Your super guarantee obligations
Before you calculate how much super guarantee (SG) to pay, you should work out if you have to pay super.
As an employer, it's compulsory to pay your eligible employees SG at least 4 times a year.
The SG percentage is the minimum SG rate you must pay for each eligible employee. From 1 July 2025 this is 12% of their ordinary time earnings (OTE) for the quarter. OTE are a subset of an employee’s salary and wages. You may pay SG at a higher rate under an award or agreement.
If you don't pay the required SG amount by the quarterly due date, you must pay the super guarantee charge.
Work out how much SG to pay
To work out how much SG to pay, you can use our calculator below.
Super guarantee contributions calculatorTo manually work out how much SG to pay for a quarter, multiply your employee's OTE (before tax) by the SG rate.
The SG rate applied is based on when you pay your eligible workers, not when they earned their income. If you're paying super at a higher rate, use that rate.
For employees who started during the quarter, work out their SG based on any OTE in the quarter.
Example: working out the super guarantee contribution
Xuan employs Danni. During the January to March quarter of the 2024–25 financial year, Xuan pays Danni a weekly wage of $1,036.52.
This includes:
- base pay of $1,012.60
- first aid allowance of $13.42
- cold work allowance of $10.50.
The SG percentage for the 2024–25 financial year is 11.5%. Xuan uses this SG percentage to calculate his SG liability for Danni each pay:
- $1,036.52 × 11.5% = $119.20.
Xuan then works out the SG contribution for Danni for the quarter:
- $119.20 × 13 weeks = $1,549.60.
Xuan contributes $1,549.60 to Danni's super fund by the quarterly due date of 28 April 2025. If Xuan fails to do this, he will have to pay the super guarantee charge, which is more than the SG he would have paid.
End of example
Example: working out the correct super guarantee contribution rate – fortnightly pay period
Peter employs Sue. For the fortnightly pay period ending 30 June 2024, Sue's pay includes:
- salary of $2,500
- higher duties allowance of $500
- overtime of $118.42
- overtime meal allowance of $25.
Overtime and overtime meal allowances are not payments in respect of Sue's ordinary hours of work. This means Sue’s OTE are:
- $2,500 + $500 = $3,000.
Peter pays Sue for this work on 3 July 2024. To work out his minimum SG contribution for Sue for the pay period, Peter uses the SG rate on the date he paid her salary. As of 1 July 2024, this is 11.5%.
- $3,000 × 11.5% = $345.
Example: working out the correct super guarantee contribution rate – monthly pay period
XYZ Pty Ltd employs Neil and pays him a monthly salary. Neil works from 22 June 2025 to 19 July 2025 and earns $6,200 in ordinary time earnings. XYZ Pty Ltd pays Neil for this work on 20 July 2025.
Some of the period Neil works is prior to 1 July. However, as XYZ Pty Ltd makes the payment after 1 July 2025, they need to calculate Neil's super based on the new rate of 12%.
The minimum SG contribution for Neil for the pay period is:
- $6,200 × 12% = $744.
Ordinary time earnings
Ordinary time earnings (OTE) are a subset of the pre-tax payments you make to your employees in respect of their ordinary hours of work.
OTE is a specific term defined in the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (SGAA). It reflects the minimum legislative amount upon which employers must base their SG contributions.
You don't have to pay SG for your employee's earnings above the quarterly maximum contribution base (MCB).
There may be additional obligations to contribute super amounts on payments defined in industrial instrumentsExternal Link (awards or agreements). However, those additional industrial amounts are not OTE.
Special rules apply to the calculation of contributions to defined benefit super funds. These funds pre-date the enactment of the SGAA and their conditions are preserved.
For information on which payments count as OTE, see our List of payments that are ordinary time earnings.
Some payments in respect of the ordinary hours of work don't count as OTE. See Payments that are not OTE.
Ordinary hours
Your employee's ordinary hours are those ordinary hours that are specified in an award or agreement. If the award or agreement doesn't specify an employee's ordinary hours, then their ordinary hours will be the regular or customary hours worked by the employee.
If you can't determine their regular or customary hours of work (such as for some casual workers), the actual hours the employee works are their ordinary hours of work.
The Fair Work Act 2009 definition of ordinary hoursExternal Link for workers not under an award or agreement caps them at 38 hours per week. This definition doesn't override the SG laws.
An employee's actual hours of work may vary over a longer period of time under an award or agreement, for example over a fortnight or a month. In these cases, the ordinary hours of work per week will equate to the hours stipulated in an award or agreement, provided the total hours worked within the period do not exceed the total hours specified in the award or agreement. In these cases, there may be weeks where the ordinary hours worked are higher than the average, but the payment for these hours is still OTE.
Example: variation in ordinary hours
Megan's ordinary hours are 70 per fortnight, or an average of 35 hours per week. Her employer issues a roster ahead of each pay period.
For the fortnight from 18 March to 31 March, Megan works:
- 38 hours in the first week
- 32 hours in the second week.
This means she worked 3 more hours in the first week than her average ordinary hours of 35 hours per week. However, these hours are still included in the calculation of Megan's OTE as her ordinary hours are spread across the fortnightly roster period.
End of exampleIf you pay an independent contractor mainly for their labour, you calculate SG on the labour component of the contract.
If you pay employees under the Road Transport (Long Distance Operations) Award 2020, see Super for long-distance drivers.
Quarterly maximum contribution base
You don't have to pay SG for your employee's earnings above a certain limit, called the quarterly maximum super contribution base (MCB).
This MCB amount is indexed annually and is usually available before the start of the financial year. The income limit for the 2024–25 financial year is $65,070 per quarter.
The base doesn't apply to other mandated super contributions, such as contributions you pay under an award. If these other super contributions are paid on earnings in excess of OTE for the purposes of the SGAA, these amounts are not SG contributions.
You may have additional obligations to pay super on certain payments under an industrial instrumentExternal Link (award or agreement) that are not OTE. Those payments are not considered for the MCB.
The MCB can't be calculated for a period other than the quarter, such as per pay period or per year. The amount of OTE paid so far in a quarter is compared to the MCB. Once the OTE paid exceeds the MCB, no additional SG contributions are required for that quarter.
Example: maximum contribution base for SG
Rory is the Marketing Manager of Brian's Books Pty Ltd.
During the July–September quarter of the 2025–26 financial year, Rory's OTE is $70,000.
The quarterly MCB for 2025–26 is $62,500.
Brian's Books Pty Ltd uses the maximum contribution base to work out the SG contribution for Rory for the quarter:
- $62,500 × 12% = $7,500.
Brian's Books Pty Ltd does not pay SG for Rory's OTE above $62,500.
End of example
Example: using the maximum contribution base where super is also paid on other amounts
Susan is the Store Manager for Groceries-R-Us Pty Ltd.
During the October to December quarter of the 2024–25 financial year, Susan's pay for her ordinary hours of work is $70,000. This includes $4,000 for paid parental leave. The SGAA excludes paid parental leave from OTE. However, Susan's award includes a clause that requires employers to contribute superannuation for all paid leave.
The quarterly MCB for 2024–25 is $65,070.
Groceries-R-Us Pty Ltd uses the MCB to work out the SG contribution for Susan for the quarter.
Susan's total OTE is greater than the MCB. However, the MCB can only be applied to the OTE that excludes paid parental leave, in line with the SGAA:
- $70,000 (OTE) – $4,000 (paid parental leave) = $66,000.
This is greater than the MCB of $65,070:
- $65,070 × 11.5% = $7,483.05.
Groceries-R-Us Pty Ltd contributes $7,483.05 of SG to Susan's super fund by the quarterly due date of 28 January 2025.
They also contribute an additional superannuation amount for her paid parental leave, in line with Susan's award.
End of exampleBack pay
You must pay SG on back pay of amounts that are OTE, even if the employee no longer works for you. SG is calculated and payable based on when you make the payment to your employee. This is regardless of the period the back pay payment relates to.
Back pay refers to payments that were payable before the current period. This may also include arrears payments that were payable more than 12 months ago. These payments are classified as lump sum E.
You must work out OTE on back pay or arrears payments based on the actual components being paid. For example, if an arrears payment includes ordinary hours, higher duties allowance, paid annual leave and overtime, all but the overtime is OTE.
Example: back pay for an employee that has finished employment
On 30 June 2025, Sue finishes her employment with Proud Puzzles Pty Ltd. In September 2025, Proud Puzzles Pty Ltd realise they have been underpaying employees. The company needs to give Sue back pay for the period 1 January 2025 to 30 June 2025. During this period, Sue had been underpaid for ordinary hours and overtime.
Proud Puzzles Pty Ltd works out Sue's total back pay amount for this period to be:
- $2,475 of ordinary hours
- $812 of overtime.
Proud Puzzles Pty Ltd pays Sue on 6 September 2025. They must pay an SG contribution for the OTE component of the back pay by the quarterly due date of 28 October 2025. That is 28 days after the quarter in which Sue is actually paid.
The company calculates Sue's SG contribution at 12% of the OTE component of her back pay. This is because her salary and wages back payment is made after 1 July 2025, when the SG rate increased from 11.5% to 12%.
SG contributions must be paid on the back pay for the quarter that corresponds to the date of payment – in this case, the July to September 2025 quarter. The payment would usually be made to the fund the company paid Sue's last SG contribution into.
The additional SG contribution for Sue for the period is:
- $2,475 × 12% = $297.
If the company doesn't pay the minimum SG on time to a complying super fund or retirement savings account, they will have to pay the super guarantee charge to us.
End of exampleDeath of an employee
Where an employee has died, you will need to pay any outstanding salary or wages, allowances, bonuses or similar payments to the employee's legal personal representative.
When this happens:
- any payments that were OTE for the employee are still OTE
- SG contributions for the OTE are required.
You may pay the SG to the employee's super fund or to the deceased employee's legal personal representative. In the case where you've paid the SG to the legal personal representative, the payment will be treated as though you've paid it to a complying super fund.