Since 1 July 2026, employers must pay super with every pay run, and funds must receive it within seven business days. Missed contributions now attract a heavier charge that the ATO assesses itself. For directors, the time to avoid locked-in personal liability has shrunk from one quarterly deadline to no more than 60 days after each payday.
What has changed
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 received assent on 6 November 2025 and took effect on 1 July 2026. It targets a gap the ATO estimates at $6.2 billion of unpaid super guarantee in 2022–23.
Employers must now pay the super guarantee, at 12 per cent, on “qualifying earnings” for each payday. Qualifying earnings replace ordinary time earnings and also capture commissions and salary sacrifice amounts.
A contribution is on time only if the fund receives it, with the details needed to allocate it, within seven business days after payday. Limited exceptions apply, such as 20 business days for a new employee. Funds now have three business days to allocate or return contributions. The ATO’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House is no longer available.
A tougher super guarantee charge
Employers no longer lodge quarterly charge statements for paydays since 1 July. The ATO matches Single Touch Payroll data against fund reports and assesses the charge itself.
The charge now has four parts:
- Shortfall. The unpaid super for each employee.
- Notional earnings. Interest at the general interest charge rate, compounding daily. The rate for October to December 2026 is 11.51 per cent a year.
- Administrative uplift. Up to 60 per cent of the shortfall and notional earnings. It falls by up to 40 percentage points if the employer lodges a voluntary disclosure statement less than 30 days after payday.
- Choice loading. An extra amount where choice of fund rules were not followed.
The charge is payable on the day the ATO assesses it. If it is not paid within 28 days, the ATO issues a notice to pay. If it remains unpaid 28 days after the employer receives that notice, a 25 per cent late payment penalty applies. It rises to 50 per cent for a repeat within 24 months, and cannot be remitted.
One change helps: the charge is now tax deductible, although interest on its late payment and the late payment penalty are not.
What it means for directors
Directors are personally liable for their company’s unpaid super guarantee charge under the director penalty regime. The penalty equals the unpaid charge, so it can include the notional earnings and the uplift.
The Act resets the clock. For each payday, the charge is treated as due on the earlier of two dates: the day after a 60-day period starting on that payday, and the day the ATO assesses it.
That date now decides whether a director penalty is “locked down”. To the extent the shortfall has not been disclosed in a voluntary disclosure statement by then, the usual escape routes close. Appointing an administrator, small business restructuring practitioner or liquidator no longer remits the penalty. Only payment, or a limited statutory defence, will then help.
Under the quarterly system there were four such deadlines a year. A business that pays fortnightly now faces 26. For July paydays, the 60-day window has already closed. If the ATO assesses first, the window closes that day, and voluntary disclosure is no longer possible.
Cash flow: the float has gone
Quarterly super gave many businesses an informal line of credit. Under the old rules, super on July wages was not due until 28 October.
July 2026 was a particular squeeze. Employers had to pay the final June quarter by 28 July, as well as super for each July payday.
Businesses under pressure often fall behind on super first. Under Payday Super, each missed payday appears in the ATO’s data.
The ATO’s first-year approach, PCG 2026/1, offers some breathing space. Employers who try to pay on time and fix problems promptly are low risk. Those who clear all shortfalls within 28 days after the end of the quarter are medium risk. Everyone else is high risk. The guideline governs where the ATO directs its resources. It does not change the law, including the director penalty rules.
What directors should do now
- Make sure every pay run funds super with wages, and that funds receive it within seven business days.
- Reconcile fund confirmations against payroll each pay cycle, and fix rejected or misdirected contributions immediately.
- If a contribution is missed, pay it and lodge a voluntary disclosure statement quickly: ideally within 30 days of payday, and always before any ATO assessment.
- Ask for a regular board report on super paid and outstanding for each payday.
- If the company cannot keep up with super and tax, get advice early, while every option remains open.
What to watch
- 28 October 2026. Employers must clear July to September shortfalls by then to stay out of the ATO’s high-risk zone.
- The first assessments. How quickly the ATO assesses from payroll data will decide how much of the 60-day window directors really have.
- Year two. PCG 2026/1 covers paydays up to 30 June 2027 only. The ATO has said it will publish more on voluntary disclosures for later paydays.
To discuss how these developments affect you, contact Scott D. Taylor on +61 7 3229 9800 or send us an enquiry online.
This article is general information only and is not legal advice.
Sources: Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 (Cth), Schedule 1, including items 169 and 171 (Taxation Administration Act 1953, Schedule 1, sections 269-10 and 269-30); ATO — About Payday Super; ATO — Payment deadlines for Payday Super; ATO — What happens if you don’t pay super correctly; ATO — Making a voluntary disclosure for Payday Super; ATO — Getting it right: compliance in the first year of Payday Super (PCG 2026/1, 28 January 2026); ATO — How we check Payday Super compliance; ATO — General interest charge rates; ATO — Super guarantee gap: latest estimate and trends.