The rule change is simple. Super used to be due once a quarter. Since 1 July, it has to arrive in your employees’ funds within 7 business days of every payday, so staff aren’t waiting months for money they’ve already earned. The first quarter under the new rules closes on 30 September.
The first three months of Payday Super have been an adjustment for many SMEs, with the most obvious change showing in business cash flow. Money that used to sit in the account for a quarter now leaves the account with every pay run. So now a weekly payroll could be juggling 13 super deadlines instead of one.
The ATO is watching closely, reviewing your payroll reports and matching them against what each fund actually received, payday by payday. So the ATO can flag a late payment without anyone reporting it.
Payday Super Penalties – What Late Payments Cost You
For every missed super payment on the regular pay run, you trigger a super guarantee charge. This includes the unpaid super, interest growing daily until you fix it, a penalty of up to 60% on top, and another 25% if the money went to the wrong fund.
If you process pays on a weekly basis, six months of loose timing could mean 26 separate charges. And if it stays unpaid, company directors can be made personally liable.
Telling the ATO before they contact you reduces the penalty.
The ATO’s Three Groups for the First Year
For this first year, the ATO has published how it will check employers. It sorts businesses into three groups:
- Low risk: you tried to pay on time every payday and fixed any slips quickly. The ATO says it won’t review you.
- Medium risk: you had some misses, but paid every missed amount within 28 days of the quarter ending. For this quarter, that means by 28 October 2026.
- High risk: you still owe super after that date, or haven’t genuinely tried to pay on payday. These businesses get the ATO’s full attention.
That is why the next few weeks matter for business owners. These groups decide who the ATO chases first.
A late payday still triggers the charge either way, but which group you land in decides how hard it follows you.
The One-Hour Check to Do This Month
Sit down with your payroll report and your clearing house confirmations:
- List every payday since 1 July.
- For each one, check the date the fund received the money against the 7-day deadline.
- Flag any that were missed, including new starters whose fund details bounced.
- Pay any missing super to the fund now, and note down what happened and when you fixed it.
- If a miss was a big one, talk to us before the ATO makes contact.
An hour now tells you where you stand. If everything checks out, you’re in the low risk group, and you can stop thinking about it. If it doesn’t, you have until 28 October to pay what’s owing and stay off the ATO’s list.
If you would like your first Payday Super quarter checked before 28 October, book a free discovery call with our Adelaide small business accountants. We are here to help you plan your next steps.
Growth iQ is an accounting and business advisory firm based in Malvern. We support owners across Adelaide in construction, trades, and specialised services with bookkeeping and payroll, tax and compliance, and Agile CFO services.