Payday Super Started on 1 July 2026
From 1 July 2026 employers must pay superannuation at the same time they pay wages, instead of once a quarter. The 12% rate did not move. The deadline, the earnings the percentage is applied to, the reporting and the penalties all did, and none of it changes the net figure on your payslip.
Published 11 September 2026 by Wage Calculator. Every figure below is traced to the government page that announced it, with that page’s own date.
The short answer
Super is now due on payday. A contribution is on time if the fund receives it, with enough information to allocate it to your account, within 7 business days after the employer pays you.
The rate is unchanged at 12%. On the National Minimum Wage of $1,004.90 a week that is $120.59 a week of super, the same figure as before. What moved is when it has to arrive.
Under the old rules a contribution for a payday on 6 July 2026 was not late until 28 October 2026, which is 114 days later. That is the size of the change.
The old deadline and the new one, side by side.
The ATO is the agency implementing this, and it publishes the change as a before-and-after list. The rows below are that list, and every one of them is a change an employee can check on a payslip or a fund statement.
| What | Before 1 July 2026 | From 1 July 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline | Received by the fund within 28 days of the end of the quarter. Due 28 October, 28 January, 28 April and 28 July. | Received by the fund within 7 business days after paying the employee, with enough information to allocate it to their member account. |
| What the 12% is applied to | Ordinary time earnings. | Qualifying earnings, which bring together ordinary time earnings, all commissions, salary sacrifice contributions and other amounts previously counted as salary or wages for super guarantee. |
| Single Touch Payroll reporting | Either ordinary time earnings or super liability. | Both qualifying earnings and super liability. |
| Super guarantee charge, if it is late | Self-assessed by the employer, who lodges a super guarantee statement. Calculated on salary and wages, interest at 10% per annum, a flat administration fee, and not tax deductible. | Assessed by the ATO, with no statement to lodge. Calculated on qualifying earnings, interest compounding daily at the general interest charge rate, an administrative uplift amount, and tax deductible. |
| Penalties | Up to 200% of the super guarantee charge, able to be remitted in part or in full. | 25% or 50% of the unpaid super guarantee charge, depending on any prior penalties. |
| How long the fund has to allocate it | 20 business days to allocate or return a contribution. | 3 business days, not counting the day the contribution is received. |
| Small Business Superannuation Clearing House | Closed to new users on 1 October 2025, with existing users able to use it to 30 June 2026. | No longer accessible. |
Read from the ATO’s About Payday Super page, which gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10 when it was retrieved on 2026-09-11.
Seven business days, counted the ATO’s way.
What starts the clock
The day the employer pays qualifying earnings, which the ATO calls the QE day and which is usually the regular payday. It is the day you are paid, not the day the payroll run was entered and not the day other employees were paid.
What counts as a business day
Any day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday, or a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory. A whole-of-state holiday stops the clock for employers everywhere. A part-state holiday, which the ATO illustrates with Royal Hobart Show Day, does not.
The deadline is about when the fund receives the money with enough information to allocate it, not when the employer sends it. The ATO notes that a commercial clearing house needs processing time inside the same 7 days, which is why its own advice is to pay on payday. From 1 July 2026 contributions can also run over the New Payments Platform, which the ATO says can mean same-day receipt by the fund.
When the deadline is longer than seven days.
Five situations carry a longer deadline. This matters for anyone checking a fund statement in the first weeks of a new job, because the first contribution is the one the rules give the most time for.
First contribution for a new employee
Received by the fund within 20 business days after that payday, rather than 7.
First contribution to a new fund
Also 20 business days, where you have stopped contributing to the employee’s previous fund.
Out-of-cycle payments
A bonus, commission, allowance, back payment or advance is due with the contribution for the next regular payday.
Exceptional circumstances
For a natural disaster or a widespread technology outage the ATO can determine a class of employers has 20 business days.
Overlapping due dates
Where a later due date for one payday falls after the ordinary due date for the next, the bunching rule moves the second to the later date.
The Fair Work Ombudsman gives the new-employee case as 20 business days from the day the salary or wages were paid, and the ATO sets out all five with worked examples on its Payment deadlines for Payday Super page, which gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10 when it was retrieved on 2026-09-11.
What payday super does not change.
Worth stating as plainly as what it does change, because this is a timing reform being read by a lot of people as a pay rise.
The rate
Still 12% of earnings. The ATO states the percentage used to calculate super guarantee contributions does not change, and 12% is the figure this site’s calculator already uses for 2026-27.
Who gets it
The ATO states payday super does not change who you have to pay super for. Eligible employees still include independent contractors paid mainly for their labour.
Your take-home pay
Super is paid by the employer on top of wages, not deducted from them, so a change to when it is paid does not change what lands in your account on payday.
What this page will not tell you
It will not estimate what earlier contributions are worth to you at retirement. That depends on your fund’s returns, its fees and how long you have. The timing rule and the 12% rate are the parts that can be stated, and both are above.
Where the rate itself comes from.
The 12% super guarantee rate used for 2026-27 is not taken from the payday super pages. It comes from the ATO’s key superannuation rates and thresholds page, which gave its own last updated date as 2026-04-17 when it was retrieved on 2026-09-02. The calculator applies it on top of the wage rather than inside it, which is why a payday super change moves nothing in the take-home figure.
- Wage Calculator
Work out your take-home pay after tax for 2026-27. Hourly, weekly, fortnightly and monthly, with PAYG, the Medicare levy and super shown separately.
- Methodology
Every rate this site uses, where it came from, when it was retrieved, and what the calculator deliberately leaves out.
- Award Pay Rates
Modern award minimum pay rates by industry, how classification levels and pay points work, and how casual loading and penalty rates change what you earn.
- Minimum Wage Increase 2026
The Annual Wage Review 2026 lifted award minimums 4.75% and set the National Minimum Wage at $1,004.90 a week, or $26.44 an hour.
The law behind it.
The Fair Work Ombudsman points to two instruments for the change, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025, and names the ATO as the primary enforcement agency for the compulsory super guarantee. The Ombudsman also notes that late payment of super may breach the Fair Work Act or an applicable award or enterprise agreement, which is the point at which a timing rule becomes a workplace relations question rather than only a tax one.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Started
- 1 July 2026
- New deadline
- 7 business days after payday
- First contribution, new employee
- 20 business days
- Super guarantee rate
- 12%
- 12% of the National Minimum Wage, weekly
- $120.59
- Old deadline
- 28 days after quarter end
- Enforcement agency
- ATO
- ATO page last updated
- 2026-08-10
- Fair Work Ombudsman, Payday Super: New rules starting 1 July 2026The page gave its own last updated date as 2026-02-03. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
- ATO, About Payday SuperThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
- ATO, Payment deadlines for Payday SuperThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-08-10. Retrieved 2026-09-11.
- ATO, Super guarantee rate and thresholdsThe page gave its own last updated date as 2026-04-17. Retrieved 2026-09-02.
Nothing on this page is copied from another pay site, and no figure here was taken from a search result summary. How every rate on this site is sourced and checked is set out on the Methodology page.
Payday Super questions, answered.
When does my employer have to pay super from 1 July 2026?
On payday. The ATO states a contribution is on time if it is received by the employee's super fund, with all the information needed to allocate it to their member account, within 7 business days after the employer pays the employee. Before 1 July 2026 the deadline was 28 days after the end of the quarter, so a contribution for a payday on 6 July 2026 would not have been late until 28 October 2026, 114 days later. The ATO advises paying on payday, because a commercial clearing house needs time to process the payment inside the 7 business day window.
Is the super guarantee rate changing under payday super?
No. The rate stays at 12%. The ATO lists the percentage used to calculate super guarantee contributions among the things payday super does not change. What changed is the deadline, the earnings base the percentage is applied to, the reporting, and what happens when a payment is late.
What are qualifying earnings?
Qualifying earnings is the new base the 12 per cent is calculated on from 1 July 2026, replacing ordinary time earnings. The ATO describes it as a new term that brings together ordinary time earnings and other payments, and states it includes all commissions, salary sacrifice contributions and other amounts that were previously included in an employee’s salary or wages for super guarantee purposes.
Does payday super change my take-home pay?
No. Superannuation is paid by the employer on top of wages rather than deducted from them, so moving the payment from quarterly to each payday does not change the net figure on your payslip. On the National Minimum Wage of $1,004.90 a week, 12% is $120.59 a week of super, and that figure is the same before and after the change. What changes is when it reaches the fund.
What counts as a business day for the 7 day deadline?
The ATO defines a business day as any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, or a day that is a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory. A whole-of-state public holiday stops the clock even for employers in other states. A holiday that applies only to part of a state, which the ATO illustrates with Royal Hobart Show Day, is still a business day.
What happens if my employer pays super late now?
The super guarantee charge applies once a contribution is not received by the fund within 7 business days after payday, unless one of the longer deadlines applies. From 1 July 2026 the ATO assesses that charge itself rather than the employer self-assessing it, it is calculated on qualifying earnings, interest compounds daily at the general interest charge rate, and an administrative uplift amount is added. Paying late can reduce the charge but the interest and administrative components may still be payable. The Fair Work Ombudsman also notes that late payment of super may breach the Fair Work Act or an applicable award or enterprise agreement.
See your super alongside your take-home pay.
The calculator shows super separately from take-home pay, because your employer pays it on top of your wage rather than out of it.
Open the pay calculator