New Year, new Super Payment schedule: What employers need to know ahead of 'Payday Super'

At a glance

• From 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay an employee's superannuation guarantee (SG) concurrently with ordinary salary and wages. Any contributions must be paid into an employee's superfund within seven business days of payday.
• Late payment penalties of up to 50% of the employee's superannuation guarantee apply for failure to may timely payments.

From 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay an employee’s SG at the same time as their ordinary salary or wages. Previously, SG was paid quarterly.

Penalties for non-compliance

Employers will be liable for a late payment penalty (or SG charge) unless contributions are received within seven business days after payday.

If an employee is not paid their superannuation guarantee within 28 days of it being payable, an employer will first receive a written notice urging payment of the charge or a specified amount, determined by the commission.

An employer will have 28 days from receipt of the notice to action the payment. If the payment remains outstanding after this period, the Commissioner of Taxation will issue a financial penalty against the employer, unless a determination applies (see below).

The financial penalty is a percentage of the outstanding payment, and is determined as follows:

• 50% of the outstanding payment if the employer is not covered by a determination and has incurred a penalty in the last 24 months.
• 25% of the outstanding payment if the employer is not covered by a determination but has not incurred a penalty in the last 24 months.

Determinations for exceptional circumstances

Although there are no employer exemptions, in exceptional circumstances a 'determination' may be issued if the Commission is satisfied that an employer's non-payment was due to 'exceptional circumstances'. Eligible exceptional circumstances include natural disaster or widespread outage of an information / technology system. It is expected that these circumstances will have affected multiple employers on a large scale.

Failure to comply with these changes can cost your business. If you would like to discuss these changes further and understand how best to prepare your business, don't hesitate to reach out to our team.