What we’re seeing for employers now Payday Super is live

Payday Super went live on 1 July 2026. Eight weeks on, the real-world issues are starting to surface. Some employers are running into practical snags that weren’t obvious before go-live.

Even if you’ve already sorted your payroll and haven’t hit any issues, check you’re not missing something.

Quick recap

Payday Super requires employers to ensure super guarantee (SG) contributions are received by each employee’s super fund within seven business days of each payday, replacing the old quarterly system. We’ve covered the lead-up in two earlier posts:

• Payday Super: Why June 2026 timing matters for employers (March 2026)
• Payday Super changes: what you need to know before 1 July 2026 (December 2025)

This one picks up where those left off, letting you know what’s happening now the rules are in force.

What we’re seeing

1. The SBSCH closure is catching some businesses out

The ATO’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed on 1 July 2026. If your business used it, you need an alternative SuperStream-compliant solution in place.

Some smaller employers hadn’t finalised this before go-live and are now scrambling to set up a new clearing house arrangement mid-transition, which is a much harder position to fix retrospectively than to plan for in advance.

If this is you: don’t wait for a missed payment to force the issue. Talk to us, or your payroll provider, now.

2. Out-of-cycle payments (bonuses, allowances, corrections) need care

The ATO has issued guidance (Legislative Instrument 2026/20) on how employers should treat payments processed outside the ordinary payroll run, for example bonuses, back-pay or corrections, for SG purposes. If your payroll system isn’t coding these correctly, you risk either underpaying super without realising it or creating unnecessary compliance flags.

Action: check with your payroll provider that out-of-cycle payments are mapped correctly under the new rules, not just carried over from your old process.

3. The Maximum Contribution Base is now annual, not quarterly

Previously, the Maximum Contribution Base (which caps compulsory SG) applied each quarter. It now applies annually. This sounds like a technical detail, but it can create real timing issues for high-income employees, particularly if your payroll system was built around quarterly caps and hasn’t been reconfigured.

If you have higher-income employees: if you have employees near the contribution cap, this is worth a specific check rather than assuming your system has adjusted automatically.

4. Cash flow feels different

Under the old system, super could sit in the business for up to three months before payment. Now it typically leaves within days of each pay run.

Action: For most businesses this is a manageable adjustment, but if you haven’t updated your cash flow forecasting to reflect more frequent, smaller outflows, it’s worth doing that now rather than discovering the gap at a busy time of year.

The ATO’s approach right now

The ATO has said it will take a facilitative, risk-based approach in this first year (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027) for employers making genuine efforts to comply. That’s helpful, but it’s not a free pass. The ATO has also indicated it will take a firmer line where employers aren’t attempting to pay SG on time at all. In practice, that means minor teething problems are unlikely to be penalised harshly if you’re clearly trying, but ignoring the new rules is a different story.

What to do now

• Confirm your clearing house arrangement is active and working, not just set up in theory.
• Check out-of-cycle payments (bonuses, corrections, allowances) are being handled correctly under the new timing rules.
• Review your position on the annual contribution cap if you have higher-income employees.
• Update your cash flow forecast to reflect more frequent super outflows.
• Run a test pay cycle if you haven’t already confirmed the full process works end to end.

Get in touch

If you’re not confident your payroll is handling all of this correctly, now is a better time to check than during your next BAS or reporting cycle, when problems are harder and more costly to unwind.