Service credits and annual statements for building and construction workers
Find out how you accrue service credits for the portable long service payments scheme if you are a worker, contractor or working director and learn how to get your annual statement.
Annual statement
You can find your annual financial year statement on the Worker Portal from September to January every financial year.
Your annual statement includes:
- total recorded service at the start of the financial year
- service credits added during the financial year
- names of employers who notified Long Service Corporation (LSC) of service
- days credited from self-employed worker certificate of service lodged by your tax agent
- total service claimed
- total recorded service in the scheme at 30 June each year.
Check your statement to make sure all your NSW building and construction work is listed. Any service lodged after 31 July may not show on your statement until the following year. To view your most up to date recorded service, log in to the Worker Portal.
Notify LSC of missing service or incorrect details via the Worker Portal.
If you are a contractor, you will need to have a registered tax agent lodge a certificate of service for each year you perform eligible building and construction work in NSW. Your tax agent can complete your certificate on the Tax Agent Portal.
If you have not lodged a certificate for work completed for more than the 2 previous financial years, you must notify LSC and provide evidence of special circumstances by:
- using our enquiry form, or
- calling 13 14 41.
How you get service credits in the scheme
The scheme covers eligible workers that are:
- on wages or salary (casual, part time or full time)
- apprentices
- sole traders
- workers in partnerships, and
- working directors.
You accrue service credits for days worked in the NSW building and construction industry. The maximum number of days credited in one year is 220, and includes:
- public holidays
- weekends
- annual leave.
Your employment status will determine how we record service.
If you are not sure of your employment status, you should check the Australian Taxation Office and Fair Work Australia websites.
If you are an worker, your employer will update your service record:
- at the end of a financial year, or
- when your employment is terminated.
If you are a contractor, your records are updated when your registered tax agent lodges your certificate of service each financial year.
Service credits may also be added if a worker applies for missing service or special service credits. Acceptable proof of employment will be required. An individual tax return from the Australian Taxation Office is preferred and can usually be accessed from the myGov website.
LSC records your employment details from information provided by your employer.
Employers are required to:
- register with LSC
- tell us the start and end date for a worker
- check and confirm all registered workers have their service recorded each financial year.
We use this information to add to a worker’s record.
An annual statement is available for registered workers via the Worker Portal from September to January. The annual statement shows the total recorded service for the previous financial year. It is important that workers check their statements to ensure all eligible work is listed and notify LSC of any missing service.
Workers in the building and construction industry who are contractors and want to have service recorded for the purpose of claiming a long service payment must first register as a worker with LSC.
Once registered, your tax agent will need to lodge a Self-Employed Worker Certificate of Service online at the end of each financial year.
Learn more about registering as a contractor.
Calculating service credits for contractors
Credits for contractors are calculated differently to employees. The number of days credited is calculated from the assessable income the worker received from the building and construction work minus prescribed costs incurred in earning that income each financial year.
The prescribed costs are listed in the Regulation to the Building and Construction Industry Long Service Payments Act 1986. When your tax agent lodges a Self-Employed Worker Certificate of Service, they're verifying that the particulars are as declared in the worker's income tax return for the same period.
For more information and examples of prescribed costs or how service is calculated for contractors, read the Contractor guide.
You can join the scheme if you are performing eligible building and construction work and are a working director or family member of the owner or director.
Read more about eligibility and registration for working directors.
Working directors doing eligible work for part of the time can have their service recorded on a part-time basis.
Service credits can be recorded for a full day where eligible work is performed for more than half of the worker's ordinary workday.
For example, in an 8-hour ordinary workday, 4 or more hours must be spent doing eligible building and construction work.
Missing service and recognition of past work
Check the Worker Portal or your Annual Statement to make sure all your eligible work has been recorded correctly.
If you think service is missing from your record, contact your employer first and ask them to update it.
If the work was performed more than 2 financial years ago, we may still be able to consider it if there are special circumstances that explain why it was not reported earlier.
If service is missing from your record
- Contact your employer.
- Provide your worker registration number.
- Ask them to update your service record.
This is the fastest way to add missing service to your record.
If your employer has ceased trading, is in liquidation, refuses to update your service record, or cannot update it, you can apply for recognition of past work through the Worker Portal.
If you are a contractor
Your registered tax agent must submit a Self-employed worker certificate of service for each financial year you perform eligible building and construction work in NSW.
If service is missing from your record, contact your registered tax agent.
Apply for recognition of past work
If your employer refuses or cannot update your service, you can apply for recognition of past work by completing a Missing Service application through the Worker Portal.
Before you apply
Have acceptable proof of employment ready to upload.
The combined proof of employment documentation must show evidence of all 5 points of the following:
- Description of the type of work.
- The start and end dates for the period requested.
- The income for every financial year of the period requested.
- The employer details – employer name and ABN.
- The worker details – your full name.
Use the table of acceptable proof of employment to see what evidence you can provide and where to get it.
If you are a working director or a family member, the only acceptable proof of employment is an individual tax return issued by the Australian Taxation Office.
Note: Please cross out your tax file number when providing proof of employment.
Late or unclaimable service
Service shown as late or unclaimable on your annual statement or in the Worker Portal is not included in your service balance.
Service is:
- late if it was submitted more than 2 financial years after it was due
- unclaimable if it relates to a period before your registration date.
To request that late or unclaimable service be included in your service record, contact us and provide:
- the reason why you didn’t tell us earlier, and
- supporting suitable evidence for the period of service.
After we receive your request, we’ll contact you to discuss the work performed so we can assess your request.
If you are a contractor, to request recognition of service from more than 2 financial years ago, you need to provide:
- your ABN
- additional information about the work performed, and
- the reason for the delay in reporting the service.
Not recording service for 4 consecutive years
If a worker has registered in the scheme but has not recorded any service credits for 4 consecutive years, their registration may be cancelled or suspended.
Read more about cancellations, suspensions and appeals.
Workers should also check whether they may be eligible for:
- non-service days due to certain personal circumstances
- special service credits for certain work and training situations or
- whether they are entitled to claim long service payment.
Commonwealth places and service credits
If you are working on Commonwealth land or a Commonwealth place (places owned or controlled by the Australian Government), you cannot get service credits but you can apply for non-service days.