Answer
A Member Verification Request (MVR) is a SuperStream message that asks an employee's super fund to confirm the member's account details before you make a contribution. From 1 July 2026 the ATO requires this check before the first contribution to an employee's fund, as part of the move to Payday Super. Lightning Payroll handles this for you automatically — there is nothing extra to set up.
When Lightning Payroll sends a Member Verification Request
The check runs automatically while you are submitting your super contributions through SuperStream. You do not send it from a separate screen.
- It applies from 1 July 2026 onwards. Before that date, your super submissions are unchanged.
- It is sent only before the first contribution to a given employee-and-fund combination. Once a contribution to that fund has gone through for that employee, no further verification is sent for that pairing, so you will not see it on every pay.
- It applies to Australian super funds. Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are not verified this way.
What you will see when sending super
When a verification is needed, a Verifying Super Fund Members window appears and does the work for you. It sends the requests and then keeps checking with the funds automatically, so you do not need to click anything or keep waiting. The window lists each employee and fund and updates as replies come in:
- Verified — the fund confirmed the member's details.
- Still confirming — the fund has not replied yet.
- Could not be verified — the fund could not confirm the member's details, with a short reason.
As soon as every member is verified, Lightning Payroll continues sending your contributions on its own. In most cases this happens within a few seconds and you never have to make a decision.
If a fund is taking a while to reply
Most funds reply in seconds, but some can occasionally take hours or, in rare cases, a day or two to respond. Lightning Payroll waits about two minutes and then, if a fund still has not replied, it stops waiting so you are not left watching the screen. This is normal and does not mean anything is wrong.
When that happens, the simplest thing to do is close the window and carry on. The request is already with the fund, and Lightning Payroll re-checks for the reply automatically every time you open SuperStream — the remaining members will verify on their own once the fund responds, and you do not need to send the request again. Nothing is lost by walking away.
Over 99% of verifications succeed, so a delay almost never means a problem. If you are confident the fund and member details are correct, you can proceed now using the options described below. When the fund does reply, Lightning Payroll sends a SuperStream response notification to your registered account email address, with the fund's response attached, so you do not have to keep checking. You can also review a completed verification at any time under Super Fund Deposits >> SuperStream Mailbox by setting the message Type filter at the top of the screen to Mvr.
If Lightning Payroll needs your decision
Lightning Payroll only stops to ask you when a fund actually rejects a member, or when a fund is taking longer than about two minutes and some members are still unconfirmed. When that happens the window offers you a choice:
- Send verified now — send the contributions for the members who were verified, and hold the rest back for later.
- Send all anyway (override) — send every contribution this once, including one a fund has rejected. This appears only when a fund has actively rejected a member, and the fund may still reject the contribution.
- Approve & skip future checks — send every contribution now, including the unconfirmed ones, and stop verifying those employee-and-fund pairings from now on, so this window will not appear for them again. Use this only when you are certain the fund and member details are correct.
- Cancel and roll back — stop and discard the verification requests so you can try again later. Nothing is sent.
Anything you hold back is not lost — those amounts stay owing and are offered again, and verified again, the next time you contribute to that fund.
If a member cannot be verified
A member that could not be verified usually means the account details the fund holds do not match what is recorded for the employee. Check the employee's super fund details (the USI, member number and personal details) against what the fund has on file, then try again.
If Lightning Payroll tells you a fund is not yet certified to receive Member Verification Requests, that fund has not finished setting up for this part of SuperStream. Please contact the fund and ask when they will be ready to receive verifications.
You can still choose to send a contribution that a fund has rejected, but the fund may reject it again. Where possible, resolve the verification first.
If an employee's details are incomplete
To be verified, an employee needs a date of birth and something the fund can match them on — either a Tax File Number or their fund member number. If an employee who needs verifying is missing one of these, Lightning Payroll no longer holds up everyone else. It holds back just that employee's super, verifies and sends everyone else, and shows you a Member details needed message listing who was held back and why (for example, "no date of birth on file").
The held-back amounts are not lost — they stay owing and are offered again the next time you send super. Add the missing details to the employee's record, then send again and those members will be verified along with the rest.
