business
If you’re a business or an individual employer with an Australia business number (ABN), you can access the clearing house through Online services for business:
- Select Employees.
- Select Small Business Super Clearing House.
Log in to Online services for business
You can authorise someone else (such as a staff member) to use the clearing house on behalf of your business. You can authorise them in Relationship Authorisation Manager (RAM) and customise their permissions in Access Manager.
Accessing Online services for business
To access Online services for business, you will need to sign in using myID.
If you’re new to online services, you will first have to set up your myID, then link it to your business in RAM. For more information, see Accessing online services with myID and RAM.
Using ATO online services via myGov
If you’re an individual employer with an ABN or a withholding payer number (WPN), you can access the clearing house using your myGov account linked to ATO online services.
Individuals with a WPN include people who employ domestic staff.
Non-individual employers
Non-individuals with a WPN include school canteens, sporting clubs and embassies.
If you represent a non-individual with a WPN, you can:
- register for the clearing house by phoning 1300 660 048
- complete the SBSCH – Employee list spreadsheet (XLSX, 57KB) This link will download a file
- email the spreadsheet to SBSCHenquiries@ato.gov.au – include the words ‘WPN HOLDER’ in the email subject line.
Making payments
Due date and scheduled maintenance
The quarterly due dates for super guarantee payments are:
- 28 October
- 28 January
- 28 April
- 28 July.
For more information, visit Super payment due dates.
The processing cut-off date for the ATO’s annual office closure is 5:30 pm AEDT on 10 December 2024. They will process all super payments with instructions received after this date from 2 January 2025.
The ATO’s office and contact centres close at noon on Tuesday 24 December 2024 and re-opens at 8:00 am on Thursday 2 January 2025, local time.
When you submit your payments and instructions in the SBSCH, consider the impact of planned system maintenance on processing times.
Check the ATO Online system maintenance schedule and the SBSCH system status on our website for the latest information.
Steps
- Work out how much super you need to pay for all your employees.
- Access the SBSCH through Online services for business or ATO online services.
- Enter instructions about how to distribute payment to each employee’s super fund, noting the payment reference number (PRN).
- Make a single electronic payment to the clearing house for all your employees including the PRN.
- The SBSCH distributes the payment to each employee’s super fund according to your instructions.
Note: Payments may take up to 7 business days to be transferred through the ATO and super fund before they reach the employee’s super fund account.
Payment errors
If your employee’s details are incorrect, their super fund may:
- reject the payment
- send the payment back to us.
If the payment is sent back to the ATO, they’ll contact you to update the information within 7 business days.
They will resend the payment to the fund if you correct the information. If you don’t update the information, the payment will be sent back to you.
If your employee’s details change after you submit a payment instruction, but before it’s processed, you’ll need to:
- update the employee’s details
- delete the payment instruction
- lodge a new payment instruction.
Help and support
For help and support:
- see
- phone the ATO on 1300 660 048.
Source: ato.gov.au November 2024
Reproduced with the permission of the Australian Tax Office. This article was originally published on https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/super-for-employers/paying-super-contributions/how-to-pay-super/small-business-superannuation-clearing-house.
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