What is Beam?
Beam is the optional integration available to Tanda Payroll customers to process superannuation payments. As a super clearing house, Beam uses the super details collected in Tanda Payroll each pay run to distribute superannuation entitlements to your employees' funds.
Pay super accruals through Beam
This article steps through the process of registering with Beam, as well as setting up and paying super batches through Tanda Payroll. Once you've set up your Beam account through Tanda Payroll, you can start sending and paying super batches.
To check super accruals before paying them, click the Super Accruals page under Payroll > Reports and filter the report using the "Payment Date" filter.
📝 Important to note: If employees are enrolled in a Self-Managed Super Fund, their first super payment must be paid to Beam through BPAY. This is a security precaution implemented by Beam to avoid payments to fraudulent accounts. Once the first BPAY transaction verifies the SMSF account, future contributions can use other methods like EFT or Direct Debit.
Using external clearing houses in Tanda
If you are using an external clearing house for your super payments, Tanda allows you to create and download super batches in CSV format to streamline the process. You can then upload this file to your external clearing house for payment processing. Follow these steps:
Generate a super batch in Tanda by navigating to Payroll > Pay Super.
Click + New.
Fill out the necessary fields and click Create.
Once the batch is created, click Actions > Download CSV File.
Tick 'Mark super batch as paid' if required, then click Download CSV.
Upload the file to your clearing house to complete the process.
Create a super batch
To create a super batch:
Navigate to Payroll > Pay Super
Click the + New button
Filter the period that the super is being paid for using the From and To fields (by default these will align with regular financial quarters e.g. 1 April - 30 June)
Select whether all staff should be included, or only staff on certain pay periods, through the Pay Period dropdown
Select whether you'll be paying all super, only mandatory contributions, or only voluntary contributions through the Contribution types dropdown
Click the Create button
Note: These dates will filter the Payment Date of the pay run, not the dates of the pay period, which can be found in the Payment Date column of your Pay Runs:
Enable the Beam integration
You'll have the option to select Beam as your super clearing house when first submitting a super batch in Tanda Payroll.
If this is your first time using Beam, click the "Register with Beam" option at the top of your super batch:
This will send you to the Beam Registration page to confirm your details, payment method, configure a default fund, and to read and accept the terms and conditions. Some of these fields may already be populated by information you've entered in Tanda Payroll.
📝 Important to note: You'll need to sign up with Beam through Tanda Payroll using this process to ensure Beam and Tanda are connected. This means if you have an existing Beam account, you'll need to create a new account through Tanda Payroll.
For multiple company payroll users: Tanda and Beam will automate the sign-up for each of your entities in Tanda Payroll.
Submit a super batch to Beam
Once you've created a super batch and enabled the Beam integration, the super accruals will appear with a total payment amount, ready to submit to Beam.
To submit:
Open the relevant super batch
Click the Submit Payments button
Select the Payment method from the dropdown menu
Specify which accounts should be used to debit/refund to (depending on the payment method)
Click the Submit to Beam button once settings have been configured
Once complete, your super fund contributions will have been submitted to Beam. Any issues with the submission will appear on the next page.
Making payment
If you've selected EFT or BPAY as your payment method, you'll need to make a payment in full to Beam after submitting your super batch. You'll be emailed a reminder to make the payment.
If you've entered Direct Debit details for payment, you'll automatically be debited the full amount. You may need to authorise Beam to make debits with your bank for your first payment.
📝 Important to note: If employees are enrolled in a Self-Managed Super Fund, their first super payment must be paid to Beam through BPAY. This is a security precaution implemented by Beam to avoid payments to fraudulent accounts. This ensures that SMSF payment accounts are verified through the initial transaction, allowing subsequent payments to utilize other methods such as EFT or Direct Debit.
Beam Payment Details
For EFT and BPAY, the account details to pay Beam will be shown on the page directly after submitting. It's important that you enter the details correctly to ensure payment is made to Beam and subsequently to your employee's super funds:
BSB - Same for each super payment you make
Account Number - Same for each super payment you make
Account Name - Same for each super payment you make
Reference Number - Different for each super payment you make
We recommend copying and pasting the details directly from Tanda Payroll and confirming information is correct when making a payment.
📝 Important to note: Your reference number will change for each payment to Beam. Make sure the correct reference number is used for each payment, otherwise Beam may have to refund the payment. If this is incorrect, email payrollsupport@tanda.co with the updated reference number.
Confirmation and invoicing
Once payment has been made successfully, you'll be notified via email.
If any issues arise with the payment, you'll also be notified via email. Refer to the Payment reconciliation issues to learn more.
If it is partially successful, your batch in Tanda Payroll will show as a "Partially Paid" status, where the refunded contributions will show at the top of the batch:
📝 Important to note: Beam is issued by Precision Administration Services Pty Ltd (Precision), and therefore the invoice will show PRECISION ADMINISTRATION SERVICES PTY LTD as the debiting account. Refunds will also come through to your account from Precision Administration Services Pty Ltd.
Resubmitting a super batch
If there are issues with your super batch, you'll have the opportunity to resubmit it for any unsuccessful employees.
The status of the super batch will show as partially paid, and a summary of the issues and affected staff will appear at the top of the page.
After addressing any issues with the initial submission and payment, use the RE-BATCH UNPAID SUPER button to create a new batch for resubmission:
Payment reconciliation issues
If there are issues with payments made to Beam, you'll be notified directly.
Issue | Description | Action |
Underpayment (EFT) | Payment made by the employer is less than the total of the submitted contribution process. | Notification is sent to employer, and 5 days are given to receive remaining payment.
If payment is not received within 5 days of the submission time, batch is cancelled and payment initially received is refunded back in full. |
Overpayment (EFT) | EFT overpayment made by the employer is greater than the total of the submitted contribution process. | Overpaid amount refunded manually within 1 day of submission.
Requires correct Reference Number to be used in initial payment. |
Overpayment (EFT through NPP & OSKO) | EFT overpayments through NPP & OSKO | Overpayment gets refunded back in full manually 10 days after submission.
Requires correct Reference Number to be used in initial payment. |
No Payment (EFT, BPAY) | Employer fails to send their payment to Beam within 3 business days from when the contribution process was submitted. | Notification is sent to employer on day 3 and batch is automatically cancelled if payment is not received by day 10. |
Dishonour (Direct debit) | Employer has submitted a direct debit contribution process and when Beam have attempted to debit the funds the bank dishonours the request. | Notification is sent to employer advising payment needs to be received by day 10 or batch gets cancelled.
Option for an alternative payment method (EFT or BPAY) is given. |
📝 Important to note: The BSB and Account Number for that Tanda Payroll file will be used in cases where Beam refunds part/ all of your batch payment.
If you receive a super refund to your bank account and there is no refund showing in your Tanda account, please reach out to payrollsupport@tanda.co for help. We will generally ask for a screenshot of the refunded amount to troubleshoot with Beam.
Troubleshooting Super Batch and Fund Issues
Submission Warnings
See below for different warnings you may see on your super batch, and the reason the warning is appearing.
"No phone number"
"No phone number"
The submitting user has no phone number in profile, or an employee in the batch has no phone number in the profile.
"The ABN provided is not known to the message receiver. If the superannuation fund is a self managed super fund (SMSF), please confirm with the employee that the ESA provided is correct; or please contact the fund for more information. Please note, no refund is associated with this message."
"The ABN provided is not known to the message receiver. If the superannuation fund is a self managed super fund (SMSF), please confirm with the employee that the ESA provided is correct; or please contact the fund for more information. Please note, no refund is associated with this message."
This is a warning that the SMSF ESA (Electronic Service Address) is incorrect. This can be updated through Payroll > Payroll settings > Super Funds
Sometimes contributions that have previously been paid successfully may still trigger this warning. This can occur if the ESA subscription has expired and needs to be renewed, or if the SMSF has changed to a different ESA provider.
If the ESA is not recognised by the SMSF, the ESA will not be able to send the electronic messaging required under SuperStream regulations to accompany SMSF contributions. In these cases, the warning will need to be resolved before contributions can be processed successfully.
Learn more about getting an ESA here.
“The USI provided for this superannuation fund does not match to an APRA regulated superannuation fund"
“The USI provided for this superannuation fund does not match to an APRA regulated superannuation fund"
Please check the Super Fund Lookup to ensure the USI and details you have in your account match an APRA-regulated super fund.
This can also occur if super funds are in the process of merging.
“Only numbers are permitted in the account number”
“Only numbers are permitted in the account number”
Please check the account number within the reporting details section of your Tanda account under Payroll > Payroll settings > Company setup.
“The family name for the contact contains characters that are not permitted under Superstream standards. If you proceed, non-permitted characters will be removed.”
“The family name for the contact contains characters that are not permitted under Superstream standards. If you proceed, non-permitted characters will be removed.”
This usually means there is a character in the employee’s name field, such as an "è", that will not be accepted by the Superstream.
Super Batch Submission Troubleshooting
See below for some of the most common refund reasons.
“No member found with supplied information”
“No member found with supplied information”
There are several possible reasons for this message:
The employee’s details in Tanda do not match what the super fund has on file (Legal name, Middle names, maiden names, date of birth, TFN).
The membership number is incorrect (Make sure there are no non-numeric entries).
Sometimes super funds merge, so existing USIs are no longer valid. A new USI and Membership number could be created, and employee funds could be transferred to a new account.
Could be a valid superfund, but the employee is not registered with a membership.
If past submissions were correct, and a new submission failed despite the employee's details not changing, it's worth checking if there have been any recent updates to the super fund’s USI listed in your account under Payroll > Payroll Settings > Super Funds.
Batch status error of “Error by BPAY”
Batch status error of “Error by BPAY”
If you see the above batch error, this can sometimes mean there are issues with Beam assigning the payment to the correct batch (e.g., if the payment reference entered in the bank transfer does not match what is shown in the batch). Please contact payrollsupport@tanda.co if this occurs.
Handling Super Overpayments
Beam cannot process negative net super amounts. To cancel out a super overpayment, you will need to add negative super accruals to future super batches with other payments. You can do this by adding negative super lines in one of the employee's payslips before posting it. Ensure the payment date for that pay run aligns with the dates of the super batch you want to add it to.
There are two things to be aware of when submitting a batch that contains negative accruals:
You can't submit a batch where the total is negative. There must be enough positive accruals across the batch to offset any negative lines.
e.g., This could not be submitted as the total payment amount is a negative:
Contribution types must match. Positive accruals only offset negatives of the same contribution type. E.g., a positive SGC accrual won't cancel out a negative salary sacrifice accrual.
e.g., This should not be submitted - There are not enough positives of the same contribution type to offset that negative amount:
So, if a payslip includes a negative super accrual, make sure it's included in a batch alongside positive accruals of the same contribution type that are large enough to cover it.
Related articles: Additional super contributions - Salary sacrifice & Employer additional