International Companies

International Companies

Engaging employees or contractors in Australia is a highly regulated process with governance applied at the national level and in each state and territory. Therefore there are many compliance issues to be considered from an employer’s perspective, and from an employee’s perspective an employer must consider carefully how employees are paid due to the Australian Taxation Offices complex laws.

For example, the following two payroll components require detailed understanding:

  • Superannuation. Superannuation is a Government controlled compulsory savings scheme for employees. An employer must contribute an amount equal to 9% of wages to a superannuation fund. Employers must make this payment to an employee’s superannuation account quarterly – those that do not, will be penalised by the Australian Taxation Office. Therefore an employee’s salary must be considered by an employer as consisting of a base salary and superannuation. PayMe Australia contributes the superannuation component to an employee’s superannuation account monthly for each client. Contractors also receive superannuation using a slightly different format.

  • Salary Sacrifice. A Salary sacrifice is a method of increasing an employee’s net pay by deducting legal amounts for work related expenses from pre tax dollars. In many parts of the world it is known as a tax credit. It is important to allow your employees / contractors to salary sacrifice because most are taxed at greater than 40 cents in the dollar. Our experience is that you will attract and retain employees / contractors at a greater rate than your competitors if you permit salary sacrifices.

PayMe can give you the competitive edge in Australia

PayMe will relieve you of the complex compliance issues associated with paying employees and contractors in Australia by providing the following services:

  • pay
  • easy to read and understand payslip click here to see an example
  • payment of tax
  • payment of superannuation on a monthly basis
  • $10m Public Liability and $5m Professional Indemnity insurance
  • workers compensation
  • payment summaries within the first two (2) weeks of the new financial year
  • all salary packaging / sacrifices including car and motorcycle leases at no additional cost
  • advice regarding what can be claimed as a salary sacrifice and how to make claims
  • full claims for Living Away From Home Allowances (LAHFA) at no additional cost
  • contact by telephone and email at all times during business hours
  • secure online access for your pay and superannuation records with the ability to update key personal information through our Employee Self Service (ESS) portal
  • access to the PayMe Benefits Program
  • a guaranteed payroll provision at greater than 99% accuracy

Please note that at no time does PayMe Australia engage with your clients in Australia.

Operating mechanism

After you contact us to express an interest in our service we work as a team to define:

  • your needs analysis
  • your contract with PayMe, and
  • your service level agreement with which you will hold PayMe accountable.

Fee structure

Our fee structure is determined when we conduct your needs analysis. It is percentage based and varies based on your average employee salary. We use a tailored approach to fee structure because our clients have employees on salaries between $25,000 and $300,000 per year. We only need to cover our transaction costs as opposed to charging the same percentage fee to every client.

The key outcome of our fee structure is that it will approximately halve your existing payroll related costs. Alternatively, if you are new business our services will reduce the impact of one of the most difficult components of establishing a new business.

The need to register as a foreign company

Before a foreign company can conduct business in Australia it must register as a foreign company with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and PayMe can assist you with this process.  

Once registered, a foreign company will be allocated an Australian Registered Body Number (ARBN).  The requirements for registration of a foreign company include:

  • appointment of a local agent (either a person or a company) for service of notices, but who may also be liable for acts of the foreign company in Australia
  • maintenance of a registered office in Australia
  • lodgement of a certified copy of its certificate of incorporation and constitution, and a list of current directors including names, addresses, dates and places of birth, occupations and any public company directorships
  • a list of powers of the Australian resident directors, and
  • details of any charges, mortgages or similar security over any of the company’s property located in Australia (if any).

Registered foreign companies must lodge a copy of their annual accounts together with any other documents which they are required to prepare under the laws of their place of incorporation with ASIC. See the ASIC website for further information.