Most Australian Workers Don’t Know Super Is Changing on July 1. Do You?

Thirteen days out. Most Australian workers still don’t know it’s happening. And based on what MYOB found when it surveyed the market, a fair chunk of small business owners are in the same boat.

The ATO sent out its “Payday Super edition” newsletter today, June 17. If you haven’t read it yet, this is your two-minute version.

Here’s what changes on July 1, and what you need to do before then.

What actually changes on July 1

Right now, you pay super quarterly. The four due dates, October 28, January 28, April 28, July 28, give you up to three months of breathing room between payroll and super obligations.

From July 1, that buffer is gone. Under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 6 November 2025, super must be paid with every pay run, within 7 business days of payday.

Pay weekly? Super goes weekly. Pay fortnightly? Super goes fortnightly. The rhythm of your payroll is now the rhythm of your super.

There’s one exception worth knowing: for a new employee’s first contribution, you have 20 business days from their first payday. After that, the 7-day rule kicks in like everyone else.

The one thing most business owners have missed: the SBSCH is closing

The ATO’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House, the free tool that hundreds of thousands of small employers use to batch super payments, closes on 30 June 2026.

That’s the day before the new rules start. You don’t get to keep using the free service and just pay more often. It’s being shut down.

If you currently log into the SBSCH on the ATO Business Portal to pay your quarterly super, you need a new arrangement before June 30. The ATO has confirmed this repeatedly, check the ATO payday super page for the latest guidance on transitioning.

This is the detail that’s flying under the radar. Most commentary about payday super focuses on the frequency change. The SBSCH closure is a separate, immediate problem for a lot of operators.

The cash flow reality for weekly and fortnightly payers

If you’re paying monthly wages, the change is noticeable but manageable, one extra payment per month instead of one every three months.

For weekly and fortnightly payers, it’s a different story. You’re going from four super payments a year to 26 or 52. Your super obligation is the same total amount, but the timing hits your working capital differently. Cash that used to sit in your account for weeks now moves out within 7 business days of each pay run.

The CommBank payday super guide puts it plainly: “if wages are paid weekly, super becomes a weekly outgoing.” Worth modelling this against your actual pay cycle before July 1 rather than discovering the cash flow gap mid-month.

And while you’re at it, this change lands in the same window as the July 1 minimum wage rise. If you haven’t checked how the award rate increases affect your payroll, that’s another job for this week.

What your payroll software should be doing

The good news: if you’re on a mainstream platform, it’s likely already handling this.

• MYOB: Pay Super is included in payroll subscriptions and handles payday super automatically via SuperStream. MYOB is also the source behind the research showing how few employees understand what’s coming, they’ve been publishing on this for months.
• Xero: Xero Payroll has payday super capability through its “Pay Super” feature. Check that it’s enabled on your account before June 30.
• Employment Hero: Handles payday super automatically, it’s built into their payroll engine. (See our Employment Hero profile for more on what their platform covers.)

If you’re running payroll on spreadsheets or manual processes, you’re the most exposed. A spreadsheet doesn’t lodge super via SuperStream, doesn’t meet the 7-day window automatically, and doesn’t generate the audit trail you’ll need if the ATO comes knocking. Getting onto a payroll platform before July 1 isn’t just convenient, it’s the only practical way to comply.

The penalty structure is worse than you think

Miss the 7-day window and the Super Guarantee Charge applies. The SGC isn’t just the shortfall, it’s the missed amount plus a nominal interest component, plus ATO administration fees.

The part that stings: unlike normal super contributions, the SGC is not tax-deductible. You lose the deduction on top of paying the penalty. This is the same regime that’s caught employers on the quarterly system, it just becomes relevant more often when you’re running 52 pay cycles instead of four. For a fuller picture of where payroll compliance can go wrong, see our piece on wage theft as a criminal offence, the enforcement environment has shifted significantly.

Five things to do this week

1. Check whether you’re on the SBSCH. Log into the ATO Business Portal. If you use the clearing house, you need to move off it before June 30.
2. Confirm your payroll software is ready. MYOB, Xero, and Employment Hero all support payday super, but make sure the feature is active on your account, not just available on the platform.
3. Model the cash flow hit. Calculate your super obligation per pay run (gross wages × 11.5%) and confirm your business bank account can absorb weekly or fortnightly super payments without straining.
4. Check your new employee onboarding process. The 20-business-day exception for first contributions only applies if you have a clear trigger for when the clock starts. Make sure your HR process captures the first payday date.
5. If you’re manual, move now. Two weeks is enough time to get onto MYOB, Xero, or Employment Hero and have a working pay run before July 1. It’s not enough time if you wait until June 28. See the People Ops Playbook for what to look for in a compliant HR and payroll setup.

The bottom line

Quarterly super was a quirk, a system that let employers hold onto money that, in principle, belonged to their employees’ retirement. July 1 closes that gap. The law passed in November. The ATO has been signalling this for months. If you’re still on manual processes or the SBSCH, the clock ran out a while ago. This week is your last practical chance to fix it.

Sources: MYOB research, reported by CFOtech Australia, June 2026; ATO Payday Super guidance; CommBank payday super guide; Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025, Royal Assent 6 November 2025.

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