If you employ anybody, this is the change that affects you most this year.
Since 1 July 2026, superannuation guarantee contributions must be paid at the same time as salary and wages, and the contribution must generally reach the employee's fund within seven business days of payday. The old arrangement, where SG could be paid quarterly within 28 days of quarter end, is gone.
It is law. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 and the accompanying Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Act passed Parliament, and any payday on or after 1 July 2026 is covered.
The three practical changes
Timing. Weekly payroll now means weekly super. Fortnightly means fortnightly. The seven business day window is measured to receipt by the fund, not to when you sent it, which means clearing house processing time is your problem, not theirs.
Calculation. There is a new term, qualifying earnings, which brings together ordinary time earnings and certain other payments. If your payroll software has not been updated for it, check.
Visibility. The ATO now has near real time visibility of whether contributions arrived on time, because the payment and the pay event are matched. Late payment is no longer something discovered a year later. It is visible almost immediately, and penalties, interest on shortfalls, and additional penalties for repeat offenders all apply.
The cash flow part, which is the real issue
For a lot of small businesses this is the thing that actually hurts, and it has nothing to do with the total amount payable. The total is the same. It is the timing.
Under the old rules, a business paying monthly wages could hold roughly three months of super obligations before the payment fell due. That was not a strategy anyone recommended, but it was a buffer that a great many businesses were quietly using.
That buffer no longer exists. Super now leaves the business at the same time as wages.
If your business has been relying on it without quite framing it that way, the first quarter under the new rules is where you notice. Model it now rather than finding out.
What to check
That your payroll software handles payday super and the qualifying earnings definition.
That your clearing house or fund can receive payments through the New Payments Platform, which all super funds have been required to support since 1 July 2026.
That employee fund details are complete and correct, because a rejected payment is a late payment, and a rejection discovered on day six leaves you very little room.
That the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House replacement is set up if you were using it.
That your cash flow forecast reflects super leaving with every pay run.
One thing worth saying plainly
Late super has always been more expensive than people realise, because the superannuation guarantee charge is not deductible and is calculated differently from the contribution you failed to make. Under the new system, late is both more likely to be detected and detected faster.
If your payroll is currently held together by good intentions and a spreadsheet, this is the year to fix it.