Super choice form and stapled super: an employer's guide

The super choice form (officially the Superannuation standard choice form, NAT 13080) is how a new employee tells you which super fund to pay into. You must give it to eligible employees within 28 days of their start date. If they don't choose a fund, you request their stapled super fund from the ATO and pay into that. You only use your default fund when the ATO says they don't have one.

This guide walks through the form, the 28-day rule, stapled super, SMSFs and record keeping, and what payday super means for your new starters. It's written for owners and managers who run payroll themselves or with a bookkeeper.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Facts are as at October 2026; check the ATO's page on offering employees a choice of super fund before you rely on them.

What is the super standard choice form?

The Superannuation standard choice form is an ATO form with three parts:

Section	Who fills it in	What it covers
Section A	The employee	The fund they choose: an existing APRA-regulated fund, a self-managed super fund (SMSF), or your default fund
Section B	You, before you give the form out	Details of your nominated (default) fund
Section C	You, after the employee returns it	A record of the choice process for that employee

As at October 2026, the current version on the ATO website is NAT 13080-10.2021. You can download it from the ATO's Superannuation standard choice form page, or the employee can give you the same details through ATO online services in myGov (Employment, then New employment) when they also complete their TFN declaration.

People search for it as the "standard super choice form", the "ATO super choice form" or just the "super choice form". It's all the same document.

When do you have to give it?

You must give eligible employees a standard choice form within 28 days of their start date. You also have to give one:

• when the employee asks for it (within 28 days of the request; you only have to accept one new choice from an employee in any 12-month period)
• when you can't contribute to their chosen fund any more, or it stops being a complying fund
• when you change your default fund

Most employees are eligible for choice. Some employees covered by certain enterprise agreements or workplace determinations made before 1 January 2021 may not be; the ATO page lists the categories, and you need to keep a record of anyone you decide isn't eligible.

In practice, don't wait for day 28. Send the form with the rest of the new starter paperwork, before day one, so the employee's fund is sorted before their first pay run (more on why in the payday super section below).

What does the employee fill in?

In Section A the employee picks one option:

1. Their existing APRA-regulated fund. They give the fund name, the fund's ABN, the unique superannuation identifier (USI) and their member number. Many funds supply a letter confirming they'll accept contributions.
2. A self-managed super fund. See the SMSF section below.
3. Your default fund. They just tick the box, and you pay into the fund you named in Section B.

They also give their name and TFN (they don't have to, but without it their fund may tax contributions at a higher rate) and sign and date the form.

What happens if they don't choose a fund?

This is where stapled super comes in.

If an employee who started with you on or after 1 November 2021 doesn't choose a fund (or doesn't return the form), you can't simply put them into your default fund. You must first request their stapled super fund details from the ATO and pay into that fund. Only if the ATO tells you there is no stapled fund do you pay into your default fund.

Situation	Where you pay their super
Employee chooses a fund	Their chosen fund
No choice, ATO returns a stapled fund	The stapled fund
No choice, ATO says there's no stapled fund	Your default fund (it must offer a MySuper product)

If you pay into the wrong fund, you can be liable for a choice of fund penalty (the "choice liability").

What is a stapled super fund?

A stapled super fund is an existing super account that is linked, or "stapled", to an individual so it follows them when they change jobs. Super stapling started on 1 November 2021 to stop people collecting a new account (and a new set of fees and insurance premiums) with every new job.

The ATO decides which of an employee's accounts is their stapled fund. You don't have to work it out; you just ask.

How to request stapled super fund details

The ATO explains the steps on its stapled super funds for employers page. In short:

1. Offer choice first. You must offer the employee a choice of fund before, or at the same time as, you request their stapled fund.
2. Set up the employment relationship. The ATO needs to know the person works for you. Lodge their TFN declaration or report them in a Single Touch Payroll (STP) pay event.
3. Make the request. Use the Employees menu in ATO online services for business, or software that's connected to the ATO. You can request details once the person has accepted your offer of employment, and until they choose a fund.
4. Pay into the result. The ATO returns the stapled fund details (or tells you there isn't one).

If you have more than 100 new employees at once, the ATO has a bulk request process, with a service standard of up to 14 business days. Allow for that in your timing.

Authorised representatives need full access in ATO online services, or custom access that includes the employee commencement form permission. Your bookkeeper, BAS agent or tax agent can also make requests for you.

Self-managed super funds (SMSFs)

Employees can choose their own SMSF. If they do, they need to give you:

• the SMSF's name and ABN
• its electronic service address (ESA), so you can send contribution data through SuperStream
• the fund's bank account details for contributions
• confirmation, signed as trustee, that the fund is a regulated SMSF and will accept contributions

Check the ABN is active and the fund is a complying SMSF before you pay. If the ESA is missing, your contribution can't be processed electronically.

Record keeping

You don't send the completed form to the ATO or the fund. You keep it. The ATO says to keep choice of fund records for five years, including:

• the completed form or the ATO online services summary
• evidence that you offered choice to each eligible employee, and when
• any stapled fund request and result
• details of employees you treated as not eligible for choice, and why

Payday super: why timing matters more now

From 1 July 2026, payday super changed when you pay super, not who you pay it to. As at October 2026:

• super guarantee contributions must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of each payday
• for a new employee, the first contribution generally has 20 business days from their first payday

The 28-day window for the choice form hasn't changed, but in practice it's now longer than the time you have to make the first payment. If you wait for a new starter to post back a form, you'll be paying their first super before you know where it goes, or paying late.

The answer is to collect super choice during onboarding and request the stapled fund straight away if they don't choose. Our payday super setup guide covers what to configure for that.

A simple process for every new starter

1. Fill in Section B (your default fund) once and keep it in your onboarding pack.
2. Send the choice form with the offer or the pre-start paperwork, alongside the TFN declaration.
3. When it comes back, check the USI, member number or SMSF details.
4. If they haven't chosen by the time you need to pay, request their stapled fund from the ATO.
5. Pay into the chosen fund, the stapled fund or your default fund, in that order.
6. File the form and any stapled fund result for five years.

For the rest of the new starter list, see the new employee onboarding checklist.

How Canyou handles this

Canyou is employee onboarding software for Australian businesses. The super choice form is one step in the onboarding link your new starter completes on their phone.

• A digital standard choice form. The Super Choice task is a digitised version of the ATO's Standard Super Choice form. The worker completes it in their browser, with no app or password.
• Stapled super from the ATO. Connect Canyou to the ATO once (Settings, then Superannuation, then Super Stapling), and Canyou retrieves each new starter's stapled fund during onboarding. They confirm it with one click. The setup takes about five minutes; see setting up super stapling.
• Checked before payroll. Super details are validated as the worker enters them, so typos, incorrect USIs and inactive memberships are caught before they reach payroll.
• No dead ends. If a worker chooses your default fund, Canyou registers their membership before their first payday. If they abandon onboarding without choosing, Canyou applies their stapled fund, or registers them with your default fund if there isn't one.
• Synced to payroll. Super, tax and bank details sync to payroll in one click (see the Xero integration), and each step is time-stamped against the worker, so your records are ISO audit-ready.

It all sits inside the same employee onboarding workflow as the TFN declaration, bank details, licences and contracts. With Canyou, onboarding takes about 15 minutes per worker, down from 6–10 hours.

Try for free (no credit card required), or Book a demo and we'll show you super stapling working end to end. Plans are on the pricing page.

Sources (accessed October 2026): ATO, Offer employees a choice of super fund; ATO, Superannuation standard choice form; ATO, Stapled super funds for employers; ATO, Payment deadlines for Payday Super.