Sent to Australia by an Indian employer? Why your payslip may show no super

Since 1 July 2026, employers in Australia have had to pay super guarantee contributions for each payday, at the general rate of 12 per cent. A worker sent here by an employer in India can still see no Australian super on payslip after payslip, and the employer may be acting within the law. Whether it is turns largely on one document: a certificate of coverage India issues for employees posted to countries it has a social security agreement with.

The document exists because of a treaty. Australia and India signed a social security agreement in Canberra on 18 November 2014, and it has operated since 1 January 2016. On the Australian side it reaches two areas only, the age pension and the super guarantee. The part dealing with workers is there to ensure that employers and employees do not carry a “double liability” under both countries’ laws for the same work. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) lists the result among the cases where employers do not have to pay super: employees temporarily working in Australia who are covered by a bilateral agreement.

Five conditions and a five-year clock

The rule sits in Article 8, and its starting point is the place where the work is done. An employee working in Australia, and the employer, are subject only to Australia’s law for that work. In this part of the agreement, Australia’s law means the super guarantee. India’s means its legislation on old-age, survivors’ and permanent total disability pensions for employed people, and the agreement names the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) as the Indian institution.

The exception is written for the secondee. It applies when the employee is covered by Indian law and was sent here by an employer subject to that law. The employee must also be working for that employer or a related entity, must not be working in Australia permanently, and must not yet have reached five years since being sent. A related entity, in the agreement’s terms, is a member of the same wholly or majority owned group. When every condition holds, employer and employee are subject only to Indian law for the work and the pay. EPFO’s brochure for international workers says Indian employees in agreement countries are exempt from contributing to the host country’s system “provided they are complying with the Indian Social Security System”.

The five-year limit can be extended “with the mutual consent of the Competent Authorities” of the two countries.

No certificate of coverage, no treaty exemption

Article 11 supplies the paperwork. At the employer’s request, the authority of the country whose law applies issues a certificate saying so and stating how long it is valid. EPFO says it is authorised to issue these certificates to employees posted to agreement countries. Its online portal for international workers is addressed to employers, who sign in with the login they use for EPFO’s Unified Portal, and it lists applications for a certificate and for an extension of one.

The Australian end is shorter. An employer relying on the exemption “must keep a copy of the employee’s certificate of coverage to prove the exemption”, according to the ATO, which says it may ask to see the certificate. The opposite case gets a single sentence: “Without it, non-Australian employers must pay super in Australia (unless they meet an exemption).” Behind that sits the ATO’s general rule: “Generally, all employees are eligible for super guarantee.” Temporary residents are included.

EPFO’s brochure also gives a count. By 27 July 2022, 50,458 certificates had been issued under the agreement with Australia, more than under any of India’s other agreements except the one with Germany, and 4,197 of them were active on that date.

When the secondment stops being one

Several of the conditions can fall away while the worker is here. A man born in Chennai who is sent to Melbourne by his Bengaluru employer, and later joins an Australian company outside that group, is no longer working for the employer or a related entity. A secondee whose work here becomes permanent falls outside the exception as well, and so does one who reaches five years without an agreed extension. In each case the agreement’s starting point returns. For super, only Australia’s law then covers the work, and the super guarantee applies as it would to any other job here.

Income tax runs on a separate treaty

Tax is a different question. The social security agreement lists the Australian laws it covers, and neither income tax nor the Medicare levy is on the list. Salary is dealt with in a separate treaty, the double tax agreement Australia and India signed in Canberra on 25 July 1991. Under its Article 15, pay that a resident of India earns for work done in Australia is taxable only in India if three conditions are all met. The person must be present in Australia for no more than 183 days in total in an Australian year of income. The pay must be made by, or on behalf of, an employer that is not an Australian resident. And it must not be deductible in working out the taxable profits of a permanent establishment or fixed base the employer has in Australia. If any one of them fails, Australia may tax that pay. One treaty counts in years; the other counts in days.

On a secondee’s payslip, a missing super line looks the same whether the treaty is working as signed or an employer has failed to pay super it owes. The difference lies in a certificate issued in India at the employer’s request. The employer is required to keep a copy.