Quarterly super contributions are coming up, due 28 January 2024. These payments aren’t just mandatory, but an important obligation for Australian businesses. For something so important, employers often don’t have it easy when it comes to paying super.

Many employers are reliant on old payment portals.

Portals like Super Stream and other third-party portals have been available to employers for many years, often free for small businesses. These portals do allow you to pay super to your employee’s funds, meeting your quarterly obligations. However, like a lot of aging software for employers, it’s not an easy process to do regularly.

Payday super is set to kick off in 2026, proposed in May 2023¹, this legislation is going to change how employers pay super. With super contributions expected to be made at the same time as payroll, clunky and time-consuming processes will be under the microscope.

Super payment portals work but aren’t great.

To pay using a – portal, employers usually need to upload their employee’s fund details, upload their payroll data from the quarter and then process the payment separately in their payroll or accounting software. The process isn’t difficult and doesn’t require specialist training, but it’s slow, and often easy to pay late or miss payments.

The alternative? Use your payroll.

Payroll software has come a long way in the last 5 years.  These platforms can empower employers to do more than ever and paying super should be included in this. Payroll with integrated super payments is something that Beam is an advocate for:

We want to make super a native part of payroll and hopefully saving time for employers and members. Our goal is to modernise super payments data and connect it seamlessly to its rightful homes – payroll and a member’s super account.”

Mathew Gilroy / Beam Founder

Beam has been working with some of Australia’s biggest software providers. We integrate our product into their software so that super payments can be done within the payroll platforms. No more portals, just a better solution.

Time and effort are the big differences between portals and integrated payroll.

There are only so many hours in the day for business owners. Spending time on slow processes isn’t something they should have to face. Each step required using a third-party portal isn’t particularly difficult, but the process in its entirety is slow and inefficient.

The difference between paying super with Beam and a traditional super payment portal (SPP) is huge. Beam takes minutes and seconds, compared to the days and weeks it usually takes to process with SPPs. Beam’s ambition is to provide employers with a solution that works alongside their regular pay cycles instead of being a separate task. Our integrated solution makes this possible and is why we are striving for a better employer solution, not just a better portal”. 

Tara Maloney / Beam Product Owner

Beam is a better solution, not an improved portal.

Upfront validation makes super payments simple, particularly if your business is paying super regularly instead of quarterly. Using software that’s integrated with Beam, you can check employee fund details are valid before making a payment. This stops the added hassle of refunds, extra payments and missed deadlines.

Beam integrates with payroll software, allowing you to pay super in your payroll. If you are already using one of our amazing software partners to manage your payroll, getting started with Beam is easy. Registration takes a few minutes; all you need is:

• Your business details, including your address.
• ABN details.
• Bank accounts details.

¹If this legislation passes it will have a profound impact on how employers pay super.

Important information:

Beam is issued by Precision Administration Services Pty Ltd (Precision) (ABN 47 098 977 667, AFSL No. 246 604). Precision is wholly owned by Australian Retirement Trust Pty Ltd (ABN 88 010 720 840, AFSL No. 228 975) as trustee for Australian Retirement Trust (ABN 60 905 115 063). You should consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before deciding to acquire or continue to hold any financial product. We are committed to respecting your privacy. For a copy of the PDS, please contact your payroll software provider. For a copy of our Privacy Policy, please phone 1800 572 154 or go to our website.

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