Super
Payday Super vs Quarterly Super: Exactly What's Changing — and the Key Dates Before 1 July 2026
Payday super vs quarterly super, compared line by line: timing, the calculation base, reporting, the clearing house, and the late-payment penalty regime. Plus the full key-dates timeline an Australian employer must act on before 1 July 2026 — including the SBSCH closing 30 June 2026.
If you run pay — or run it for clients — the single most useful thing right now is a clear, side-by-side picture of quarterly super vs payday super: what actually changes, what stays the same, and the exact dates you have to act on. That's this page. The change starts 1 July 2026, but there's an earlier hard deadline hiding inside it — the SBSCH closes 11:59pm AEST 30 June 2026 — and a final quarterly payment still due 28 July 2026. Miss either and you're in trouble under two different rule sets at once. Let's make the whole thing concrete.
General information only — not financial, tax, superannuation, or legal advice. Confirm every requirement with the ATO (ato.gov.au) or a registered tax or BAS agent before acting.
The one-line version
Quarterly super (the rules until 30 June 2026): you pay the super guarantee in quarterly batches, by the 28th day after each quarter ends, calculated on Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE).
Payday super (from 1 July 2026): super must be received by each employee's fund within 7 business days of every payday, calculated on Qualifying Earnings (QE), and reported per employee each payday through Single Touch Payroll (STP).
The 12% rate doesn't change, and the total you owe over a year doesn't change. What changes is the timing, the calculation base, the reporting cadence, and the penalty regime for getting it wrong. To put real dollars against the timing shift before you read further, run the numbers here:
Payday Super · from 1 July 2026
Payday Super cashflow-impact calculator
From 1 July 2026, employers must pay the 12% Super Guarantee on every payday — received by each employee's fund within 7 business days — instead of batching it quarterly or monthly. Estimate the new per-payday outflow and the one-off working-capital catch-up as the super you currently hold between batches leaves earlier. Runs entirely in your browser.
1 July 2026
11:59pm AEST 30 June 2026
Quarterly super vs payday super, compared line by line
| Dimension | Quarterly super (until 30 June 2026) | Payday super (from 1 July 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| How often you pay | Up to four times a year, in quarterly batches | Every payday — weekly, fortnightly or monthly, whenever you pay wages |
| The deadline | By the 28th day after each quarter ends (28 Oct, 28 Jan, 28 Apr, 28 Jul) | The fund receives the super within 7 business days of payday |
| "Paid" means | Effectively when you remit | When the fund receives and can allocate it — received, not sent |
| Calculation base | Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE), totalled per quarter | Qualifying Earnings (QE) on each payday |
| Rate | 12% | 12% (unchanged) |
| Reporting | Quarterly cycle | YTD qualifying earnings and YTD super liability per employee, each payday, via STP |
| Clearing house | SBSCH available to eligible small businesses | SBSCH gone — software, a commercial clearing house or a fund channel |
| If you're late | Old Super Guarantee Charge (SG shortfall + interest + admin fee), lodged on an SGC statement | New SGC — SG shortfall + notional earnings compounded daily + initial 60% admin uplift + possible choice loading |
| Cashflow rhythm | Super pools in your account, leaves 4× a year | Super leaves with every payrun |
Two rows deserve a closer look, because they're where careful employers still slip.
"Received, not sent" is the real change
Under quarterly super, you had so much slack that nobody measured the gap between submitting super and the fund receiving it. Under payday super, that gap is the whole deadline. A contribution is on time only if the employee's fund receives it — with everything needed to allocate it to the member's account — within 7 business days of payday. A slow clearing house can make you late even when you paid on payday. The full mechanics are in the 7-business-day rule: received, not sent.
OTE becomes Qualifying Earnings — a wider base, same definition of OTE
From 1 July 2026, super is calculated on Qualifying Earnings, not OTE-per-quarter. Importantly, what counts as OTE hasn't changed — QE is OTE plus all commissions (including those earned solely for work outside ordinary hours) and salary-sacrificed amounts that would have been QE. Overtime is still not included where ordinary hours are clearly identified. If a pay item is borderline, work it through with the Qualifying Earnings vs OTE guide.
What stays exactly the same
It's easy to over-read a reform, so here's what does not change:
- The rate stays at 12%. The super guarantee reached its final legislated level of 12% on 1 July 2025; no further increase is scheduled. Payday super does not raise the rate.
- The definition of OTE is unchanged. QE is built on OTE plus a couple of specific extras — the OTE concept itself is the same.
- Your annual super bill is unchanged. Over a full year you owe the same total. This is a timing, calculation-base and reporting reform — not a bigger bill. The cash rhythm changes, which is covered in what payday super does to your cashflow.
- Who's covered is, if anything, clearer. Both systems apply to all employers with no small-business exemption, extending to contractors paid mainly for their labour.
The key dates — a single timeline
This is the part to put in your calendar. The dates run in a deliberate order, and a couple of them overlap.
| Date | What happens | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 1 October 2025 | SBSCH closed to new registrants | If you weren't already using the ATO clearing house, you can't start. New employers need another super-payment channel. |
| 1 July 2025 | SG rate reached its final 12% | The rate is settled at 12% going into payday super — no rate change bundled with the reform. |
| 30 June 2026 (11:59pm AEST) | SBSCH closes to all users; final quarter ends | If you use the SBSCH, your replacement path must be live and tested before this. The last quarter under the old rules also ends today. See the SBSCH closing guide. |
| 1 July 2026 | Payday super starts | Every payday from this date is subject to the 7-business-day received-by rule on that day's qualifying earnings. |
| 28 July 2026 | Final quarterly super due | The June 2026 quarter (qualifying earnings paid up to 30 June 2026) is still paid the old way and is due now. Don't forget it while you switch. |
| 30 June 2027 | End of the first-year education-first window | Under PCG 2026/1, qualifying-earnings days from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 get an education-first compliance approach. From 1 July 2027 onward, that softer stance no longer applies. |
The official summary of the start and the surrounding settings is on the ATO's about payday super page.
The bit people miss: you run both systems for a few weeks
Notice that 1 July 2026 and 28 July 2026 sit close together. For a short window you operate both systems:
- You finalise the June 2026 quarter the old way — calculated on OTE, due by 28 July 2026.
- You also start paying super on each payday the new way — calculated on QE, received within 7 business days — for every pay from 1 July 2026.
It's a genuine source of error. Treat the June 2026 quarter as a separate, named task with its own deadline, and don't let the excitement of the new rule make you forget the last payment under the old one — **missing it triggers the old super guarantee charge**, entirely separately from anything payday super does.
The penalty regimes are different too — don't carry old assumptions over
A subtle trap: the consequences of being late are not the same under the two systems, so an employer's instinct from quarterly days can mislead them.
- Under quarterly super, a late payment landed you in the old SGC — the SG shortfall, nominal interest, and an administration component, declared on an SGC statement.
- Under payday super, the new SGC is tougher: the SG shortfall, notional earnings (interest compounded daily), an initial 60% administrative uplift, and a possible choice loading.
And on top of the SGC there's a separate penalty layer that's easy to conflate — so here it is precisely:
If the SGC in a Notice to Pay isn't paid within 28 days of the notice date, a late-payment penalty of 25% of the outstanding amount applies (50% if you were liable for the same penalty in the past 24 months), and this penalty can't be remitted. A separate Part 7 penalty of up to 200% of the SGC may also apply — and that one can be remitted in full or part at the ATO's discretion.
Two distinct penalties, two different rules: the 25%/50% late-payment penalty is non-remittable; the Part 7 penalty (up to 200%) can be remitted. The full breakdown, with the corrected wording, is in the new SGC and penalties guide. The reassuring counterweight is the first-year education-first approach under PCG 2026/1 (finalised 28 January 2026) for qualifying-earnings days 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 — employers genuinely trying to comply and fixing slips quickly won't be the ATO's compliance focus in that window. It does not apply from 1 July 2027.
A dated action plan: what to do, and by when
Here's how to translate the timeline into moves, working backwards from 1 July 2026.
Do in June 2026 (before 30 June):
- Confirm your software is payday-super-ready — the right updated version of Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks or Reckon, or your provider.
- Migrate off the SBSCH if you used it — your replacement channel must be live and tested before 30 June 2026, not on the day.
- Know your clearing house's turnaround in business days, in writing — because the deadline is received-by, not sent-by.
- Clean every employee's fund details so contributions can actually be allocated on arrival.
- Map which pay items are now Qualifying Earnings against the QE vs OTE guide.
- Run a dummy super batch end-to-end and time submission → fund-received to confirm the gap is comfortably under 7 business days.
Do from 1 July 2026:
- Pay super on every payday, building the super submission into the pay run itself rather than treating it as a later task.
- Confirm each contribution is received, and watch the calendar around public holidays — they shorten your working window.
Don't forget by 28 July 2026:
- Pay the final June 2026 quarter the old way — the last quarterly remittance, calculated on OTE.
The complete version of the pre-1-July work is the 12-point readiness check. To see the cash impact of the switch, run the free cashflow calculator.
Get the done-for-you version
If you'd rather not build the supporting documents from scratch, the Payday Super Compliance Pack turns this comparison and timeline into done-for-you, editable templates — the payday super policy, the per-payday payroll SOP, employee comms, and a cashflow plan with a 7-business-day deadline calculator — each carrying the not-advice disclaimer and ATO source citations. It's designed to get a small employer or bookkeeper operationalised in an afternoon. Grab the free readiness checklist first, then the pack:
Done-for-you · editable templates
The Payday Super Compliance Pack
Operationalise the 1 July 2026 change in an afternoon instead of building every document from scratch. Editable, AU-specific templates a small employer or bookkeeper can adopt today — each one carrying the not-advice disclaimer and ATO source citations.
- Payday Super policy template (.docx) — pay-on-payday, the 7-business-day received standard, QE basis, choice-of-fund, a process owner. Fill-in-the-blanks.
- Payroll-process SOP (.docx) — the per-payday runbook: calculate 12% of QE, submit early, confirm received within 7 business days, STP report, reconcile, handle exceptions. With a RACI line.
- Employee comms templates (.docx) — staff announcement, "confirm your fund details" request, choice/stapled-fund notice, and a staff FAQ. Copy, paste, send.
- Cashflow plan template (.xlsx) — super outflow per pay run vs the old quarterly lump, a buffer/runway calculator, and a 12-week timing view. Pre-built formulas.
- Bonus: 7-business-day deadline calculator (.xlsx) — enter a payday, get the "must be received by" date. The most-shared artifact.
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General information only — not financial, tax, superannuation, or legal advice. The Pack is a set of editable templates and education, not regulated advice. Every figure and date is based on published ATO guidance current as at 8 June 2026, which can be updated before 1 July 2026; confirm your obligations with the ATO or a registered tax or BAS agent before acting.
Where to go next
- Plain-English explainer → What is payday super? The 1 July 2026 change explained
- Check you're ready → Am I ready for payday super? The 12-point check
- Understand the deadline → The 7-business-day rule: received, not sent
- Plan the cash → What payday super does to your cashflow
- Read the full guide → Payday Super: the complete employer guide
General information only, current as at 9 June 2026, based on ATO published guidance — not financial, tax, superannuation, or legal advice. The dates and figures here (the 12% rate, the 1 July 2026 start, the 7-business-day rule, the 30 June 2026 SBSCH closure, the 28 July 2026 final quarterly due date, and the penalty mechanics) are based on legislated settings and published ATO guidance, which can be updated before 1 July 2026. Confirm your situation with the ATO or a registered tax or BAS agent before acting.
Next steps: see what each payday's 12% super costs in the free payday super cashflow calculator, then get the Payday Super Readiness Checklist & Pack → to turn this comparison and timeline into a done-for-you, dated plan before 1 July 2026. For the full picture, start at the Payday Super pillar guide.