What changed with Payday Super on 1 July 2026, and what to do each payday

What the new rules require

Super guarantee contributions must be received by the employee's fund within seven business days after you pay them. The fund also needs enough information to put the money in the right member account (ATO: about Payday Super). Received is the test, not sent.

The rate is still 12%. What changed is the base. It's now qualifying earnings, a new term that brings together ordinary time earnings, all commissions, salary sacrifice contributions and other amounts that already counted as salary or wages for super. Who you pay super for hasn't changed.

The ATO calls payday the QE day: the day you pay qualifying earnings. A business day excludes weekends and any public holiday that covers a whole state or territory, even one you aren't in (ATO: payment deadlines).

Before and after 1 July 2026

Scroll sideways to see the whole table.

Every row is from the ATO's before-and-after comparison on about Payday Super.

When you get longer than seven business days

The ATO lists four situations (ATO: payment deadlines):

• The first contribution for a new employee, or to a new fund after an employee switches: 20 business days after payday. Rehired workers get the longer time too.
• Out-of-cycle payments such as bonuses, commissions, allowances and back pay: due with the next regular payday's super.
• Exceptional circumstances, such as a natural disaster, when the ATO issues a determination for a group of employers.
• The bunching rule: if the next payday's due date falls before a longer due date already running, both share the later date.

A worked example

You pay an employee $2,500 of qualifying earnings on Thursday 12 November 2026. Super is 12%, so $300. With no state-wide public holiday in between, the fund has to receive it by Monday 23 November.

Approve the payment on payday and say the fund receives it that day. The fund then has three business days to allocate or return it, so you'd hear about a rejection by Tuesday 17 November. That leaves four business days to fix the member number and resubmit. Pay a week after payday and a single rejection can use up the whole window. That's why the ATO calls paying on payday best practice (ATO: how to work out and pay super).

The last quarter and the changeover

The June 2026 quarter was the last one under the old rules, due in funds by 28 July 2026. Contributions received from 1 July to 28 July went to the June quarter first. Anything received on or after 29 July 2026 can only count under Payday Super, even if you meant it for the June quarter (ATO: managing the changeover).

If a client missed 28 July, they had to lodge a super guarantee charge statement by 28 August and pay the charge for that quarter, with no late payment offset. The full year of lodgement dates is in our key tax dates for 2026-27.

The new super guarantee charge

The ATO now works out the charge for each payday and sends a notice of assessment (ATO: if you don't pay super correctly). It adds up the unpaid super, interest at the general interest charge rate compounding daily, an administrative uplift, and a choice loading if you paid the wrong fund.

The uplift is the expensive part: 60% of the unpaid super plus interest. It falls by 20 percentage points if you've had no ATO-initiated assessment in the past two years, and by up to 40 more for a voluntary disclosure lodged before the ATO assesses you. Disclose fast and it can reach nil.

You pay the charge to the ATO, not the fund, and it's now tax deductible. If you don't pay within 28 days, the ATO sends a Notice to Pay. Leave that unpaid for another 28 days and a late payment penalty applies. The ATO puts penalties at 25% or 50% of the unpaid charge, depending on prior penalties.

The first year compliance approach

The first year runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. In that year, the ATO says it won't review employers who pay super each payday and fix errors quickly, even if some payments land late (ATO: getting it right). The detail is in PCG 2026/1. Its focus is employers who aren't trying, or aren't paying at all.

STP and the clearing house

Each STP pay event now has to carry year-to-date qualifying earnings and super liability for every employee. If your software couldn't do that from 1 July, the ATO says to start as soon as you can. From 1 July 2027, STP reports without these amounts will be rejected and penalties may apply (ATO: managing the changeover).

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is gone, so any client still relying on it needed another provider before 1 July (ATO: Payday Super checklist). A new member verification request lets you check a fund will accept a first contribution before you send it.

Checklist for the employer

• Check every employee has current fund details. A wrong USI or member number is one of the common errors the ATO lists.
• Ask your clearing house how long a payment takes to reach the fund and where error messages show up.
• Map your pay codes so qualifying earnings come out right. Check commissions and salary sacrifice first.
• Plan cash flow for super going out every pay cycle.
• Decide who fixes a rejected payment. The seven days keep running while the error sits in an inbox.

Checklist for the firm or bookkeeper, each payday

For each client, each payday:

1. Run the pay and check it against last cycle: new starters, leavers, bonuses, back pay.
2. Lodge the STP pay event with year-to-date qualifying earnings and super liability.
3. Approve the super payment the same day.
4. Note each due date: seven business days for most, 20 for a new employee or new fund.
5. Watch for rejections over the next three business days and resubmit straight away.
6. Reconcile super paid in the bank feed against super liability in payroll for that payday.

A weekly pay run means four or five super deadlines a month per client. Keep them on one list.

We prepare payroll for accounting firms as part of our outsourced bookkeeping service, the Offshore finance desk. One limit: South Africa is about eight hours behind Sydney, so an overnight handover leaves less room for error on a seven business day clock. We set it up so the pay run and super file are ready when your day starts, and someone in your office approves the payment that morning. How we hand work over is in how we work.

Questions

Does Payday Super change how much super employees get?

For most employees, no. The rate is still 12%. Qualifying earnings can be a bit wider than ordinary time earnings, so check your pay code mapping.

Do I still lodge a super guarantee charge statement?

Not for paydays from 1 July 2026. The ATO assesses the charge. You can still lodge a voluntary disclosure, which cuts the uplift. Statements still apply to quarters up to 30 June 2026.

Next step

If payroll for your clients now feels like a weekly fire drill, book a call with me. Bring the number of clients and pay cycles you run. We'll look at whether moving the preparation to our team makes sense, and if it doesn't, I'll tell you.