Payday Super - what employers need to know

Payday Super is an Australian Government reform that requires employers to pay superannuation at the same time as salary and wages, rather than quarterly. This change is designed to help employees grow their retirement savings faster and reduce the risk of unpaid or delayed super contributions.

Payday Super has been mandatory for all employers since 1 July 2026. Super contributions must now be paid at the same time as wages, following your regular pay cycle – weekly, fortnightly, monthly, etc.

What changes with Superannuation Guarantee (SG) calculations?

The Super Guarantee (SG) rate will remain at 12%.
Payday Super introduces Qualifying Earnings (QE) - a new term to describe the types of payments used to calculate SG. 
For most employers, this change will not affect the total SG contributions you currently make for your employees.  
Qualifying Earnings include: 

• Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE) – regular pay for standard hours, plus certain types of paid leave, allowances, bonuses, and lump-sum payments. (The definition of OTE itself doesn’t change under Payday Super.) 
• Commissions – any commission payments made to employees.  
• Salary sacrifice amounts – where the sacrificed amount would have counted as earnings if it hadn’t been redirected to super.  
• Payments to certain contractors – independent contractors treated as employees because they are mainly paid for their labour.

Your payroll system or clearing house should handle this automatically, but it’s a good idea to check that all employee payments are correctly classified.

• Under Payday Super, you must pay super at the same time you pay wages, following your usual pay cycle (weekly, fortnightly, monthly, etc.).  
• Contributions must reach the employee’s super fund with all the required information to allocate to an account within 7 business days of payday.
• For a new employee or when paying into a new fund, you have up to 20 business days after payday for the first payment.
• Once received, funds have 3 business days to allocate the payment or return it if details are missing.
  
  

What do I need to do for new employees under Payday Super?

• You still need to provide new employees with the Choice of Fund form.
• Employers may now show an employee details of their existing stapled fund when providing the Choice of Fund form during onboarding.  
• If an employee doesn’t choose a fund and if the ATO advises the employee does not have a stapled fund, contributions can be paid to your default fund.

Note: Different rules apply for some Queensland local government employees (see below).

• For most employees, if they don’t choose a fund, you must request their stapled fund details from the ATO and pay super into that fund.

• Queensland local government employees: Where an employee is covered by the Local Government Act 2009 (Qld) and associated industrial instruments, superannuation arrangements may be prescribed or restricted. In these cases, the standard super stapling requirements may not apply, and employers should follow the superannuation provisions set out under the relevant legislation or award. 

• From 1 July 2026 (expected change), employers may show an employee their existing stapled fund when offering the choice form.  

• For first payments to a new employee or new fund, you have up to 20 business days to make the contribution, allowing time to confirm details and fix errors. 

Many clearing houses or payroll providers, including our partner SuperChoice, will offer automated tools to validate fund details and streamline onboarding.

What are the new ATO reporting requirements for super?

From 1 July 2026, you must include both Qualifying Earnings (QE) and Super Guarantee (SG) amounts in your Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting for every pay cycle.  
This gives the ATO visibility of contributions as they happen. Most payroll and clearing house systems are expected to update automatically but check with your provider that your system can report QE and SG correctly.

• Under Payday Super, you must pay super at the same time you pay wages, following your usual pay cycle (e.g. weekly, fortnightly, monthly).
• Contributions must reach the employee’s super fund with all the required information to allocate to an account within 7 business days of payday.
• For a new employee or when paying into a new fund, you have up to 20 business days after payday for the first payment.
• Once received, funds have 3 business days to allocate the payment or return it if details are missing.

A payment is considered late if the employee’s super fund hasn’t received the contribution within 7 business days of payday, including all the required information to allocate it to an account. For first payments to a new employee or a new fund, you have up to 20 business days after payday to make the contribution, allowing time to confirm details and fix errors. If you pay late or don’t follow the choice of fund rules, the ATO will apply a Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) for each payday (called a Qualifying Earnings day). In the first year, the ATO’s compliance approach recognises that employers who make a genuine effort to comply and resolve issues quickly will generally be considered low risk and should not be the focus of ATO compliance action.

Please visit the ATO’s Payday Super page for more information about late contributions and the SGC.

SuperStream is the national standard for sending super contributions electronically between employers, funds and the ATO. Under SuperStream 3.0, several improvements help reduce errors and speed up processing times:

• Member Verification Request (MVR): Lets you confirm an employee’s super fund details before payment to prevent errors. MVR is expected to become more widely available through payment providers, helping employers validate member details before contributions are made.

• New Payments Platform (NPP): All super funds must be able to accept NPP transactions, enabling near-instant transfers, often on the same day. 

• Super fund changes: Payroll and clearing house systems will get early alerts about major fund changes, like mergers, so you can redirect contributions quickly. 

Yes, Brighter Super has consolidated its clearing house services to SuperChoice to help employers comply with Payday Super requirements. 

QuickSuper is longer available through Brighter Super.

Our clearing house partner, SuperChoice, is available and offered to all of our employers at no cost.

We’ve chosen SuperChoice to reduce manual work, speed up processing, and help you stay compliant with all your super requirements including Payday Super. SuperChoice will also offer: 

• A smooth and secure platform 
• Enhanced detection of fraudulent transactions 
• Clear reporting features, together with streamlined onboarding and super fund functionality selection for new employees. These updates will be rolled out gradually, and we’ll keep you informed of the timeline.

SuperChoice is a leading Australian clearing house provider used by thousands of employers. SuperChoice is a trusted, modern platform designed to make compliance simple and efficient. SuperChoice is already utilised by many Brighter Super employers. 

If you’d like to use SuperChoice through Brighter Super you will need to register through our website. The system has training materials available to support you to make payments, add new employees, or tell us that employees have left your employment.

The USI to use for Brighter Super members is QLG0001AU.

If you are using an old Energy Super USI, this will need to be updated to reduce failed or misdirected payments when moving to pay-cycle contributions. If your employee has a Brighter Super Corporate Offer arrangement (previously Optimiser), they may have provided you with an alternative USI – 23053121564123. Please continue to use this.

As part of the Payday Super reform, the ATO Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) closed permanently on 1 July 2026. If you were using the SBSCH you’ll need to choose another option. Brighter Super has partnered with SuperChoice for clearing house services which is provided at no cost for our employers. 

On our Payday Super webpage you'll find information and resources to help you manage Payday Super, including recorded webinars, FAQs and other helpful links.  
You can also access detailed information about the Payday Super rules on the ATO website.

The Brighter Super Employer Services team is here to help you with any questions you have and support you with Payday Super.

Who can I speak to if I need help?