Key Tax and Superannuation Changes Affecting Employers
Updated: 1 day ago
Key takeaway: Since 1 July 2026, employers must pay superannuation for each payday, and it must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days. Minimum and award wages rose from the same date, and contribution caps increased. Four months in, employers should check that payroll, cash flow and reporting have caught up.
Background
Until 30 June 2026, employers could pay super guarantee quarterly, up to 28 days after each quarter ended. Many paid late in that window, which left employees' super unpaid for weeks and made underpayment hard to detect. Payday Super changes the timing, the earnings base and the way the ATO monitors compliance.
What has changed
Payday Super began on 1 July 2026.
Super guarantee must be received by the employee's fund within 7 business days after each payday. The payday counts as day 0.
For a new employee's first contribution, the deadline extends to 20 business days where the employee has not yet provided fund details or their stapled fund is a non-complying SMSF.
Super guarantee is now calculated on a new earnings base, qualifying earnings, at the rate of 12%.
Single Touch Payroll reports now carry each employee's qualifying earnings and super liability, giving the ATO near real-time visibility.
The ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed permanently on 1 July 2026.
Unpaid amounts can attract the super guarantee charge, which the ATO now assesses. The charge includes the unpaid super, notional interest and an administrative component. Paying the fund before an assessment issues reduces it.
The ATO has published its first-year compliance approach, which runs to 30 June 2027. Employers who try to pay on time and fix errors as soon as practicable are treated as low risk. Those who correct shortfalls within 28 days after the end of the quarter are medium risk. Amounts still uncorrected after that are the ATO's highest priority.
Minimum wages rose from 1 July 2026. Modern award minimum rates increased by 4.75%. The national minimum wage is now $26.44 an hour, or $1,004.90 a week.
Contribution caps increased for 2026–27. The concessional cap is $32,500, up from $30,000, and the non-concessional cap is $130,000, up from $120,000. Salary sacrifice arrangements should be checked against the new limits.
Who is affected
Every employer paying salary or wages is affected, but the change is hardest for businesses that:
pay weekly or fortnightly, and so now make 26 to 52 super payments a year instead of four;
relied on the quarterly lag to smooth cash flow;
used the closed clearing house or a payroll system that needed an upgrade; or
have many casual, seasonal or short-term staff, where new-starter fund details are often late.
Commercial implications
The main effect is on cash flow. Super that once sat in the business for up to four months now leaves within days of each pay run. A business with a $5 million wage bill pays about $600,000 a year in super guarantee. Paying it about two months sooner on average absorbs roughly $100,000 of working capital, once.
The compliance risk has also changed character. Errors that might once have been corrected at quarter-end are now visible to the ATO almost immediately through payroll reporting. Directors should remember that unpaid super can expose them personally through the director penalty regime.
Recommended considerations
Reconcile super paid against qualifying earnings for each pay run since 1 July, and correct any shortfalls promptly.
Confirm your payroll system maps pay codes correctly to qualifying earnings.
Check that contributions are reaching funds within 7 business days, not just leaving your account.
Build a process for collecting new starters' fund details before their first payday.
Update cash flow forecasts to show super with each pay run.
Apply the 1 July wage increases to award-covered staff, including any back pay.
Review salary sacrifice agreements against the 2026–27 concessional cap.
Sources
Speak with Reset Group. We can review your payroll and super processes against the new rules and update your cash flow forecasts. Call +61 2 8208 3314 or email info@resetgroup.com.au.
General information only, current at 30 October 2026. It does not take your circumstances into account and is not advice. Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.
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