To pay employees super in Australia, contribute 12% of each eligible employee’s ordinary time earnings into their nominated super fund through the SuperStream electronic system, meeting the quarterly deadline until 30 June 2026 and, from 1 July 2026, paying within seven business days of every payday under the new Payday Super rules.
Which Employees You Pay Super For
Almost every employee qualifies from their first day of work, whether they are full-time, part-time, or casual. The old $450 monthly earnings threshold was scrapped on 1 July 2022, so what someone earns no longer decides eligibility. Contractors paid mainly for their personal labour also qualify, even if they quote an ABN.1Australian Taxation Office. Meeting Your Super Guarantee Obligations
Workers under 18 are the exception. You only owe super for a week in which they work more than 30 hours. Track their hours each week, because eligibility can switch on and off.
How Much You Pay
The super guarantee rate is 12% of each employee’s ordinary time earnings. This rate took effect on 1 July 2025 as the final scheduled increase and remains at 12% for 2026–27 and beyond.2Australian Taxation Office. Super Guarantee
What Ordinary Time Earnings Include
Ordinary time earnings (OTE) is the base you apply the 12% to. OTE includes base salary and wages, shift loadings, commissions, and certain bonuses. It does not include overtime, which is the item employers most often add by mistake. Expense reimbursements are also excluded.3Australian Taxation Office. List of Payments That Are Ordinary Time Earnings
Classifying these payments correctly matters. If you underpay by leaving out a commission, the resulting penalty charge is calculated on a broader base than OTE, so the shortfall costs more than simply getting it right from the start.
Salary Sacrifice
Salary sacrificed super contributions do not reduce OTE and do not count toward your 12% obligation. You still owe the full super guarantee on the pre-sacrifice amount.4Australian Taxation Office. Module 4 – Calculating Super Guarantee
Termination Payments
Most termination payments sit outside OTE. Unused annual leave, long service leave, personal or carer’s leave, redundancy, and severance are all excluded. Payment in lieu of notice is the exception: it is OTE regardless of why the employment ended, so 12% super applies.3Australian Taxation Office. List of Payments That Are Ordinary Time Earnings
Maximum Contribution Base
You are not required to pay super on earnings above a set cap. For 2025–26, the quarterly maximum contribution base is $62,500 per employee, so the most you need to contribute per employee per quarter is $7,500. The cap is indexed annually.2Australian Taxation Office. Super Guarantee
Where to Send the Contribution
Before you can pay a new employee’s super, you need to know which fund receives it. Work through three options in order.
The Employee’s Chosen Fund
Give each new employee the Standard Choice Form (NAT 13080). It captures their Tax File Number and the Unique Superannuation Identifier (USI) of their chosen fund, which routes the money to the correct product within the right fund.5Australian Taxation Office. Superannuation Standard Choice Form
A Stapled Fund
If the employee doesn’t choose, request their stapled fund details through ATO online services. A stapled fund is an existing account already linked to the employee’s tax record from a previous job, introduced to stop workers accumulating multiple accounts each charging fees.6Australian Taxation Office. Stapled Super Fund
Your Default Fund
If there is no choice and no stapled fund, contributions go to your default fund. Your default must be APRA-registered and offer a MySuper product, which is a standardised, low-cost option for members who haven’t actively chosen an investment.7Australian Taxation Office. Select Your Default Super Fund
How to Send the Payment
All super contributions must be sent electronically through SuperStream. Under SuperStream, the payment data and the money travel together via a linked reference number, so funds can match dollars to the correct member account.8Australian Taxation Office. SuperStream for Employers
Most employers use a clearing house or payroll software with built-in super payment features. A clearing house lets you make a single payment for your entire workforce and then distributes the correct amounts to each fund. Some larger funds also offer direct online portals. When you upload payroll data, the system validates employee details against their USIs and Tax File Numbers before releasing the transfer.
One change matters for small businesses. The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH), which the ATO ran free of charge, closes permanently on 30 June 2026 as part of the Payday Super reforms. If you use it, move to alternative payroll software or a commercial clearing house before that date.9Australian Taxation Office. Small Business Superannuation Clearing House
Quarterly Deadlines Through 30 June 2026
Until Payday Super begins, the quarterly system still applies. Super must be received by the employee’s fund by the 28th day of the month following the end of each quarter:10Australian Taxation Office. Super Payment Due Dates
- Quarter 1 (1 July – 30 September): due 28 October
- Quarter 2 (1 October – 31 December): due 28 January
- Quarter 3 (1 January – 31 March): due 28 April
- Quarter 4 (1 April – 30 June): due 28 July
If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, payment must be received by the next business day. The key word is “received.” The money must be in the fund’s account by the deadline, not just sent from yours. Clearing houses need processing time, so initiate payments well before the 28th.
Payday Super From 1 July 2026
From 1 July 2026, the quarterly system ends. Super must be received by the employee’s fund within seven business days after each payday. Pay staff fortnightly and you pay super fortnightly; pay weekly and super goes weekly. Business days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and any day that is a public holiday across a whole state or territory.11Australian Taxation Office. Payment Deadlines for Payday Super
Two situations extend the seven-day window. A first contribution for a new employee, or a first contribution into a new fund for an existing employee, gets 20 business days. And when you make an out-of-cycle payment such as a one-off bonus run, the super for that payment is due within seven business days of the next regular payday rather than the out-of-cycle date.11Australian Taxation Office. Payment Deadlines for Payday Super
From 1 July 2026, employers can use the New Payments Platform to contribute, which enables near-instant transfers and makes the tighter deadlines easier to meet. If your current payroll software or clearing house can’t handle the increased frequency, switch before the changeover.
Penalties for Late or Missing Payments
Missing a super deadline is one of the more expensive compliance failures in Australian employment law, and the penalty structure is designed to make late payment worse than on-time payment in every respect.
The Super Guarantee Charge Under the Quarterly System
Through 30 June 2026, late or missing payments trigger the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC). The SGC has three components: the shortfall, interest calculated from the start of the quarter, and an administration fee. The catch is that the shortfall is worked out on the employee’s total salary and wages rather than just OTE. Because salary and wages include overtime, the penalty base is often higher than the contribution you should have made in the first place.12Australian Taxation Office. The Super Guarantee Charge
If you miss a quarterly deadline, you must lodge a Superannuation Guarantee Charge statement and pay the SGC within one calendar month of the original due date. Unlike ordinary super contributions, SGC payments are not tax deductible.12Australian Taxation Office. The Super Guarantee Charge
The Charge Under Payday Super
From 1 July 2026, the SGC is recalculated on qualifying earnings (the Payday Super equivalent of OTE) and includes daily compounding interest at the general interest charge rate. The charge also carries an administrative uplift, which the ATO can adjust based on the employer’s compliance history and whether the shortfall was voluntarily disclosed. Unlike the current SGC, the Payday Super version is tax deductible.13Australian Taxation Office. About Payday Super
Personal Liability for Directors
Company directors face a further layer of risk. If a company fails to pay the SGC by the due date, the ATO can issue a Director Penalty Notice making the director personally liable for the unpaid amount. This applies to current and former directors.14Australian Taxation Office. Director Penalty Regime
How the director can clear the penalty depends on whether the SGC was reported on time. If the statement was lodged by its due date, the director can resolve the penalty by ensuring the company pays the debt, appoints an administrator, or begins winding up. If reporting was late or absent, paying the debt in full is the only option. New directors have 30 days from appointment to take one of those steps before they become personally liable for pre-existing super debts.14Australian Taxation Office. Director Penalty Regime
Records You Need to Keep
Good records are your only defence in an ATO audit. Keep documentation of your contribution calculations and the earnings figures behind them, evidence that you offered each eligible employee a choice of fund (including completed Standard Choice Forms), details of any stapled fund request and its outcome, confirmation that your default fund offers a MySuper product, and payment evidence from super funds or bank records showing contributions were received.
Records must be in English and readily accessible. Payslips must also show the super contribution amount and the contact details of the receiving fund.15Australian Taxation Office. Step 4 – Keep Super Guarantee Employer Records
Payday Super changes the volume of what you track. Instead of four quarterly payments per employee per year, you may be logging 26 fortnightly or 52 weekly payments. Payroll software that captures each super transaction automatically and produces audit-ready reports becomes a practical necessity, not a convenience.