Super’s about to align more closely with how you pay your people.  

From 1 July 2026, employers will need to pay super on payday, landing in employees’ super funds within 7 days of each salary payment. This shift – known as Payday Super – means that super can no longer be paid quarterly, and must align with pay runs.  

It’s a change designed to boost fairness, improve transparency and strengthen the financial wellbeing of employees across Australia.  

From 1 July 2026, it is proposed that Super Guarantee (SG) contributions must be paid alongside employee wages (allowing up to 7 days for contributions to land in member super accounts).  

The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will also close on the same day, meaning employers using this service will need to move to another payroll or clearing house solution before 1 July. 

Alternative solutions include your accounting platform, if it provides this functionality or another clearing house such as QuickSuper. If you are a default superannuation partner of smartMonday you can sign up to use QuickSuper at no extra cost.  

This Australia-wide legislation change is being implemented by the ATO to align the payment of super with wages, giving employees the compounding benefits of their super’s growth and ultimately boosting retirement balances. It also makes it easier for employees (and the ATO) to keep track of the contributions being made. 

For businesses, sending super out with the pay run may help streamline some processes as well as creating more transparency. Once implemented, this change should also make payroll management smoother, with fewer liabilities building up on the books.  

It also gives the ATO more oversight of employer obligations.   

For employees, the benefit is immediate, impactful and straightforward: their super starts working for them sooner. More regular contributions means more opportunities for compounding growth, reducing lost earnings and the risk of super slipping through the cracks.  

Now’s the time to prepare planning for the transition. For those who manage payroll or HR, there are a few things to consider.  

If your super payments are not already aligned to salary payments:  

• Review payroll systems: You’ll need to make sure your software can process super contributions in real time. The MSCB is also changing (see below).  

• Assess cash flow: Adjust budgeting and forecasting models for more frequent super outflows.  

• Set up reconciliations: More frequent payments mean more reconciliations – ensure internal checks and reporting processes are ready. 

• Communication: If your organisation is changing the frequency of super payments, let employees know what’s changing and why. Transparency builds trust and confidence. 

With super and salary payments aligned, there’s a few additional considerations to keep in mind.  

• Onboarding: New staff details need to be collected within two weeks of their first pay cycle. Under new stapling rules employers will be able to show employees their existing 'stapled' fund during onboarding, making this step more important than ever. Employee fund changes must be processed immediately.  

• Maximum Super Contribution Base (MSCB): Under current super rules, the government sets a quarterly cap on the amount of an employee’s income on which their employer must make SG contributions each year. This quarterly cap amount is called the Maximum Super Contribution Base (MSCB). It is proposed that the MSCB will change from a quarterly cap to an annual cap, meaning employers will need to pay super at the SG rate (currently 12%) until the annual cap is reached.  In a practical sense, this means that higher income employees will receive their full annual super entitlement in the first part of the financial year, and then, no more super will be payable.  

• For businesses, this will mean a review of payroll systems to ensure higher income employees SG obligations are tracked on a financial year-to-date basis against the MSCB, per employee. 

The draft legislation also provides a formula to calculate the MSCB going forward (see below example). This means that at the current FY25-26 rates, SG contributions will be payable on earnings up to $250,000. 

• 100 x concessional contributions cap / SG rate 

• (100 x $30,000 / 12 = $250,0000) 

As your workplace super partner, smartMonday is here to help you every step of the way, making super easier, smarter and more rewarding for everyone.  

Join the smartMonday Payday Super webinar to learn how to prepare your business.  

Reach out to your relationship manager or contact our corporate support team at: 
corporateenquiries@smartmonday.com.au 

Starting early will make for a smoother transition and ensure your employees benefit from the change as soon as it arrives.