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• Stevedores Division employers Forms
• Seafarers Division employers Forms

Choice of Fund

If you have employees who are eligible to choose a superannuation fund for their Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions, you will need to comply with these requirements.

Review your default superannuation fund

Many employers need to select a default superannuation fund for SG contributions in the event that any employees eligible for choice of fund do not nominate a superannuation fund for their contributions.

If you are accepted as a Participating Employer in Maritime Super, you should review your default superannuation fund because you can elect to nominate Maritime Super as your default fund. Maritime Super complies with all the legislative requirements to operate as your default fund for SG purposes. However, there may be additional superannuation obligations specified in an award or industrial agreement which applies in your workplace. You should review the awards and industrial agreements applying in your workplace to ensure that you also comply with any superannuation obligations they contain. You can, of course, nominate different default funds for different types of employees.

Once you have nominated your default fund, include it on the Standard choice form you give to your employees.

Let your eligible employees nominate their fund of choice

Superannuation Guarantee (SG) legislation requires you to offer eligible employees the option to choose a superannuation fund for their SG contributions.

If you change your default superannuation fund for making SG contributions and when you take on a new eligible employee, you must give the employee a Standard choice form within 28 days.

A copy of the Standard choice form is available from the ATO's website www.ato.gov.au.

Where you select Maritime Super as your default fund, you will need to include the following details in section B of the form:

Fund name	Maritime Super
Superannuation product identification number	n/a
For the PDS for this fund, phone	1800 757 607
Fund's website	www.maritimesuper.com.au

If your employee nominates a fund of choice, you have two months before you need to start contributing to that fund, otherwise you may make your contributions to your default fund.

To find out more about choice of fund, visit the Australian Taxation Office's (ATO) website www.ato.gov.au. or call them on 13 10 20.

If you don't meet your choice of superannuation fund obligations, you may be liable for the choice shortfall. The choice shortfall is part of the Superannuation Guarantee Charge.

Superannuation Guarantee

The Superannuation Guarantee (SG) legislation requires employers to provide most Australian workers with superannuation contributions. The contribution is a minimum amount set down by the Federal Government which must be paid into a complying superannuation fund.

Because Maritime Super includes some defined benefits, the Fund’s actuary provides a Benefit Certificate which defines the level of contributions and benefit required to meet SG requirements. Employers contributing to Maritime Super will be sent a copy of this certificate if seeking to contribute to the Fund in satisfaction of their SG obligations.

Maritime Super contribution rules

Currently, employers are generally required to contribute 9% of each employee's Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE) to a complying superannuation fund of the employee's choice once they earn more than $450 in a month.

The Maritime Super Trust Deed provides different contribution rules for each membership division. As an employer sponsor, you need to familiarise yourself with the contribution rules for each category in which you will enrol members.

The table below broadly summarises your obligations as an employer in respect of all Maritime Super divisions:

Stevedores division - minimum contributions

Category	Member Contribution	Employer Contributions
Accumulation Plus	Compulsory 4.0% of Salary or Wages if made on an after-tax basis OR 4.7% if made on a before-tax (salary sacrifice) basis	Compulsory 9.45% of Salary or Wages, of which 9% is credited directly to the member's account and 0.45% credited to the insurance reserve and funds basic insured benefits for Accumulation Plus and Accumulation Basic members overall.
Accumulation Basic	Voluntary	Compulsory 9% of OTE (or such greater amount as required under an industrial agreement operating in your workplace), which is credited directly to the member's account as required. Additionally, Full Participating Employers are required and Participating Employers may elect, to contribute an additional 0.45% or Salary or Wages as an insurance levy (credited to the insurance reserve).
Accumulation Standard	Voluntary	Compulsory Whilst employer contributions to Accumulation Standard are compulsory, the amount the employer contributes is as agreed with the member.
Permanent (Defined Benefit)	Compulsory 4.8% of your Classification Base Wage (CBW) if made on an after-tax basis OR 5.65% of your CBW if made on a before-tax (salary sacrifice) basis	Compulsory 12.6% of your CBW

Seafarers division - minimum contributions

Category	Member Contribution	Employer Contributions
Contributory Accumulation	Compulsory 5% of Fund Benchmark Salary	Compulsory 13% of Fund Benchmark Salary
Accumulation	Voluntary	Compulsory 9% of OTE for employees of Participating Employers.
Retained Benefits	Voluntary	Voluntary
Spouse Account, Children's Account	Voluntary (although an initial contribution, by the spouse or parent (as relevant), will be required to start a Spouse Account or Children's Account)	Voluntary

Maritime Super division - minimum contributions

Category	Member Contribution	Employer Contributions
Teekay Defined Benefit (Division A)	Compulsory 5% of your Graded Annual Salary if made on an after-tax basis OR 5.88% of your Graded Annual Salary if made on a before-tax (salary sacrifice) basis	Compulsory Teekay will pay the difference between the total annual contributions needed to finance your defined benefits and the compulsory contributions you make (which will meet the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) level equivalent to 9%)
Teekay Defined Benefit (Division B) and Trident Defined Benefit (Division C)	Compulsory Category 1 member: 4% of your annual salary if made on an after-tax basis (maximum of $2,400 per year) OR 4.7% of your annual salary if made on a before-tax (salary sacrifice) basis (maximum of $2,824 per year) Category 2 member: 5.7% of your annual salary if made on an after-tax basis OR 6.7% of your annual salary if made on a before-tax (salary sacrifice) basis	Compulsory Teekay or Trident will pay the difference between the total annual contributions needed to finance your defined benefits and the compulsory contributions you make (which will meet the minimum SG level equivalent to 9% of OTE)
Teekay or Trident Accumulation	Voluntary	Compulsory 9% of OTE
Accumulation Advantage	Voluntary	Compulsory 9% of OTE (or such greater amount as required under an industrial agreement)
Retained Benefits	Voluntary	Voluntary
Spouse Account, Children's Account	Voluntary (although an initial contribution, by the spouse or parent (as relevant), will be required to start a Spouse Account or Children's Account)	Voluntary

To learn about your superannuation contribution obligations in more detail, call Member Services, or if you are a new employer sponsor refer to the Employer Guide and relevant Member Guide

Tax File Number

It's very important that Maritime Super has a record of your employees' tax file numbers (TFN). If we do not have their TFN on record:

• we will not be able to accept any after-tax, spouse and co-contributions; and
• employer (including salary sacrifice) contributions may be subject to tax at the rate of 31.5% in addition to the 15% contributions tax.

If you collected your employee's TFN on a TFN declaration after 30 June 2007, you must pass it on to Maritime Super when first contributing for the employee to the Fund.

Updates to member details

If you are aware that the details we have for a member have changed, it is important that you let us know as soon as possible. This includes the following changes:

• correction of an error in the member's personal details
• change to a member's personal details
• change in employment conditions which affect the member's eligibility for membership of a category of Maritime Super
• choice of fund nomination by a member which results in you no longer making contributions to Maritime Super for them
• termination of employment of an employee member; and
• disability or death of an employee member.

In most instances, a simple email or phone call is all it takes, however, for change in or termination of employment or where a choice of fund nomination is made, you should advise us by completing the Termination/Change of Employment Advice.

Updates to company details

It is also important that you inform us when your details change.

Authorised officers

You must nominate officers who are authorised to deal with us on your behalf. This includes signing member applications and providing contribution details and termination advices.

Make sure that your nomination of authorised officers is up to date at all times, as we may be unable to action a request or advice that is provided by an officer who has not been authorised by you.

To update your nomination of authorised officers, simply complete the Authorised Officer form and return it to us.

Changes to your company

If your company restructures or changes name, we will require some additional documentation before we can update our records.

To change the company's name in our records, we will require a copy of documentation from an Australian Government body (e.g. ASIC) that evidences the change from the name in our records to the new name. If your company restructures or is acquired by another company, we ask that you contact Member Services.