New Employee Paperwork: A Compliance Checklist for Australian Employers

Most guides to onboarding, including our own guide on the importance of employee onboarding, focus on the human side: introductions, culture, expectations, training. That is the part that decides whether a new hire stays.

But there is a second side that decides whether you stay compliant: a small stack of paperwork with real deadlines attached. This guide is the compliance companion piece, covering the statements and forms every Australian employer has to get right in a new employee's first days and weeks.

The information statements, and which one applies

Every new employee must be given a copy of the Fair Work Information Statement (FWIS) before they start, or as soon as possible after. That is the baseline for everyone, regardless of the kind of role they are stepping into.

On top of it, there are two extra statements matched to the employment type. New casual employees must also receive the Casual Employment Information Statement, and new fixed-term employees must be given the Fixed Term Contract Information Statement when their fixed-term contract starts.

A common mix-up is treating the FWIS as an either/or, as though a casual employee gets the casual statement instead of the FWIS. It does not work that way. The FWIS goes to everyone; the casual and fixed-term statements are additional, handed over alongside it when they apply.

Tax file number declarations: the first 28-day clock

New employees can complete their TFN declaration and super fund choice online as "commencement forms" through ATO online services via myGov, and they must do so within 28 days of starting. If an employee has applied for a TFN but not yet received it, they have 28 days to give it to you.

Miss that window and the consequence lands on the payslip: the employer must withhold tax at the top marginal rate plus the Medicare levy until the TFN arrives. Nobody enjoys that conversation, so it pays to get the form moving in week one, not week four.

Super choice and stapled funds: the second clock

Since 1 November 2021, if a new employee does not choose their own super fund, you may need to request their "stapled super fund" details from the ATO before any contributions can go to your default fund. A stapled fund is the existing fund that follows the employee from job to job, and the point of the rule is to stop workers collecting a new account with every new employer.

Two timing rules matter here. You can only make the stapled-fund request after the employee has accepted the offer of employment, and you can only make it up until the point they choose their own fund. Paying super into the wrong fund is one of the more tedious things to unwind, so build the stapled-fund check into the same step as the TFN paperwork rather than leaving it for later.

A simple sequence that keeps you out of trouble

Put together, the whole thing runs in a short ordered flow:

1. On acceptance of the offer, get the TFN declaration and super choice forms moving, and make the stapled-fund request if no fund is chosen.
2. Before or on day one, hand over the FWIS, plus the casual or fixed-term statement if it applies.
3. Within the first month, confirm the TFN has landed and super contributions are pointed at the right fund.

Then get on with the human side of onboarding, which is where retention is actually won. Our guides on staff turnover and employee onboarding cover that ground.

One warning worth repeating

The Fair Work Ombudsman and the ATO update these statements and forms periodically. Always download the current version from fairwork.gov.au or ato.gov.au when someone new starts, and never reuse a PDF saved from the last hire. A statement that was current a year ago may be missing something an employee is now entitled to be told.

This guide is general information, not legal advice; the requirements for your specific situation are worth checking against the current official sources.

If getting the paperwork, contracts and onboarding process into a repeatable system is on your list, that is exactly the kind of thing People Management Partners sets up for small and medium businesses.