When is super actually due?

Since 1 July 2026 super has to reach the fund within 7 business days of payday — not quarterly, and not "sent by". Put your payday in and get the date. Free, no sign-up.

Payday — the day you actually pay them Is this their first pay with you, or their first with a new fund?

Must be IN the fund by—

Business days allowed7

That is—

Weekends are not business days and are already excluded. Public holidays are not — they differ by state, so this deliberately gives you the EARLIER date. Earlier is always safe; later is the one that costs you.

Yamate works this out on every pay and nags you before it’s due →

The rule, in one paragraph

Payday super commenced 1 July 2026. From that day, an employer has to pay super guarantee contributions on each payday rather than banking them up for the quarter, and the contribution has to be received by the fund within 7 business days of paying the employee — with enough information for the fund to allocate it to the right member account.

⚠️ The deadline is arrival, not departure. Clearing houses take days. Pay on a Friday, start the transfer the following Thursday, and you can be late while feeling early. The date above is the day it has to have landed.

The 20-day exception nobody remembers

For a new employee — or an existing one who has just changed funds — you get 20 business days for that first contribution, because you may still be waiting on their fund details. It applies to the first payment only. Toggle it above.

What happens if it is late

Late super is not simply late. It falls into the super guarantee charge, which is not tax deductible and is worked out on a wider base than the contribution you were meant to make. It is one of the few bills in small business that gets meaningfully worse for being small and overlooked.

Business days, precisely

A business day is any day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday, or a public holiday applying to a whole state or territory.
The count starts the day after payday.
Weekends never count toward the limit.

This calculator excludes weekends and does not attempt to model every state’s public holidays — that would need a per-state table and getting it wrong would push a deadline later than it really is. Instead it gives you the earlier, safe date. If a public holiday falls inside the window, your real deadline is at worst the same and possibly a day or two later.

Why this one is different

It is the same calculation the Yamate app runs on every pay — including the 20-day first-pay case — and the app then reminds you before the date rather than after it. If you are running one apprentice off a phone, that reminder is the whole point: the sum is easy, remembering it on a Tuesday in the middle of a job is not.

FAQ

When did payday super start?

1 July 2026. Before that, super guarantee was paid quarterly.

Is it 7 calendar days or 7 business days?

Business days. Weekends and full state or territory public holidays do not count.

Does the money have to arrive, or just be sent?

Arrive. The contribution must be received by the fund within the window, so allow for however long your clearing house takes.

What if it is the employee’s first pay?

You get 20 business days for that first contribution, or where they have just changed funds.

Can I still pay super quarterly?

No. That ended on 1 July 2026.

What is the super rate?

12% of ordinary time earnings. There is a breakdown of what a first employee really costs if you are working out whether to hire.

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General information for Australian employers, not tax, legal or financial advice, and not advice about your obligations under an award. It excludes weekends only, so a public holiday inside the window may make your real deadline later than the date shown — never earlier. The payday super rules and the 7 and 20 business-day windows were checked on 13 August 2026; check the ATO before you rely on a date.