It's amazing how the media can make the average person think along certain lines, and not pay much attention to others.  Part of the Budget that was announced recently has still received far less media attention than I believe it should have.  

What part am I talking about? Well, the government’s proposal to make company directors personally liable for their company’s failure to make employees’ superannuation payments of course.  Now I am all for employers having to pay superannuation for their employees, I am an employee after all.  But I think this may have harsh consequences for those businesses that employ contractors.

The company directors may believe that their contractors are in fact contractors, but from experience we find that many of these may in fact be deemed to be employees, in which case the employer must pay superannuation on behalf of the contractor.  In most cases we find this hasn't been done for several years. 

So when the ATO comes knocking on the door they will not only make the employer pay the superannuation, they will also have to pay interest and charges. The employer does NOT get a deduction for this payment, and if the company doesn’t have the funds to pay it then the directors can be held personally liable.

I guess the point that I am trying to get across is, take a look at your contractors, or even better call your manager at Aston Ryan Malcolm and ask him to look at your contractors, because the consequences if you don’t might be large, and they might fall on you personally.