Payday super: what changed for small practices

A change to timing rather than to amount, but the timing is the part that bites. Check with your accountant for anything specific to your payroll.

What changed

• Since 1 July 2026, super must reach each employee's fund within 7 business days of payday. The quarterly deadline no longer applies.
• Reaching the fund is not the same as paying it. The clearing house sits in between and takes days. A payment on the last possible day has already missed it.
• So it moves into the wages run.

The part nobody budgets

A practice paying quarterly has been holding roughly three months of super in its own account. That buffer disappears. A firm quietly relying on it sees the effect in the first quarter after the change. It arrives as cash flow rather than compliance.

Worth checking in your own payroll

• Is super sent in the same run as wages? Or later, by hand?
• How long does your clearing house actually take? Ask, and count business days.
• Anyone paid irregularly? A casual, or a contractor treated as an employee for super. Those paydays are the ones missed.
• Paydays before a public holiday. Those are the weeks the 7 business days get tight.