PAYDAY SUPER IS COMING FROM 1 JULY 2026
Payday Super | Date Posted 12 March 2026
PREPARE NOW TO ENSURE YOU’RE READY
How often you need to pay super is changing from 1 July 2026. Get ahead of the changes and start paying super on payday now. Team Super is here to help.
WHAT'S CHANGING FROM 1 JULY 2026?
See the four key changes below:
For Super Guarantee (SG) payments, the new term Qualifying Earnings (QE) will be used to include ordinary time earnings (OTE), salary sacrifice contributions, and other amounts that are currently included in an employee's salary or wages for the SG.
Employers must report both QE and super liability through Single Touch Payroll (STP).
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will upgrade SuperStream contributions messaging to help you meet your SG obligations and avoid charges and penalties.
The Small Business Super Clearing House (SBSCH) will close.
Read on for more detail - including access to Australian Taxation Office factsheets and checklists, and answers to your frequently asked questions.
THE PAYDAY SUPER CHECKLIST
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has produced a checklist (PDF) for employers to use in preparation for Payday Super. Team Super encourages you to use this checklist so you plan your tasks in preparation for Payday Super. Below is a summary of the key dates, but we encourage you to download and use the full checklist (PDF).
FEBRUARY-MARCH 2026
Key planning tasks include:
Plan your transition – set a start date and get the advice you need from a tax professional if necessary.
Prepare your business – review your cash flow, payroll governance and businesses processes.
APRIL-JUNE 2026
This is the final quarter before Payday Super begins. Ideally, you will have locked in your start date and reviewed your cash flow, payroll governance and business processes by this stage in preparation for the start date of 1 July 2026.
In this quarter you should lock in your plans for the transition:
Confirm when your software will be ready – contact your payroll provider or clearing house if necessary.
If you’re still using the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH), you should transition to another provider before 1 July 2026.
Check your payroll governance processes (which you should have reviewed the previous quarter). Ensure that processes are in place to quickly identify any errors so super can be paid within seven business days.
Familiarise yourself with the new ‘qualifying earnings’ (QE) concept. This is what will be used to calculate the super you must pay your employees. The key changes are summarised on this page below.
If you’re still paying quarterly, you must pay your final quarterly payment by 28 June 2026.
1 JULY 2026
Payday Super is in force from 1 July 2026 and from this date super must be received by employees’ funds within seven business days of wages being paid. From this time, the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) may apply if contributions are not made on time, in full and to the correct fund.
Remember you won’t be able to use the SBSCH for any payments, and there is no late payment offset available for this quarter.
From this date, when paying super, you must:
Ensure all SG contributions are received by your employees’ funds within seven business days after payday.
Calculate super from qualifying earnings (QE) (see Frequently Asked Questions below).
Report QE and super liability in your STP-enabled software.
AT A GLANCE: CHECKLISTS AND FACTSHEETS ON PAYDAY SUPER
EMPLOYER SUPPORT FROM TEAM SUPER
We understand that for some employers the upcoming changes may mean significant adjustments to the way you pay super for your employees. Team Super is here to help.
If you require any assistance, including information sessions on how to prepare for Payday Super, please contact our Employer Relationship Managers who are here to provide support.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Over the past few months, Team Super’s Employer Relationship Managers have been helping employers prepare for Payday Super. Below are some of the most common – and important – questions we have answered.
From 1 July 2026, you must pay super at the same time as salary and wages – whether that’s weekly, fortnightly, or monthly. If onboarding new staff or paying to a fund for the first time, you’ll have 20 business days for their first payment. Also, from this date, Super Guarantee (SG) payments will be based on the new concept of ‘qualifying earnings’ (QE). The way the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) is calculated for late payments will also change, as will the employer payment platform and reporting requirements.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has identified a ‘superannuation guarantee gap’ where super contributions from employers are received late or not at all. Lower-income earners, women, and casual workers are disproportionately represented in this cohort. Payday Super is designed to improve retirement savings and give workers better visibility of their super.
Over the long term, it aims to help employers by further standardising super payment systems.
From 1 July 2026, when paying super you must pay Super Guarantee (SG) payments to an employee’s super fund at the same time as paying qualifying earnings (QE – see below), on payday, and this payment must be received by the super fund within seven business days.
The Super Guarantee charge (SGC) may apply if contributions are not made on time, in full and to the correct fund. You won’t be able to use the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) for any payments, and there is no late payment offset available from this quarter.
Yes.
The Super Guarantee Charge (SGC)
From 1 July 2026, the SGC will apply to all payment amounts not received within seven business days of payday (unless an extended timeframe applies, such as for new employees).
The SGC is also being updated so interest is charged to compensate employees for late contributions. The SGC will further increase the longer period an employer delays paying super.
The SGC will be tax-deductible, excluding any penalties and interest after assessment of the SGC by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
The uplift penalty
Late super payments will also incur an additional ‘uplift penalty’ which will cover the monitoring and compliance costs
From 1 July 2026, all employers must pay eligible employees their super contributions in full and on time to avoid any charges.
See the Australian Taxation Office’s Super Guarantee factsheet (PDF) to see a comparison of current treatment of the SGC and penalties and how these will apply from 1 July 2026.
From 1 July 2026, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will upgrade the SuperStream contributions messaging. This upgrade will help employers meet their Super Guarantee (SG) obligations and avoid charges and penalties by:
reducing the likelihood of employees’ contributions being rejected by a super fund,
providing clearer error messaging when a contribution is rejected by a super fund,
enabling faster payment of contributions, and
knowing sooner when important super fund details are changing.
The upgrade will help reduce errors, provide employers with better error messages.
There will be key changes to the Super Guarantee (SG) starting from 1 July 2026 that employers need to know about. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has produced a factsheet (PDF) with a handy table that summarises what the rules are before 1 July 2026 and what the rules will be from 1 July 2026 onwards. As well as laying out the changes from super being paid at least quarterly to being required to be paid when wages are paid, it also covers off how the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) and other penalties will change, data processing for employees, and more.
Importantly, SG payments will now be calculated using the new concept of ‘qualifying earnings’ (QE). See below for more details.
Qualifying earnings (QE) is a new concept that applies from 1 July 2026 for the calculation of the Super Guarantee (SG). QE are the types of payments made to employees that are used to calculate the SG under Payday Super.
Employers will be required to report the year-to-date amount of QE for each employee through their Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting each payday.
Qualifying earnings include:
ordinary time earnings (OTE) i.e. payments for ordinary hours of work, including certain types of paid leave, allowances, bonuses and lump sum payments
all commissions paid to an employee
salary sacrifice amounts that would qualify as QE had they not been sacrificed to superannuation
earnings paid to workers who fall under the expanded definition of employee, including payments to independent contractors paid mainly for their labour.
This ATO factsheet (PDF) lists the payments that will count as QE from 1 July 2026.
SMALL BUSINESS SUPERANNUATION CLEARING HOUSE TO BE DECOMMISSIONED
The government has announced that the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) is scheduled to be switched off at 11.59pm (AEDT) 30 June 2026, which means any employers using this service must switch to an alternate payment method before that time to ensure they meet the new Payday Super obligations.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has provided a checklist which you can download here (PDF) to help guide employers who need to transition away from the SBSCH.
OPT IN TO REAL-TIME PAYMENTS BY USING QUICKSUPER
The QuickSuper* clearing house is Team Super’s online portal that allows you to make super payments to all your employees at once, even if they’re not with Team Super. It's quick, secure and free to use.
Note: You will first have to register as a Team Super employer by:
Filling out the last two pages after reading the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS)
Emailing the form to help@admin.teamsuper.com.
WANT TO JOIN TEAM SUPER?
ALREADY A TEAM SUPER EMPLOYER?
Sources: The Australian Taxation Office and Treasury Media Release.
* QuickSuper is issued by Westpac Banking Corporation (ABN 33 007 457 141, AFSL 233714). An offer to issue this product may be made to you by Westpac, subject to completion of the application process. The Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for QuickSuper is available on the Westpac website. You should consider the PDS before deciding to accept any offer made by Westpac to issue the product.