Payday Super · from 1 July 2026
Payday Super: super due within 7 business days of payday
What the Payday Superannuation Act 2025 requires of employers from 1 July 2026, read from the Act itself, with a worked example.
Payday Super is a federal change, separate from state payroll tax. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 (No. 57, 2025) (assented to on 6 November 2025) commenced on 1 July 2026.[1] Instead of paying super guarantee contributions quarterly, employers must make sure contributions reach each employee's fund shortly after every payday.
The new deadline: 7 business days after payday
Every day on which you pay an employee qualifying earnings is a QE day. The contribution for that payday has to be received by the fund within the usual period, which starts on the QE day and ends on the seventh business day after it.[1]
A business day is any day except a Saturday, a Sunday, or a day that is a public holiday for the whole of a state, the ACT or the Northern Territory.[1] Regional holidays that do not cover a whole state do not stop the count.
A longer period, ending on the 20th business day after the QE day (the extended usual period), applies in some cases, for example to the first contribution to a fund for a new employee or after you stop paying into another fund.[1]
Contributions received early also count: the Act lets a contribution received in the 12 months before the QE day be applied to it, so paying ahead of payday does not create a shortfall.[1]
What super is worked out on
The super guarantee is worked out on qualifying earnings: ordinary time earnings, commissions, payments to members of a company's board, payments for a person's labour under some contracts, and amounts an employee salary-sacrifices into super. The charge percentage is 12.[1]
Ordinary time earnings are earnings for ordinary hours of work, including over-award payments, shift loading and commission, but not lump sums for unused sick, annual or long service leave paid on termination.[1]
Worked example: one fortnightly payday in July 2026
This example applies only the rules in the Act. It assumes no public holiday covering a whole state or territory falls in the period; check the holiday calendars for your own dates.[1]
| Step | Result |
|---|---|
| Qualifying earnings paid on Friday 3 July 2026 (the QE day) | $3,000 |
| Super guarantee for this payday: $3,000 × 12% | $360 |
| Usual period: QE day to the 7th business day after (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14 July) | fund must receive it by Tuesday 14 July 2026 |
| New employee's first contribution: extended usual period, to the 20th business day after | by Friday 31 July 2026 |
| Contribution received in full on Monday 13 July | no shortfall, no charge |
| Contribution never paid before the ATO assesses: shortfall | $360 |
| Administrative uplift: 60% × ($360 + notional earnings) | at least $216, before any reduction |
| Notional earnings | daily at the general interest charge rate over the late period |
So a single missed $360 contribution costs at least $576 ($360 + $216) plus notional earnings, compared with $360 paid on time.
From quarters to paydays
The Act rewrites the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 around the QE day instead of the quarter: it repeals the definition of the quarterly salary or wages base and replaces references to “a quarter that ended” with “a QE day”.[1] Each payday is now its own test: a shortfall on one payday is not made up by a larger contribution for another, except through the early-contribution rule above.
Salary sacrifice follows the same timing. When an employee's pay is reduced so that a sacrificed contribution can be made, the reduction itself counts as a payment of qualifying earnings on that day, so the sacrificed amount and the employer's guarantee are both due within the same usual period.[1]
If a contribution is late or short
You owe the superannuation guarantee charge for that QE day. It is made up of the shortfall; a notional earnings component, worked out day by day over the late period at the general interest charge rate of the Taxation Administration Act 1953; an administrative uplift equal to 60% of the shortfall plus the notional earnings; and a choice loading if you did not follow the employee's choice of fund.[1]
Regulations can reduce the administrative uplift, for example when you lodge a voluntary disclosure statement in the approved form before the ATO makes an assessment.[1]
Clearing houses
The Act repeals the definition of “approved clearing house” in the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992.[1] For what this means for the ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House and for your payroll process, check the ATO's Payday Super page: ato.gov.au does not answer our checking server, so we do not summarise it here.[2]
Payday Super and payroll tax
The two are separate, but connected: employer super contributions are taxable wages for payroll tax in every state.[3] A payroll that grows past a state threshold has to manage both: monthly payroll tax returns and super paid within days of each payday. See what to do when you go over the threshold.
Common questions
Questions people in Australia search for, answered from the official sources.
When is super due under Payday Super?
From 1 July 2026, contributions must be received by the employee's fund within 7 business days after the day you pay their qualifying earnings (the QE day). The first contribution for a new employee, or to a new fund, can take up to 20 business days.[1]
What are the penalties under Payday Super?
If contributions arrive late or short you owe the superannuation guarantee charge for that payday. It includes the shortfall, a notional earnings component and an administrative uplift equal to 60% of the shortfall plus the notional earnings (regulations can reduce it), plus a choice loading if you did not follow the employee's choice of fund.[1]
Guides
- Multi-state calculatorAll 8 jurisdictions at once, with the threshold shared by state
- Interstate wagesHow each state shares its threshold, with the official examples
- GroupingWhen related businesses count as one employer
- Regional ratesVictoria 1.2125% and the Queensland 1% discount
- Thresholds historyEvery state, 2021-22 to 2026-27
- Due datesMonthly returns and the 21 or 28 July annual return
- What changed in 2026-27New ACT brackets, NT 6.5% rate
- Over the threshold?Registering and what to do next, state by state
Sources
- Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 (No. 57, 2025) · Federal Register of Legislation. checked 11 November 2026
- Payday Super · Australian Taxation Office. not readable from our checking server: answers 403 to our server; what we write comes from the Act itself
- Register for payroll tax · Revenue NSW. checked 11 November 2026; page says “Last updated: 01 June 2026”
Every figure on this page comes from the official pages above. We re-read them with the checks described here; if a page changes, the figure is re-checked before it stays on the site.
General information, not tax advice. Figures and formulas are taken from the official revenue office pages and legislation linked on each page. Payroll tax depends on facts this site cannot check (what counts as wages, exemptions, grouping, contractors). Confirm your liability with the revenue office of each state where you pay wages, or with a registered tax agent.