Under Payday Super legislation, employers must pay super contributions within 7 business days after payday to avoid a super guarantee charge liability, with some limited exceptions which allow additional time. One of these exceptions is that the ATO can determine that a class of employers are affected by an exceptional circumstance prescribed by the law and the period for which those employers are impacted.
We have now published the final PS LA 2026/2: Payday Super exceptional circumstances determinations. This provides guidance to ATO staff on when the Commissioner may make an exceptional circumstances determination. This includes the events that constitute exceptional circumstances and the considerations relevant to allowing more time to make eligible contributions.
Some clarifications have been made following consultation earlier this year, including:
- clarifying the meaning of widespread technology outages – this includes recognising that outages may be widespread even where some users of a service or platform remain unaffected
- enhancing the guidance on assessing the duration and practical impact of disruptions
- clarifying the relevance of government disaster declarations and other information sources when assessing natural disasters.
For a detailed summary of our responses to submissions received during public consultation on the draft version, see the PS LA 2026/2 Compendium.