From 1 July 2026 employers will be required to pay an employee’s superannuation contribution at the same time employees are paid rather than quarterly.
What are “qualifying earnings”?
Qualifying earnings (QE) is the new term used for earnings to calculate superannuation. QE is broader than Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE).
Payments included in QE are:
- Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE) – the definition remains the same and refers to payments associated with ordinary hours of work.
- All commissions paid to employees even when earned outside of ordinary hours.
- Salary sacrifice amount that would otherwise qualify as earnings if they had not been sacrificed to superannuation.
- Payments to workers who fall under the expanded definition of employee, including independent contractors paid mainly for labour.
QE does not include overtime payments or amounts directly related to overtime.
When does super need to be paid?
Superannuation contributions will be considered on time if they are received by the employee’s super fund within 7 business days of pay day.
Late payments can still be made but interest and penalties apply from day 8 onwards.
How do I pay super?
From the 30 June 2026 the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will be closed.
After this date all super contributions can be paid directly to the employee superannuation fund and contribution data must be submitted through SuperStream.
SuperStream is the government standard for electronically sending super contribution payments and associated employee data in a standardised electronic format. This allows employers to make one payment that is distributed across multiple super funds.
What are the new penalties?
Under the current provisions penalties could be up to double the charge but the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) had discretion to reduce or waive and frequently did for cooperative businesses.
Under the new system penalties cannot be waived or reduced and are set at 25% for the first offence and 50% for repeat offences.
What do I need to do?
Check with your payroll provider or accountant to ensure your method of payment and recording is SuperStream complaint.
Assess cash flow impact, due to super being paid more frequently.
Download your SBSCH transaction history before 1 July 2026 as you will not be able to access the data after this date and you will need that data to respond to any audits or employee queries.
Update super calculations, particularly for salary sacrifice and variable pay.