With just two months until the launch of Payday Super, the Australian Tax Office still has some concerns that not all employer businesses are fully aware of their responsibilities under the new rules for paying workers' superannuation.

A quick recap

Payday Super starts on 01 July 2026 and will apply to all businesses that pay salaries and wages.

The major change is that from this date, superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions will need to be paid at the same time as wages, rather than quarterly. In effect, employers will have seven business days from payday to ensure super contributions are received by employees’ super funds (except in the case of new employees where the timeline is 20 business days).

There are other aspects of Payday Super that are changing, such as Superannuation Guarantee being calculation as 12% of 'qualifying earnings' (QE) rather that 'ordinary time earnings' (OTE) and revised penalties for late payment of employee super.

You can catch up on all the Payday Super changes by watching our quick video below, reading our earlier Payday Super article, and downloading our Payday Super Fact Sheet here.

Transition from quarterly to payday super contributions

The ATO has given its advice around businesses transitioning from quarterly superannuation payments to the new Payday Super rules. The ATO says…

For the quarter ending 30 June 2026, you continue to calculate, pay and report super guarantee for your employees (including eligible contractors) under the existing quarterly super guarantee rules. This means you:

• calculate super based on the ordinary time earnings (not qualifying earnings) you've paid to your employees between 01 April and 30 June 2026.
• pay before the due date of 28 July to allow time for super funds to receive and allocate the money to employees' accounts.

Be sure to finalise your June quarter payments by 28 July 2026 (or earlier). If you miss the 28 July deadline for April - June contributions:

• you must lodge a super guarantee charge statement by 28 August and pay the SGC to the Australian Tax Office for the June quarter.
• the late payment offset is not available. 
• any super payments received on or after 29 July 2026 will be applied under the new Payday Super rules, even if you intended these payments to be made for any super you owe for the June quarter.

Claim a 2025-2026 tax deduction

Our recommendation for the transition is – if your business cash flow is sufficiently healthy – pay your employees' June quarter superannuation contribution around a week before 30 June to make sure monies are received by the super funds before EOFY.

That will provide your business with an additional tax deduction for the 2025-2026 financial year, and have you operating with a clean slate for the start of Payday Super.

IMPORTANT: Also, be sure to check with your Superannuation Clearing House for any early cut-off dates in June by the various super funds.

In summary

If you still need help familiarising yourself and your business for Payday Super, get in touch with our Accounting team. We can help your business get Payday Super ready by 01 July 2026.