Bosses pay a charge when super misses payday
This short law sets the tax behind Payday Super. Since 1 July 2026, bosses who are late with super on any payday owe a charge for that payday.
Official name: Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025
- Bosses must now get your super into your fund within about 7 working days of each payday. Before, it was every three months.
- This law makes the late-super charge apply to each payday that is late.
- It works with a bigger partner law that sets the new deadlines and fines.
- It started on 1 July 2026.
Who it affects
- Workers: Your super should land in your fund soon after each payday. It can start growing sooner, and missing payments show up faster.
- Employers: If your super payment for a payday is late or short, you owe the charge for that payday. Interest and an extra amount are added.
- Small businesses: You need pay systems that pay super each pay run. The tax office's free service for paying small business super is being shut.
- Super funds: You will handle many more, smaller payments.
$5.2 billion in unpaid super
Super is money saved for when you stop working. Bosses must pay a share of your wages into your super fund. This is called the super guarantee. It is 12 per cent of your normal pay.
Under the old rules, bosses only had to pay it every three months. Some never paid it at all.
The government says about $5.2 billion in super went unpaid in 2021-22. Workers often did not find out until much later.
In the 2023-24 Budget, the government's yearly plan for tax and spending, the government announced Payday Super. Bosses must now pay super at the same time as wages. That could be weekly, fortnightly or monthly.
The Assistant Treasurer, Daniel Mulino, brought in the laws. He is a junior minister who helps run the economy.
Why there are two bills
Payday Super is made of two bills. The main one is the Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Bill 2025.
It changes the main super guarantee law and 21 other laws. It sets the new deadlines and how the gap is worked out. It also sets the fines.
This bill is the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Amendment Bill 2025. The Constitution is Australia's founding rule book. It says a law that sets a tax must deal only with that tax.
The late-super charge is a tax. So the change to the charge itself goes in a bill of its own.
What this bill does
The charge comes from the Superannuation Guarantee Charge Act 1992. It used to apply to a gap in super for each three-month period.
This bill changes it. Now the charge applies to a gap for each payday. That is the day the boss pays your wages.
So the tax now matches the new payday timing. Say your boss pays you on a Friday. The super for that pay must reach your fund within about 7 working days. If it does not, the boss has a gap for that payday and owes the charge.
Say you earn $2,000 a fortnight. Your boss must get $240 in super into your fund within about 7 working days of each payday. If they skip it, the charge for that payday kicks in.
Working out the charge
The main bill sets how much the charge is. It includes the unpaid super itself.
It adds interest that builds up each day. This makes up for the growth you missed out on.
It also adds an extra amount of up to 60 per cent. This can be cut if the boss owns up early.
A boss who pays late, and tells the tax office first, can cut what they owe. The tax office passes the charge on to the worker's super fund.
If the charge is still unpaid after a warning letter, a further fine of 25 per cent applies. For repeat cases it is 50 per cent.
Start date
The bill was brought in on 9 October 2025. The House of Representatives, the larger house of Parliament, passed it on 30 October 2025. The Senate, the second house of Parliament, passed it on 4 November 2025.
The Governor-General, the King's stand-in, signed it into law on 6 November 2025. It became Act No. 58 of 2025.
It started on 1 July 2026. It covers paydays on or after that date.
The tax office says it will focus on the riskiest bosses in the first 12 months. This gives businesses time to update their systems.
How they voted
| Vote | Result |
|---|---|
| Vote on a change House of Representatives, 30 October 2025 Labor 87 no, Liberal 17 aye, LNP 10 aye, Nationals 10 aye, Independent 8 aye, 2 no, Centre Alliance 1 no, Greens 1 no | Noes won 91 to 45 |
| Vote on a change Senate, 4 November 2025 Labor 21 no, Greens 10 aye, Independent 3 aye, Australia's Voice 1 aye, Liberal 1 no, LNP 1 no, United Australia 1 no | Noes won 24 to 14 |
Its journey through Parliament
| 09 Oct 2025 | House of Representatives: Introduced and read a first time |
| 09 Oct 2025 | House of Representatives: Second reading moved |
| 28 Oct 2025 | House of Representatives: Second reading debate |
| 29 Oct 2025 | House of Representatives: Second reading debate |
| 30 Oct 2025 | House of Representatives: Second reading debate |
| 30 Oct 2025 | House of Representatives: Second reading agreed to |
| 30 Oct 2025 | House of Representatives: Third reading agreed to |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Senate: Second reading moved |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Senate: Second reading debate |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Senate: Second reading agreed to |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Senate: Committee of the Whole debate |
| 04 Nov 2025 | Senate: Committee of the Whole debate |
| 04 Nov 2025 | Senate: Third reading agreed to |
| 04 Nov 2025 | : Finally passed both Houses |
| 06 Nov 2025 | : Assent Act no : 58 Year : 2025 |