SUPER GUARANTEE RATE RISING 1 JULY

3 June 2021

The superannuation guarantee rate will increase from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent on 1 July 2021.

Employers will need to ensure their payroll and accounting systems are updated to incorporate the increase to the super rate. The ATO’s super guarantee contributions calculator is available for employers to work out how much super they need to pay.

To determine if employees are eligible for super, including any contractors treated as employees for super purposes, employers can use the ATO’s superannuation guarantee eligibility decision tool.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND RENTAL BOND DATA: ATO DATA-MATCHING PROGRAMS

27 May 2021

The ATO has registered two data-matching notices to acquire:

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• property management data including property owner identification details, rental property details and property manager details for the 2019 to 2023 financial years covering 1.6 million individuals each year

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• rental bond data including landlord and managing agent identification details and rental bond transaction details from 20 September 1985 to 30 June 2023 covering 350,000 individuals each year.

This information will be used by the ATO to inform education program as well as to undertake compliance activities such as undeclared income and capital gains.

FAIR WORK COMMISSION DECIDED DELIVEROO RIDER AN EMPLOYEE

20 May 2021

The Fair Work Commission found on Tuesday that Deliveroo rider Diego Franco was unfairly dismissed, a protection only extended to employees, on the basis that he was more akin to an employee than a contractor before he was dismissed by Deliveroo for “no valid reason”.

“In this case, when consideration of all the relevant indicia, has, like the colours from the artist’s palette, emerged to form a complete picture, the correct characterisation of the relationship between Mr Franco and Deliveroo is that of employee and employer. Although, the picture is impressionistic and not precise, it is nevertheless a compelling conclusion,” Commissioner Ian Cambridge found.

"Mr Franco was not carrying on a trade or business of his own, or on his own behalf. Instead, he was working in Deliveroo’s business as part of that business.”

The Commission ruled against arguments used by companies operating in the gig economy, including that because workers can work for competitors, they must be contractors.

In “the context of a modern, changing workplace impacted by our new digital world”, the Commission found this was insufficient justification. (Franco v Deliveroo Australia Pty Ltd [2021] FWC 2818, Fair Work Commission, 18 May 2021)