Payday Super: What Changed on 1 July 2026 and What to Do

Payday super means you now pay your employees' super at the same time as their wages, not quarterly. It started on 1 July 2026, and each contribution must reach the employee's super fund within 7 business days of payday, or you may owe the super guarantee charge.

This guide explains what changed, the deadlines, how qualifying earnings work, what happens if a payment is late, and what to set up in Xero, MYOB and Canyou. It's current as at October 2026.

This is general information, not tax or financial advice. The ATO's Payday Super pages are the primary source.

What is payday super?

Before 1 July 2026, employers could pay super guarantee (SG) quarterly, with 28 days after each quarter to get it into funds. That meant up to four months between an employee earning super and it landing in their account.

Under payday super, every time you pay wages (a "qualifying earnings day", or QE day), the SG for that pay is due too. Pay weekly and you pay super weekly. Pay fortnightly and you pay super fortnightly.

Payday super legislation and start date

Payday super is law. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 6 November 2025, and the supporting regulations followed in 2026. The start date was 1 July 2026, as planned.

Super guarantee for the June 2026 quarter was the last quarterly payment, and it was due by 28 July 2026. Everything paid on or after 1 July 2026 falls under the new rules.

The payday super changes at a glance

	Before 1 July 2026	From 1 July 2026
When super is paid	Quarterly	Every payday
Deadline	28 days after the quarter ends	Received by the fund within 7 business days of payday
New employees	Same quarterly deadline	20 business days for the first contribution
What super is calculated on	Ordinary time earnings (OTE)	Qualifying earnings (QE)
SG rate	12% (from 1 July 2025)	12% of qualifying earnings
Late payment	SG charge with 10% flat interest and a $20 admin fee per employee	SG charge with daily-compounding interest and an administrative uplift
Is the SG charge deductible?	No	Yes
Small Business Superannuation Clearing House	Available	Closed

The deadlines: 7 business days, and 20 for new starters

A contribution is on time if it's received by the employee's fund within 7 business days after payday, with enough information for the fund to allocate it to the right member account. Sending it isn't enough: it has to arrive and be allocatable.

There's one important exception. The first contribution for a new employee, or the first contribution to a new fund for an existing employee, has 20 business days. That extra time is there to sort out fund details for new starters. After that first payment, the 7 business day deadline applies.

Funds also have a deadline: they must allocate or return a contribution within 3 business days. If the fund can't match it to a member, the money comes back to you, and your clock is still running.

That's why super details collected at onboarding matter so much more now. A typo in a member number, a closed account or a wrong USI used to give you months to fix. Now it can mean a returned payment and a missed deadline in the same fortnight.

What are qualifying earnings?

Qualifying earnings (QE) replace ordinary time earnings as the base for super guarantee. They bring together:

• ordinary time earnings
• commissions
• salary sacrificed super contributions
• other amounts that were previously included in salary or wages for super guarantee

Super guarantee is 12% of qualifying earnings for each payday. Your payroll software now reports QE through Single Touch Payroll (STP), so check that your pay items are mapped correctly. The ATO's page explaining qualifying earnings has examples.

What happens if super is late: the new SG charge

If a contribution doesn't arrive within the deadline, you're liable for the super guarantee charge (SGC), which has changed. As at October 2026, it's made up of:

• the shortfall: the unpaid super, calculated on qualifying earnings
• notional earnings: interest that compounds daily at the general interest charge rate, replacing the old flat 10%
• an administrative uplift: initially 60% of the shortfall and notional earnings, which can be reduced if you haven't had an ATO-initiated assessment in the last two years and if you make a voluntary disclosure early
• choice loading: if you didn't follow the choice of fund rules

The SGC is now tax deductible. Penalties of 25% or 50% of unpaid SGC can also apply, depending on your history. See what happens if you don't pay super correctly.

The first-year compliance approach

For the first year (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027), the ATO has said employers who genuinely try to pay on time will not be the focus of compliance action. Under Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2026/1, the ATO looks at behaviour: are you trying to pay each payday, and do you fix problems quickly? Employers who leave unpaid SG uncorrected more than 28 days after the end of the quarter are treated as high risk.

In other words: a genuine mistake you fix fast is treated very differently from super you don't pay.

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House has closed

The ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) closed permanently on 1 July 2026. It stopped taking new registrations from 1 October 2025, and you can no longer use it to pay super or download records. If you relied on it, you now need another way to pay, usually your payroll software's built-in super payments, your default fund's employer service, or a commercial clearing house.

Payday super in Xero

Xero has updated Xero Payroll for payday super, including reporting qualifying earnings through STP. If you use Xero:

1. Turn on Auto Super in your payroll settings so super is paid with each pay run. Xero says contributions typically reach funds within four business days.
2. Check every employee's super membership (fund, USI or SMSF details, member number) before their next pay run. A returned contribution costs you days.
3. Check your pay items count toward qualifying earnings correctly.
4. Approve super payments promptly after each pay run, so processing time doesn't eat into your 7 business days.

Xero's Payday Super page has its setup guides.

Payday super in MYOB

MYOB has also updated its payroll products. In MYOB Business, you switch on the Pay Super setting so super is paid alongside wages, and its super payment service is included in MYOB Payroll subscriptions. MYOB's Payday Super guide and support hub cover the details for each product. The same checks apply: correct fund details for every employee, pay items mapped to qualifying earnings, and payments approved straight after each pay run.

Why onboarding data matters more under payday super

Most late payments won't come from employers who refuse to pay. They'll come from bad data: a fund that doesn't exist any more, a member number with two digits swapped, or a new starter who never returned their super choice form.

Under payday super, you have to get the fund right before the first pay, not before the end of the quarter. That means:

• Offer choice of fund with the standard choice form, and set a default fund for anyone who doesn't choose.
• Request a stapled fund from the ATO if the new employee doesn't nominate a fund, before you fall back to your default fund.
• Validate the details before they reach payroll: USI, member number, and that the account is active.
• Collect it before day one, so the 20 business day window for the first contribution is spent paying, not chasing.

Setting up Canyou for payday super

Canyou collects and checks super details during onboarding, alongside the TFN declaration and bank details, so they're right before they reach payroll. There are two one-off settings to complete. The super stapling setup guide has the same steps.

Step 1: Set up your default super fund in Canyou

Your default fund needs to be set in Canyou, not just in payroll. It's the fund new starters see during onboarding if they don't have a fund or choose not to nominate one. Without it, Canyou can't offer a fallback or register them if they abandon the super choice form.

Go to Settings > Super and confirm your default fund.

Step 2: Connect Canyou to the ATO for super stapling

This is a one-time setup that takes about five minutes. Once it's done, Canyou retrieves each new employee's stapled fund from the ATO during onboarding, with no manual lookups.

1. Log in to Canyou.
2. Go to Settings and select Superannuation.
3. Open the Super Stapling settings.
4. Follow the guided setup to connect to the ATO, notify the ATO of a hosted software service, and verify the connection.

If you manage several businesses in Canyou, enable super stapling for each one. BAS agents and tax practitioners only need to set up the ATO hosted service connection once, and it can then be used across all their businesses. If you don't have access to the ATO's Access Manager, send these instructions to the business owner or your BAS or tax agent. If the connection fails, see troubleshooting an unsuccessful ATO connection.

Watch the video walkthrough or the recording of our payday super and super stapling webinar.

What Canyou does from there

• Retrieves the new employee's stapled fund from the ATO and shows it during onboarding, so they confirm it with one click.
• Registers their membership if they choose your default fund, before their first payday.
• Validates super details in real time, catching typos, incorrect USIs and inactive memberships before they reach payroll.
• Applies the stapled fund automatically if an employee abandons their super choice (or registers them with your default fund if there's no stapled fund).
• Syncs validated tax, super and bank details into payroll. See the Xero integration and the Xero syncing guide, or the full list on our integrations page.

The result is fewer returned contributions and a clear record of how each fund was chosen. For everything else a new starter needs, see the new employee onboarding checklist or how employee onboarding in Canyou gets people cleared to work before day one.

Try for free (no credit card required), or Book a demo and we'll set up payday super with you.

Sources (accessed October 2026): ATO, About Payday Super; ATO, Paying super for a new employee or fund; ATO, Explaining qualifying earnings; ATO, What happens if you don't pay super correctly; ATO, Getting it right: compliance in the first year of Payday Super; ATO, Small Business Superannuation Clearing House; Xero, Payday Super; MYOB, Payday Super guide.