Super guarantee 2026-27: the rate, Payday Super and every employer date

The super guarantee rate is 12% for 1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027. It reached 12% on 1 July 2025, and the ATO’s rate table shows 12% continuing from 1 July 2027 onwards — the legislated step-ups are finished. A transitional rate applies on Norfolk Island: 11% for 2026-27, rising to 12% from 1 July 2027.

What did change on 1 July 2026 is what the 12% applies to. SG is now calculated on an employee’s qualifying earnings — a new term that brings together ordinary time earnings, all commissions, salary sacrifice contributions and other amounts previously included in salary or wages for SG purposes. Payday Super does not change who you pay super for, or the rate — it changes the calculation base and, most importantly, the timing.

Payday Super is enacted law, not a proposal. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 (No. 57 of 2025) and the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Act 2025 (No. 58 of 2025) are both in force on the Federal Register of Legislation, with register entries dated 6 November 2025. Supporting regulations were made in 2026, and the ATO finalised its first-year compliance guideline, PCG 2026/1, on 28 January 2026. The ATO’s legislation page states plainly that the measure is now law, and the regime commenced on 1 July 2026 as planned.

The core rule: from 1 July 2026, SG must be paid for each payday rather than each quarter, and contributions must be received by the employee’s super fund within 7 business days after the employee is paid — with enough information for the fund to allocate the money to the member’s account. “Received by the fund” is the test, not “paid by you”: employers using a commercial clearing house must allow for its processing time inside the same 7-business-day window, and processing times vary between providers.

The quarterly framework — 28 October, 28 January, 28 April and 28 July — applies only to employee earnings paid up to 30 June 2026. The 28 July 2026 date is therefore the last of its kind: a transitional deadline sitting inside the first Payday Super year. If any of that April–June quarter super did not reach funds on time, the old quarterly SGC regime applies to it (see below), not the new one.

Up to 30 June 2026 the maximum contribution base was quarterly — $62,500 per quarter in 2025-26. From 1 July 2026 it is an annual figure: $270,830 of qualifying earnings per employee for 2026-27. Once an employee’s qualifying earnings reach $270,830 during the year, the employer can stop paying SG for that employee for the remainder of the financial year.

The formula is the concessional contributions cap × 100 ÷ the charge percentage, rounded down to the nearest $10 — $32,500 × 100 ÷ 12 = $270,833.33, rounded down to $270,830 — using the cap that took effect on 1 July 2026 (see our companion resource on contribution caps for 2026-27). Two cautions: the base does not override additional super required under an award or enterprise agreement, and the 2027-28 figure is not yet published — do not budget forward from this number.

From 1 July 2026 the super guarantee charge applies when contributions are not received by the fund within 7 business days after payday (or the longer period where an exception applies). The mechanics are new: the ATO assesses the charge — employers no longer lodge an SG statement — and it is calculated per payday (each “QE day”) on qualifying earnings. The new SGC has four components: the individual final SG shortfalls; notional earnings (interest at the general interest charge rate, compounding daily); an administrative uplift; and choice loading. Unlike the old quarterly SGC, the new charge is tax deductible.

• The administrative uplift starts at 60% of the shortfall plus notional earnings for a payday. It reduces by 20 percentage points where the employer has had no ATO-initiated SGC assessment in the prior 2 years, and by up to 40 percentage points for a voluntary disclosure — reaching 0% where the employer discloses within 30 days and has a clean 2-year history.
• Choice loading — for breaches of choice-of-fund rules — is 25% of the affected contributions, capped at $1,200 per notice period.
• Penalties also changed on 1 July 2026: previously up to 200% of the SGC (remittable in part or full); now 25% or 50% of the unpaid SGC, depending on prior penalties. An assessed SGC is payable on the day of assessment, a Notice to Pay follows after 28 days if unpaid, and late payment penalties after a further 28 days.

For quarters ended on or before 30 June 2026, the old quarterly SGC still governs late payment: the shortfall is calculated on salary and wages (including overtime), any choice liability is capped at $500, nominal interest runs at 10% per annum from the start of the quarter, and an administration fee of $20 per employee per quarter applies. It is not tax deductible, and it requires the employer to lodge an SGC statement one calendar month after the SG due date — 28 August 2026 for the April–June 2026 quarter.

• STP reporting expanded — from 1 July 2026 employers report both qualifying earnings and their super liability through Single Touch Payroll. Year-end payroll obligations continue alongside this — see our STP finalisation checklist.
• SBSCH is gone — the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed to new users on 1 October 2025, existing users had access until 30 June 2026, and from 1 July 2026 it is no longer accessible. Former users must pay super another way, such as through payroll-software or commercial clearing-house arrangements.
• Funds move faster — super funds must allocate or return contributions within 3 business days (down from 20), and revised SuperStream standards allow near real-time payments via the New Payments Platform plus a new member verification request.
• Stapled fund requests earlier — from 27 March 2026, employers can request an employee’s stapled super fund details at the same time as giving the choice form, rather than waiting.