apart from the hourly rate, the employer may have to pay for the following and a such your employer is paying for quite a bit more than your stated rate of pay!
Employers are required by law to pay so-called "superannuation guarantee" contribution amounts to a designated superannuation fund for their employees at 9% of their wages and salaries. Employers are not required to make employer contributions for employees earning less than $450 per month, or for employees aged under 18 or over 70. From 1 January 2014, employers must only make default contributions (where an employee has not elected to choose their own fund) into an authorised MySuper product, which is designed to be a simple superannuation fund with few, standardised fees and a single balanced investment option. See the main MySuper page for further information. Employer contributions are required to be paid to a fund at least every three months. The superannuation contributions are invested over the period of the employees' working life and the sum of compulsory and voluntary contributions, plus earnings, less taxes and fees is paid to the person when they choose to retire. The sum most people receive is predominantly made up of compulsory employer contributions. Special rules apply in relation to employers providing "defined benefit" arrangements. There are less common traditional employer funds where benefits are determined by a formula usually based on final average salary and length of service. Essentially, instead of minimum contributions, employers need to provide a minimum level of benefit. The superannuation guarantee rate will increase from the current 9% with initial increments of 0.25 percentage points on 1 July 2013 and on 1 July 2014. Further increments of 0.5 percentage points will apply annually up to 2019-20, when the superannuation guarantee rate will be set at 12 per cent. Rates will be 2012 9.0%, 2013 9.25%, 2014 9.5%, 2015 10.0%, 2016 10.5%, 2017 11.0%, 2018 11.5%, 2019 12.0%.[8]
Payroll Tax State governments in Australia levy a payroll tax on the wages outlay of employers. Typically the tax applies to all wages above a threshold. Groups of companies may be taxed as a single entity where their operations are significantly integrated or related.
Current Payroll Tax Rates and Thresholds State Annual Threshold Tax Rate New South Wales $689,000 5.45% Queensland $1,100,000[11] 4.75% South Australia $600,000 4.95% Act $1,750,000 6.85% Victoria $550,000 4.90% Wa $750,000 5.50% Tasmania $1,010,000 6.10%
Queensland and the Northern Territory payroll tax rates are effective rates on payrolls above $5.5 million and $5.75 million respectively. All other jurisdictions levy marginal rates. Some companies are eligible for deductions, concessions and exemptions.
