The free service for small businesses is run by Medicare Australia and its customer satisfaction survey of employers registering with the Clearing House has found:
- 99 per cent of respondents said they would recommend the Clearing House to other small businesses.
- 98 per cent of respondents rated their satisfaction with the Clearing House as 'extremely satisfied' or 'satisfied'.
- 96 per cent of respondents 'strongly agree' or 'agree' the Clearing House has reduced the time it takes to make their superannuation payments.
- 90 per cent of respondents 'strongly agree' or 'agree' the Clearing House has reduced the amount of red tape involved in making their superannuation payments.
"The small business response to the Superannuation Clearing House has been truly outstanding," Minister for Small Business, Senator Nick Sherry, said.
"96 per cent of customers have said the Clearing House reduces the time it takes to make their superannuation payments. Of these, three quarters say it's saved them up to three hours per quarter, 15 per cent say up to seven hours and nine per cent say they've saved up to eight hours per quarter.
"This Government initiative is directly helping ease the red tape burden on small businesses," Senator Sherry said.
Superannuation Minister, Bill Shorten MP, said the Government started the service a year ago to solve the red tape created for small business by the former Coalition Government's introduction of choice of fund into the superannuation system.
"Take-up has been extremely encouraging, with the Clearing House processing and disbursing almost $50 million to employee superannuation funds," Mr Shorten said.
"Yet the Opposition wants to replace something with a satisfaction rating of 99% among small businesses and a proven record of cutting red tape, with something that will cost the taxpayer hundreds of millions of dollars.
"Tony Abbott's idea to copy our already excellent service administered by Medicare with one administered by the ATO will blow out the Budget by up to $368 million.
"It's just another unfunded, uncosted promise from the Coalition of the $11 billion budget black hole," Mr Shorten said.
Key Facts
The ATO estimates the Coalition's proposal for the ATO to run the service would cost the taxpayer at least $257 million over the forward estimates and $368m extra assuming higher take-up.
The clearing house service was introduced on 1 July 2010.
As of 15 June, around 4,500 employers had registered with the clearing house, 30,000 employees had been added to the system and almost 90,000 employee payments had been made.
Customer Testimonials
"The clearing house has saved me from spending the best part of a day on my super payments. Now it takes about 10 minutes. It's now just a single item on my bank statement." Brett McGrath, Owner Soccatoos, Barden Ridge NSW.
"With the clearing house, it is much easier and more streamlined. You do it with one payment at no cost to us." Bay Village Medical Centre Practice Manager Debbie Smith, Bay Village NSW.
"10 minutes is all it takes - all I do is print out what each employee receives, log on, type it in and print and file. I used to hate doing super but now it is a pleasure to use the clearing house." Vicki Maggs, Magnum Haulage and Excavations Office Manager, Port Macquarie NSW.
"I found it a surprisingly easy and efficient way of meeting our superannuation guarantee obligations. Once all our employee details were loaded onto the website it took easily less than half an hour to make the contributions for 12 – 15 staff." Liza Vaughan, Office Manager and Bookkeeper for I Can Read System.
CANBERRA
16 June 2011
