What changed
- Many rules stay the same under Payday Super. You still apply the same eligibility rules to work out who you pay super for, including for independent contractors.
- Employers who don’t pay the right amount, on time, and to the correct fund, are liable for the super guarantee charge (SGC).
- Super is calculated at 12% of qualifying earnings.
- Super is now paid for each payday, in line with salary and wages, whether that’s paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
- Super must generally be received by the super fund within 7 business days after payday to be considered on-time (unless longer applies, such as for new employees).
- For new employees or payments to a super fund for the first time, you will have 20 business days for the initial contribution.
- Both qualifying earnings and super liability amounts need to be reported through Single Touch Payroll.
- The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) has closed permanently.
What to do in July
- Employers will have multiple super payments due in July 2026. This may include the final quarterly super payment due 28 July as well as super payments due for each payday.
- Between 1 July 2026 and 28 July 2026, transitional rules apply to allocate any contributions made to outstanding quarterly payments first, before being applied to payday periods.
- From 29 July 2026, super will only be allocated towards Payday Super amounts.
- If the employee’s super fund doesn’t receive the contributions for the final quarter ending 30 June 2026 by 28 July, the employer will need to lodge an SG statement and pay the SGC to the ATO. No late payment offset is available for this quarter.
- In Payday Super, late payments will automatically be applied to the oldest outstanding payday super amount.
- You won’t need to do anything differently during the transitional period, the rules will apply automatically.
- Visit ato.gov.au/PaydaySuperChange for examples.
Paying super contributions late for quarter ending 30 June 2026
- Super for the quarter ending 30 June 2026 is due by 28 July 2026. If you miss this deadline:
- you must lodge an SG statement by 28 August and pay the SGC to the ATO for the June quarter.
- any super payments received on or after 29 July will be applied under the new Payday Super rules, even if you intended these payments to be made for any super you owe for the June quarter.
- you are unable to claim late payment offset (LPO) to transfer these amounts to the quarterly super regime.
Note: The final quarter you can claim LPO was for the quarter ending 31 March 2026. Late payment offsets can only be claimed for the March quarter and earlier if the payment was made on or before 30 June 2026.
Checking funds will accept your contributions
- Before you pay super for the first time for an employee, if your payroll software solution or clearing house provides this functionality, you must check that your employee's super fund will accept your contributions by submitting a new member verification request.
- The super fund will quickly confirm if your employee's details match an active account and that they can accept your contributions for that employee.
- You can also submit a member verification request:
- where there has been a change in employee information (such as name)
- where a contribution has been previously rejected.
Know where you can find errors and how to fix them immediately
- You need to identify and fix errors quickly to pay super within the 7 business day timeframe to avoid the super guarantee charge (SGC).
- If and how errors are presented can vary between different products across payroll providers. Employers can check their payroll provider’s help content or review documentation.
- If you don’t pay using a SuperStream compliant method, your contributions may be rejected without an error message and you won’t know of the error until the payment returns to your bank account.
What to do if something goes wrong
- If you make a mistake you should fix it as soon as possible and keep a record of what happened and how you corrected it.
- If you miss a super payment, pay the wrong amount or pay to the wrong fund, pay any outstanding super to your employee’s correct fund as soon as possible. You can find out more about what to do at ato.gov.au/PDScompliance.
Common scenarios
My contribution was rejected by the fund:
- Review the error, correct the details and resubmit the contribution quickly. There’s no extension to the deadline if a payment is rejected.
- If you are outside of the 7 business days due date, you should pay the outstanding amount to the employee’s super fund as soon as possible.
I missed paying super contributions or paid the wrong amount:
- Until you receive a notice of assessment from the ATO, pay any unpaid super guarantee to the super fund as soon as possible and update your reporting as needed.
- If you receive a notice of assessment, pay the super guarantee charge to the ATO by the due date.
I’ve identified an error in my reporting:
- If you identify an error, correct it through your payroll system as soon as possible.
- Check your reporting and contribution details match (for example ABN in your payroll and contribution file, and employee details such as TFN).
- Review your STP reporting to make sure your year-to-date (YTD) amounts reflect what you’ve paid.
- Keep good records, especially when corrections are made.
- Make any outstanding payments to the fund.
Paying super contributions late
- Under Payday Super, super contributions are automatically applied to the oldest outstanding amount owed (if any) in the order they are received by the fund. This means if you miss one or more payments, your next payment will be allocated towards the first missed amount, even if it was intended for a different period.
- If super payments are not received by the right super fund by the due date and in the correct amount, you are liable for the super guarantee charge (SGC). Generally, payments must be received within 7 business days after payday, unless longer applies.
- The SGC is:
- assessed by the ATO
- calculated based on qualifying earnings
- includes daily compounding interest
- includes an administrative uplift amount
- includes a choice loading
- tax deductible.
- You cannot claim a tax deduction for:
- any interest that accrues on the SGC
- the late payment penalty that was imposed for failing to pay the super guarantee charge.
- Once the ATO has calculated your SGC, they will send you a notice of assessment. The assessment is made on the day the notice is provided to you.
- The SGC is due and payable on the day the ATO makes the assessment.
Our compliance approach for the first year (1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027)
The ATO will:
- take a supportive approach, recognising employers who try to do the right thing and resolve issues quickly
- acknowledge that it may take time for employers to adjust to the new requirements
- focus their compliance action on employers who are not trying to pay on time or not pay super at all
- consider you:
- low risk – if you’re trying to pay super guarantee contributions on time for all of your eligible employees (including eligible contractors) and fixing any errors as soon as possible
- medium risk – if you’re not switching to paying super on a payday cycle or fixing errors quickly but still making payments based on the previous quarterly system
- high risk – if you have ongoing late payments, errors and underpayments which have not been resolved within 28 days of the end of a quarter
- You can find out more about what to do at ato.gov.au/PDScompliance.
Subscribe to our Small Business newsroom or Business Bulletins. You can also check the ATO website for regular updates.
Newsletter or magazine content
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Paying super, salary and wages together
Super needs to be paid for each payday. Depending on when you pay salary and wages, you could be paying super weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
If you didn’t make this change from 1 July, visit ato.gov.au/PDScompliance to learn more.
Article
Paying super for each payday
Super now needs to be paid for each payday. Depending on when you pay salary and wages, you could be paying super weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
This is a change from paying super quarterly, but if you’re trying to do the right thing by paying on payday and fixing issues quickly, you won’t be the focus of ATO compliance action in the first year.
If you haven’t made the change from 1 July, visit ato.gov.au/PDScompliance
Social media content
Super + Salary and wages: the perfect payday combo.
Super needs to be paid for each payday, along with salary and wages.
Visit ato.gov.au/PaydaySuper for more info.
Super + Salary and wages: the perfect payday combo.
Super needs to be paid for each payday, along with salary and wages.
Visit ato.gov.au/PaydaySuper for more info.
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Super needs to be paid for each payday, along with salary and wages.
Visit ato.gov.au/PaydaySuper for more info