Payday Super: what changed on 1 July 2026 and how to stay on time

Since 1 July 2026, Australian employers must pay super guarantee for each payday, and the contribution must be received by the employee's super fund within 7 business days after that payday. The rate is still 12%, now calculated on "qualifying earnings". If a contribution arrives late, the ATO now assesses the super guarantee charge itself, with interest compounding daily and an uplift of up to 60%.

For a foreign-owned company, the practical change is this: an offshore finance team that used to fund super once a quarter now has to fund it every pay cycle, on a deadline measured in Australian business days.

Old rules and new rules side by side

The ATO's Payday Super overview sets out the before and after. In short:

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed to new users on 1 October 2025 and became inaccessible from 1 July 2026. If your Australian payroll still relied on it, you need another payment channel now.

How the 7 business days are counted

The clock starts on the "QE day", the day you pay qualifying earnings to the employee. In most cases that is your normal payday, even if you keyed the pay run into your system on a different day.

A business day excludes weekends and any public holiday that applies to the whole of any Australian state or territory. That second part catches overseas teams out. A state-wide holiday in the Northern Territory removes a business day for an employer whose staff are all in Sydney. The ATO's own examples add a day for the Northern Territory's Picnic Day. Part-state holidays, such as Royal Hobart Show Day, don't count.

The deadline is about receipt, not payment. If you pay through a commercial clearing house or payroll software, build in its processing time. The New Payments Platform can now deliver contributions to funds on the same day, but not every provider uses it.

When you get longer

The ATO's deadline page lists four situations:

• First contribution for a new employee, or to a new fund for an existing employee: 20 business days after the QE day. The same applies to someone you rehire.
• Out-of-cycle payments, such as a one-off bonus, commission or back pay outside the normal schedule: due within 7 business days after the next regular payday.
• Exceptional circumstances the ATO declares for a class of employers, such as natural disasters or widespread IT outages: generally 20 business days. You can't apply for one individually.
• Bunching rule: if a later payday's normal deadline falls before an extended deadline for an earlier payday, both share the later date.

What counts as qualifying earnings

Qualifying earnings bring together ordinary time earnings, all commissions, salary sacrificed amounts that would otherwise count, and certain payments to people who are employees only under the extended super definition, such as contractors paid mainly for their labour. For most employers the amount of super doesn't change. The difference that bites is commissions for work done entirely outside ordinary hours, which now attract super.

Directors' fees are in. The ATO's qualifying earnings tables list remuneration paid to a director, working or non-working, as qualifying earnings. If your Australian company pays a local director a fee personally, super is due on it each time it is paid. If the director is engaged through a service provider that invoices the company, ask your adviser how the arrangement is treated.

If a payment is late

Pay the shortfall into the fund as soon as you spot it. Contributions received late but before the ATO assesses you reduce the charge, although interest and administrative amounts can still apply.

The ATO's guidance on missed payments says the charge for each QE day has four parts: the unpaid shortfall, notional earnings (interest), an administrative uplift and any choice loading. The uplift starts at 60% of the shortfall plus notional earnings. It falls by 20 percentage points if you haven't had an ATO-initiated SG charge assessment in the previous 2 years, and by up to 40 points if you lodge a voluntary disclosure before the ATO assesses you. Disclose within 30 days with a clean record and the uplift can reach 0%.

For the first year, PCG 2026/1 sets out the ATO's compliance approach for QE days from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. It sorts employers into low, medium and high-risk zones. The ATO says it won't review employers who are paying super each payday and fixing errors quickly. It will concentrate on those who haven't changed their payment frequency, don't fix errors, or don't pay at all. The guideline doesn't change the law: if the ATO has definite information about a shortfall, it still applies it.

The June 2026 changeover, in case you're still cleaning it up

Super for the quarter ending 30 June 2026 followed the old rules and was due by 28 July 2026. Contributions received from 1 to 28 July were applied first to that June quarter. Anything received from 29 July can only go to paydays from 1 July onwards. If the June quarter was missed, an SG charge statement was due by 28 August 2026, and the late payment offset isn't available for that quarter. If your books still show a June-quarter gap, talk to your accountant now.

Why this is a director issue

Unpaid super guarantee charge sits inside the ATO's director penalty regime alongside PAYG withholding and GST, and super has its own, stricter rules. A newly appointed director can be exposed to unpaid amounts that aren't resolved within 30 days of appointment. For a resident director who doesn't run the payroll, the only protection is evidence: proof that each payday's super left on time and arrived. See director penalty notices for how the notices work.

A practical setup for an overseas-run payroll

• Fund super on payday, not at month end. Treat the 7 business days as a buffer, not a target.
• Keep a calendar of state-wide public holidays for every state, not only where your staff sit.
• Turn on the member verification request in SuperStream before a new employee's first contribution, so a bad fund detail doesn't bounce the payment.
• Reconcile fund receipts, not bank debits, each cycle.
• Give your directors a simple monthly report: paydays, amounts, date received by the fund.

For where super fits among the other first-hire tasks, see hiring employees in Australia. If you opt in, our system records evidence that super payments were made, but your payroll provider or accountant makes the payments and gives the tax advice.

General information only, current at 27 October 2026. This is not tax, legal or financial advice.

General information about Australian law and practice, not legal or tax advice for your circumstances. Check the official sources, or ask your adviser, before you act.