As of 1 July 2026, the way every Australian employer pays superannuation has changed. Instead of paying super quarterly, you now pay it on every payday, at the same time as wages. It’s the biggest shift to super since the guarantee was introduced in 1992, and it’s now law under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025.
The changes sound scary, but they’re not if your systems and processes are set up for it. The trick is knowing what “set up” actually means, so this guide covers what Payday Super is, what’s changed, what happens if you get it wrong, and a checklist to work through if you’re not confident you’re compliant yet.
What is payday super?
Payday Super is the requirement to pay your employees’ Super Guarantee (SG) contributions at the same time as salary and wages, rather than quarterly. From 1 July 2026 it applies to every Australian employer, and each contribution has to reach the employee’s super fund within 7 business days of payday.
It helps to think of it as a change to timing rather than a new obligation. Super used to sit apart from payroll: you paid wages through the year and super in quarterly batches, up to several months later. Payday Super ties the two together, so super stops being a task you handle four times a year and becomes part of every pay run. It also removes the buffer you could once rely on, where a contribution might sit unpaid for weeks while cash flow caught up.
A few things deliberately haven’t changed. The rate is still 12%, you still pay super for the same eligible employees, including contractors paid mainly for their labour, and most of the systems you use stay the same. What’s changed is the timing, how you calculate super, and what happens if you’re late. The rest of this guide works through each of those.
What’s changed?
Payday Super touches a lot more than just timing. It changes when you pay, how you calculate super, the cap that applies, and the clearing house options open to you. Here’s each change in detail.
Payment timing
Under the old system, you could hold super and pay it up to 28 days after the end of each quarter, which meant four payment dates a year. That quarterly model is gone. You now pay each SG contribution on your employee’s payday, and need to get it into their super fund within 7 business days.
A business day excludes weekends and any public holidays, so the 7-day window is a little longer than it first looks. And because the deadline is the date the fund receives the money, not the date you send it, you need to allow for your clearing house and the fund’s own processing time.
New employees get longer
There’s an important exception to the 7-day rule. For a new employee, you have 20 business days to make the first contribution after paying their salary or wages. This gives you time to capture and verify a new starter’s fund details before the clock starts running properly. It’s best to build this buffer into your onboarding instead of relying on it, since new-employee data is where most payment errors start.
Super is calculated on qualifying earnings
Super used to be worked out as 12% of ordinary time earnings. You now work it out on qualifying earnings, a new term that brings together ordinary time earnings and other payments. The rate stays at 12%. For most employers the numbers won’t move much, but if you pay commissions or run salary sacrifice arrangements, check how your payroll system treats them under the new definition.
You report both figures through STP
Reporting has changed alongside the calculation. You used to report either ordinary time earnings or the super liability through Single Touch Payroll (STP). You now report both qualifying earnings and the super liability every pay cycle. The ATO matches this against data from super funds to see, close to real time, whether your contributions have landed on time. In practical terms, late super shows up almost immediately.
The maximum contribution base is now annual
The maximum contribution base (the cap on earnings that attract super) now applies annually instead of resetting each quarter. One flow-on effect is that some high earners might exceed their concessional contributions cap during the transition, but the Government has confirmed relief will be provided to prevent this in affected cases.
The Small Business Super Clearing House has closed
If you relied on the ATO’s Small Business Super Clearing House (SBSCH), it closed on 1 July 2026. You’ll need an alternative SuperStream solution, usually enabled payroll software or your default fund’s clearing house, and it needs to make near real-time payments through the New Payments Platform to meet the deadline reliably.
What happens if you’re late?
Miss the deadline and you trigger the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC). That can mean late payment penalties, interest on shortfalls, and additional penalties for repeat offenders. Because the ATO matches STP data against fund receipt data, it spots late super quickly.
The ATO has published a first-year compliance approach (PCG 2025/D5) covering 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, setting out low, medium and high risk zones. If you genuinely try to pay on time but the contribution reaches the fund late, your risk level depends on whether you correct the error and how quickly. Voluntary disclosure is encouraged and attracts reduced charges. Treat this as a support measure for the transition, not a grace period on the obligation itself.
Why this is happening
The new laws target unpaid super. They’re designed to close the roughly $5 billion SG gap and get employees their entitlements promptly. Under the old quarterly model, contributions could sit for months, which left workers exposed if a business ran into trouble. Paying more frequently makes it easier to spot incorrect or missed payments and stops you building up liabilities you later find difficult to pay.
What to check if you’re not sure you’re compliant
If your payroll is already set up for Payday Super, you may only need to spot-check the list below. If you’re not confident you’re meeting the new rules, work through it now. The obligation is live, and late contributions already trigger the SGC.
- Confirm your payroll system is ready. Check it can calculate super on qualifying earnings and pay every cycle.
- Sort out your clearing house. If you used the SBSCH, set up a replacement. Confirm your fund or clearing house can receive payments via the New Payments Platform, and check how long it takes to clear.
- Clean up employee super fund details. Incomplete or incorrect details cause rejected payments, the biggest risk area, especially at onboarding.
- Review your onboarding process. Capture and verify a new starter’s fund details early, so you comfortably meet the 20-business-day window.
- Model the cash flow impact. Paying super every pay run instead of quarterly changes your cash flow timing. Plan for it.
- Brief your finance and payroll teams and update internal pay calendars.
How Alltech can help
Payday Super is a systems-and-process change, and it’s easier to manage when payroll and super run through one integrated workflow. Alltech manages payroll and super for businesses across Australia, and our clients’ systems and processes are set up for Payday Super.
If you’d like help getting payroll ready, request a quote or call us on 1300 851 133.
This article is general information only and doesn’t constitute financial or tax advice. For your situation, check the ATO’s Payday Super guidance or speak to a registered tax or financial adviser.