Highlights

  • Super payments reached about 64 million in July 2026 and 54 million in August, well above last year's monthly average.
  • Employers must now get super to the employee's fund within seven business days of payday, counting payday as day 0.
  • The ATO sorts employers into low, medium and high risk zones, with amounts unpaid after 28 days ranking top priority.
  • Draft practice statement PS LA 2026/D4 is open for comment until 13 November 2026, covering Commissioner-raised super guarantee assessments.

If you have an employer, your super now travels on a very different schedule. Instead of arriving in a lump after each quarter, it is meant to land in your fund within days of every payday, and the system has noticed. About 64 million contribution payments moved through it in July 2026, the first month of Payday Super, more than double the monthly norm of the year before. Behind that jump sit a new set of employer duties and a first-year compliance plan from the ATO that every business owner should understand.

The numbers behind the surge

Figures dated 12 October put July 2026 payments at about 64 million and August at about 54 million. Across 2025-26, the monthly average was roughly 25 million. That makes July about 2.6 times the old average and August about 2.2 times.

July probably overstates the new normal. Many employers paid their final contributions for the June 2026 quarter in July, alongside their first Payday Super payments. August is likely the better guide, though two months is a thin history.

What Payday Super requires

Payday Super began on 1 July 2026. Employers now pay the super guarantee (SG) with wages instead of up to 28 days after each quarter ends.

ATO guidance sets the window at seven business days from payday, which counts as day 0. A new employee who has not yet given choice-of-fund details gets 20 business days. The SG rate stays at 12% of ordinary time earnings; what has changed is how often the money moves.

A worked example: the same super, 26 times

Hypothetical example: Sam earns $3,000 in ordinary time earnings each fortnight, so his SG is $360 per pay and $9,360 across 26 pays. Under the quarterly model, an employer could have sent four payments of about $2,340. Now the same total arrives in 26 instalments.

If Sam is paid on Friday 6 November 2026, his contribution is due by Tuesday 17 November, assuming no public holidays. The total is unchanged, but payments are six and a half times as frequent and the money starts working sooner.

How the ATO is policing year one

Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2026/1 covers 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. It is guidance, not law, but it shows where the ATO will look.

Low-risk employers tried to pay on time and fixed shortfalls promptly; paying two or three days late after reasonable steps falls here. Medium-risk employers corrected unpaid amounts within 28 days after quarter end, such as fixing 10 missed fortnightly payments inside that window. High-risk employers still owe after that window and are the ATO's top priority. Overpayments can be carried forward for 12 months.

Gaps that remain

More frequent payments make a missing contribution easier to spot on a fund transaction history. Even so, an estimated one in four workers is underpaid super, worth about $6 billion a year, with only about 15% recovered. The Super Members Council wants unpaid super added to the Fair Entitlements Guarantee.

There is also a cap wrinkle. June 2026 quarter contributions paid in July could count towards the 2026-27 concessional cap. A one-off measure in the Tax Reform No. 3 bill would disregard eligible ones.

Key dates: the ATO faces Senate Estimates from 5pm AEDT on Wednesday 28 October, and 13 November 2026 is both the PS LA 2026/D4 comment deadline and the Senate Economics Legislation Committee's due date to report on the bill.