What should accountants check before every pay run under Payday Super?

Confirm the client has a working SuperStream-compliant payment route, verify the super base is calculating on Qualifying Earnings rather than the old Ordinary Time Earnings basis, and reconcile to receipt by the fund rather than to submission. Set an internal cut-off earlier than the seven business day deadline so gateway processing time is absorbed by buffer rather than eating into the legal window.

Do off-cycle payments like bonuses and terminations trigger Payday Super?

Any payment of qualifying earnings starts its own seven business day clock, so bonuses, back-pay, termination payments and other ad-hoc runs are all captured — not just the scheduled cycle. This is a common gap: firms monitor the regular pay run closely and miss the irregular payments, which tend to be the ones processed in a hurry and outside the normal review.

How do I evidence Payday Super compliance for a client?

The obligation is met when the fund receives the contribution and can allocate it, so your evidence needs to reach that point rather than stopping at submission. A defensible process records three states per run — submitted, cleared, received — and retains the confirmation. A workflow that only proves you sent the money does not prove the obligation was met.

What if a client is on payroll software that cannot pay super every cycle?

That is a migration, not a configuration change, and it should be identified immediately rather than discovered at the first failed run. Some older systems were built entirely around the quarterly model. Remediation realistically takes weeks, and because the deadline is already in force, every cycle spent on the old system is an exposure. Scope it as a project with a date.

Read · Compliance guide

Payday Super: what changes in your pay runs

The rules are short. The operational consequences are not. If you run payroll for clients, the work moved from four events a year to one every cycle — and the failure modes moved with it.

Updated 3 August 2026

The pre-run checklist

1

Confirm the payment rail before the run, not after.

Every client needs a SuperStream-compliant route now that the ATO clearing house has closed. For most that means super processing inside their payroll software. Confirm it is connected and authorised before the first run, because discovering it on payday costs you the deadline.
2

Work backwards from receipt, not forwards from payday.

The seven business days runs to the fund receiving and being able to allocate the contribution. Gateway and clearing-house processing sits inside that window. Set your internal cut-off earlier than the legal deadline and treat the gap as buffer, not slack.
3

Check the super base on any client with salary sacrifice.

Qualifying Earnings picks up sacrificed amounts that would otherwise have been earnings. Do not assume the software migrated this correctly for every client — verify on the first run after commencement and keep the evidence.
4

Re-check anyone paid as a contractor.

The expanded employee definition brings some contractor arrangements into scope. A client who told you they have no employees may now have super obligations. This is a conversation to have deliberately rather than discover in an audit.
5

Reconcile receipt, not just submission.

Your evidence that the obligation was met is the fund receiving the money. Build the check into the run: submitted, cleared, received. A process that stops at "submitted" is not evidence of compliance.
6

Have a written failure path.

Rejected contributions, wrong fund details, a member who has left — these now happen every cycle instead of quarterly. Document who notices, who fixes it, and by when. Undocumented exception handling is where the deadline actually gets missed.

The one that catches people: receipt, not submission

Under the quarterly model, a payment sent close to the deadline generally made it, because the deadline was generous and the volume was low. That habit is now dangerous. The obligation is discharged when the fund receives the contribution and can allocate it — clearing-house and gateway processing time is inside your seven business days, not outside them.

The practical consequence is that your internal cut-off has to be earlier than the legal one, and the gap is buffer rather than spare time. Firms that set the internal deadline equal to the legal deadline will miss it eventually, and the failure will look like an administrative slip rather than the design decision it was.

Client situations that break first

Clients who paid quarterly by habit

The problem: They were using the lag as working capital, whether or not they framed it that way.

Handling it: This is a cash-flow conversation, not a compliance one. The money leaves sooner and more often. Better to raise it before the first month closes than to explain it afterwards.

Irregular and ad-hoc pay runs

The problem: Off-cycle payments, bonuses, terminations and back-pay each start their own seven-day clock.

Handling it: Every payment of qualifying earnings triggers the obligation, not just the scheduled cycle. Firms that only monitor the regular run will miss the ad-hoc ones — and those are exactly the payments made in a hurry.

Clients on old or unsupported payroll software

The problem: Some tools were never built to pay super per cycle and cannot do it compliantly.

Handling it: This turns into a migration project, not a settings change. Identify these clients now; the remediation is measured in weeks, and you will be the one blamed for the timing if it slips.

Employees with multiple funds or stapled-fund issues

The problem: Fund detail errors that were an annoyance quarterly are now a recurring failure.

Handling it: Clean the fund data once, properly, rather than patching it every cycle. The cost of the clean-up is paid back within a quarter.

Back: what changed on 1 July Qualifying Earnings, the seven-day rule, and the clearing house closure most coverage buries. Next: what to charge for it The work multiplied. Pricing models, and how to raise it without losing the client.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

What should accountants check before every pay run under Payday Super?: Confirm the client has a working SuperStream-compliant payment route, verify the super base is calculating on Qualifying Earnings rather than the old Ordinary Time Earnings basis, and reconcile to receipt by the fund rather than to submission. Set an internal cut-off earlier than the seven business day deadline so gateway processing time is absorbed by buffer rather than eating into the legal window.
Do off-cycle payments like bonuses and terminations trigger Payday Super?: Any payment of qualifying earnings starts its own seven business day clock, so bonuses, back-pay, termination payments and other ad-hoc runs are all captured — not just the scheduled cycle. This is a common gap: firms monitor the regular pay run closely and miss the irregular payments, which tend to be the ones processed in a hurry and outside the normal review.
How do I evidence Payday Super compliance for a client?: The obligation is met when the fund receives the contribution and can allocate it, so your evidence needs to reach that point rather than stopping at submission. A defensible process records three states per run — submitted, cleared, received — and retains the confirmation. A workflow that only proves you sent the money does not prove the obligation was met.
What if a client is on payroll software that cannot pay super every cycle?: That is a migration, not a configuration change, and it should be identified immediately rather than discovered at the first failed run. Some older systems were built entirely around the quarterly model. Remediation realistically takes weeks, and because the deadline is already in force, every cycle spent on the old system is an exposure. Scope it as a project with a date.