In this guide
In early November 2025, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025 completed its passage through Parliament. The new law means that from 1 July 2026, employers must pay compulsory super contributions for their staff at the same time as their wages.
Figures from the Super Members Council (SMC) reveal that unpaid super costs Australians $110 million a week in retirement savings, with the average worker missing out on $1,730 in the 2022–23 financial year.
Payday Super marks the end of quarterly deadlines for super contributions and makes it simpler for employees and the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to verify that the right amount of super is being paid on time.
The reform also brings a simpler and more proactive system for the ATO to recover unpaid super and interest on late contributions, with large financial penalties for employers who don’t comply. These changes are expected to significantly reduce the toll of unpaid super on workers.
Payment deadlines
The Payday Super rules will apply to the compulsory superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions your employer must provide, set at 12% of your ‘qualifying earnings’. Qualifying earnings is a new term and includes:
- Your ordinary time earnings (OTE)
- Any ordinary time earnings you have chosen to salary sacrifice into super
- Payments that were included within the term ‘salary or wages’ under the old law for independent contractors who must be paid super because they are paid wholly or principally for their labour.
The new terminology won’t change the amount of super most employers need to pay.
To be on time under Payday Super, SG contributions must generally arrive at your super fund within seven business days of payday. This is a big change from the current deadline of 28 days after the end of each quarter. For example, contributions for income earned during April–June are currently due on 28 July.
An extension is available if you’re a new employee or you have asked your employer to start contributing to a different super fund.
The first contribution to a new fund or for a new employee must arrive at the fund within 20 business days of payday. Contributions for later pay are due either seven business days after payday or on the same day as the first contribution, whichever is later. This method prevents a situation where contributions from newer pay periods are due before the contributions from earlier pay periods have been processed.
An extension to the usual deadline is also available for contributions that relate to payments you receive out of your normal pay cycle, such as bonuses, commissions and payments in advance. If you receive a payment like this on a date that is not a normal payday for you, the deadline for the SG contribution that goes with it is seven days after your next payday.
Your employer’s obligations will be met if their SG contribution arrives at your super fund within the required timeframe and with the correct information your fund needs to process it. Your fund can take up to a further three business days to allocate the contribution to you. Most funds will backdate the transaction in your account to the day they received the money.
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What if my employer pays late or doesn’t pay?
When an SG contribution is not paid by the deadline or is underpaid, interest begins to accumulate on the missing amount. Interest is charged at the general interest charge (GIC) rate and compounded daily. The GIC is defined as the 90-day bank bill rate plus 7%.
The ATO will track contributions and issue your employer with an SG charge assessment when contributions are late, unpaid or underpaid. ATO tracking is done with data from single touch payroll and super fund contribution reporting, as well as voluntary notifications from employers.
This new system is an improvement from the current regime that largely relies on employers to notify the ATO when their payments are late.
If your employer is issued with an SG charge assessment, they must pay any late SG contributions they have not already sent to your super fund, the interest charges, and an administrative charge. Employers who submit voluntary reports before an assessment is issued can have the administration charge reduced, encouraging them to self-report.
The amount on the assessment, plus interest compounded daily at the GIC rate, must be paid to the ATO. The ATO will then send the late contribution and the interest that has accumulated on it to your super account. The ATO keeps the administrative charge and any interest on that charge to cover the cost of enforcement.
Salary-sacrifice arrangements
If you have an arrangement with your employer to salary sacrifice some of your pay into super, they will generally send your salary sacrifice to your fund at the same time as their SG contributions.
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Payday Super means that from 1 July 2026, your salary sacrifice may also arrive at your fund more often and more quickly than before.
However, the law does not specifically provide payment deadlines for salary-sacrifice contributions. Your employer could choose to pay your salary sacrifice later and/or less often than they are required to pay their compulsory SG amounts. It’s worth checking with your pay office to find out and getting an agreement in writing.
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