The Australian Government's Payday Super legislation takes effect from 1 July 2026. From this date, employers are required to pay Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions to employees' super funds within 7 business days of each payday, replacing the previous quarterly payment cycle.

Definitiv is fully updated to support these changes. This section covers everything you need to know to get ready, including how to configure your payroll settings, what's new in your pay run and reporting screens, and what to expect when contributions are made under the new rules.

1 July 2026 - Payday Super takes effect. SG contributions from this date must reach your employees' super funds within 7 business days of each payment date.

Payday Super introduces three changes to how superannuation is handled in Definitiv.

Qualifying Earnings (QE) is a new concept introduced by the ATO that replaces Ordinary Time Earnings as the basis for SG calculations. Definitiv calculates Qualifying Earnings automatically for every employee in every pay run and includes the figure in your STP submission. Before your first pay run on or after 1 July 2026, you will need to review your pay items to confirm each one is configured correctly.

Maximum Superannuation Contribution Base moves from a quarterly cap to an annual cap. Rather than resetting every three months, the maximum amount of an employee's earnings on which you are required to pay SG is now tracked across the full financial year. You can manage this setting directly in Definitiv, including setting up individual overrides for employees whose arrangements require it.

Super Fund Member Verification is a new step that confirms a super fund will accept a contribution for an employee before any money moves. Definitiv handles this automatically when you set up or update an employee's fund details. A new screen in the superannuation administration area gives you visibility over any pending or unresolved verifications across your organisation.

Everything you need to know about Qualifying Earnings - what they are, how to review and update your pay item settings, what types of payments are included and excluded, and how Qualifying Earnings appear in your pay runs, STP reports, and employee self-service.

See the Qualifying Earnings Setup and User Guide

How the annual MSCB cap works, how to configure your organisation-level settings, how to set up employee-level overrides, and how Definitiv notifies you when an employee is approaching or has reached the annual threshold.

See the Maximum Superannuation Contribution Base Setup and User Guide

How member verification works, when it is triggered, what the verification outcomes mean, how to resolve rejections, and how to use the Outstanding and Errors screens to stay on top of verifications across your organisation.

See the Super Fund Member Verification - Setup and User Guide

While Definitiv handles the calculation, reporting, and verification aspects of Payday Super, there are broader obligations and practical considerations that sit outside your payroll software. The following is not exhaustive - your accountant, payroll consultant, or legal adviser can provide guidance specific to your organisation.
Further details on Payday Super from the ATO can be found here.

The most significant operational change for many employers is the shift from a quarterly payment cycle to a per-payday obligation. Super can no longer be held and paid as a quarterly lump sum - each payday creates a new payment obligation that must reach your employees' funds within 7 business days.

For organisations that have previously used the quarterly cycle to manage working capital, this will require a review of cashflow forecasts and liquidity planning. The number of super payment events each month will match your pay cycle frequency - weekly payroll means weekly super payments, fortnightly means fortnightly, and so on.

Contributions must be received by the employee's super fund within 7 business days of payday. The clock runs from the payment date, not from when you initiate the transfer, which means clearing house and bank processing times need to be factored into your payment workflow.

Most clearing houses, including Beam, process contributions within 1–3 business days. This leaves a limited margin in the 7-day window. Employers should aim to initiate super payments on payday or the following business day — waiting until day 5 or 6 creates unnecessary risk of missing the deadline if any processing delay occurs.

For new employees or employees who have changed super funds, an extended window of 20 business days applies for the first contribution. This extended timeframe is what enables member verification to occur before the first payment is made.

Missing the 7-business-day deadline triggers the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC). Under Payday Super, the SGC applies per pay period - not quarterly as under the previous regime - meaning a late payment in one pay run is assessed independently of others.

The SGC is more costly than simply paying super on time. It includes the unpaid SG shortfall, compounded notional earnings calculated from the start of the relevant quarter, and a 10% per annum administrative uplift on the shortfall. Unlike ordinary SG contributions, the SGC is not tax-deductible, which significantly increases its effective cost. Additional penalties apply where the SGC remains unpaid for extended periods.

Directors of companies that fail to meet SG obligations can be held personally liable under the ATO's Director Penalty Notice regime. This is unchanged from the previous system, but becomes more consequential with more frequent payment obligations.

The ATO will match STP-reported SG liabilities against contribution receipts reported by super funds, giving them near real-time visibility of whether payments are being made on time and in full. This data matching means non-compliance is likely to be identified quickly, rather than surfacing at the end of a quarter.

For the 2026-27 financial year, the ATO has indicated it will take a risk-based compliance approach, focusing its enforcement attention on high-risk employers first. Employers who take reasonable steps to comply and correct issues promptly are expected to receive a more supportive response. However, this approach does not reduce the legal obligation to pay on time.

Super fund allocation window.

From 1 July 2026, super funds have 3 business days to allocate or return a contribution, reduced from the previous 20 business days. This means errors surface faster. A rejected contribution will come back quickly, and you will need to resolve and resubmit within the remaining window to avoid missing the 7-day deadline. Keeping employee fund details accurate, member numbers, USIs, and TFNs is more important than ever under the new timeframes.

Enhanced error messaging. SuperStream error messages have been updated from May 2026 to be clearer and more actionable. Where a contribution is rejected, the new messages identify specifically what is wrong and what action is needed, replacing the generic error codes that were previously returned by funds and clearing houses.

New Payments Platform (NPP). From 1 July 2026, all super funds are required to be able to receive contributions via NPP, Australia's real-time payment infrastructure. This enables near-instant fund receipt where both the clearing house and fund support it. Employers and their clearing houses can choose whether to use NPP it is not mandatory at the employer end. Note that Beam has an approved extension for NPP implementation until March 2027. Definitiv customers using Beam for super payments should be aware that NPP-speed processing for payments will not be available through Beam until that date, however Beam has already enabled NPP for Super Refunds. Standard Beam processing timelines apply in the interim, and payment initiation timing should be planned accordingly.

The ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will close on 1 July 2026. If your organisation currently uses the SBSCH to pay super, you will need to arrange an alternative clearing house solution before this date. Your super fund may offer a clearing house service, or your payroll consultant can advise on alternatives.

If you are an existing SBSCH user, you should also download your historical super records from the SBSCH before 1 July 2026. After that date the service will be inaccessible, and records will no longer be available to retrieve.