If super has been sitting on your quarterly to-do list, that is about to change.
From 1 July 2026, the rules shift. Every time you run payroll, super has to land in your employees' funds within seven business days. Not a month. Not at the end of the quarter. Seven business days from the date wages hit the account.
That is Payday Super. It is now law, and it applies to every farm business in Australia.
What is actually changing
Right now, you are required to pay super quarterly. Most farm payrolls run fortnightly or weekly, but super gets batched up and paid every three months. That system ends on 30 June 2026.
From 1 July, super becomes part of every single pay run. The ATO calls this the qualifying earnings (QE) model. Super is calculated at 12% of qualifying earnings and must be received by your employees' super fund within seven business days of each pay date.
Miss that window and the Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) kicks in. The SGC is not just a top-up payment. It includes an interest component and an administration levy, and it is not tax deductible. It is the ATO's way of saying this is not optional.
One exception worth knowing: new employees have a 20 business day window for their first super contribution. After that, the standard seven-day rule applies.
Every worker on your books. No exemptions.
This is the part that catches farm businesses off guard. It is not just your full-time staff. Payday Super covers:
- Permanent staff
- Seasonal pickers and harvest workers
- Casual hands
- Contract shearers (where they are employees or contractors paid mainly for their labour)
If they are on your payroll and eligible for super under the existing rules, those obligations now apply at every single pay run. There are no carve-outs for short-term casuals or harvest workers.
The SBSCH is closing. If that is how you pay super, you need a plan now.
The Small Business Super Clearing House (SBSCH) has been the go-to for small farm employers for years. Free, ATO-managed, does the job. That service shuts down on 30 June 2026.
It has already stopped accepting new registrations (that happened in October 2025). If you are still using it, you can keep using it until 30 June. After that, it is gone.
The reason it is closing is straightforward: the SBSCH was built for quarterly payments. It cannot handle the processing speed that Payday Super demands.
What you need to do before you switch:
- Download your records from the SBSCH before 30 June 2026
- Confirm all employee super fund details are current: fund name, USI, member number
- Move to payroll software with a built-in clearing house, or subscribe to a commercial clearing house service
- Test the new system before July. Do not wait until the first pay run of the new financial year to find out something is broken
Some super funds offer clearing house services to employers at no cost. It is worth checking with your fund before paying for something.
Your Single Touch Payroll reporting changes too
From 1 July, your Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting needs to include the year-to-date qualifying earnings and super liability for each employee on every pay run. If your payroll software is not already set up for this, talk to your provider now. Updates take time, and waiting until June is not a plan.
The timeline that matters
Key Dates
The reality of running this on a farm
Harvest does not care about super payment windows. You might have 30 pickers on site one week and three the next. Pay runs happen in the middle of everything else.
That is exactly why getting the system right before July matters more than the paperwork itself. If your payroll is still a spreadsheet and a manual bank transfer, now is the time to change that. Not because of some compliance box-tick, but because under Payday Super, a manual process is a liability.
Seven days is not long. Processing time, banking delays, public holidays. It adds up fast. The ATO's own guidance is to pay super on the same day as wages to give yourself enough buffer.
Not sure where your payroll setup sits? The Headland Check takes five minutes and will flag your gaps across HR, WHS and payroll compliance. Free, no login needed.
Frequently asked questions
Does Payday Super apply to labour hire workers on my property?
If you engage workers through a labour hire firm, the super obligation sits with the labour hire company, not you. But if you pay workers directly, including contractors paid mainly for their labour, the obligation is yours.
What if I pay wages daily during harvest?
The seven-day window applies from each pay date. If you run daily pay during a busy period, super needs to follow within seven business days of each of those payments. This is exactly why automated payroll software matters more than it used to.
Do I need to notify employees of the change?
You do not have a specific legal obligation to notify employees about Payday Super, but keeping your workers informed is good practice. They will start to see super hitting their funds more frequently from July onwards.
This article is general information only and is not financial, legal or HR advice. Super rules and their application depend on your specific circumstances and may change. If you are not sure how Payday Super affects your business, get proper advice before July 2026.