Payday Super is coming for hospitality & gaming: Are your payroll and rostering systems ready for 1 July 2026?

From 1 July 2026, ‘Payday Super’ is set to replace quarterly super with a payday-by-payday model, meaning super must be paid on payday and received by the fund within 7 business days, with a longer timeframe in specific ‘new fund’ or ‘new employee’ situations.

The legislation was passed by both Houses on 4 November 2025, and the ATO is now publishing operational guidance while signalling a far more data-driven compliance approach.

What’s changing

• Super moves from quarterly to every pay run (weekly/fortnightly/monthly).
• Super is calculated on 12% of ‘qualifying earnings’ (QE), a new term the ATO is using to bring together ordinary time earnings (OTE) and related concepts for Payday Super.
• Funds must receive the contribution within 7 business days of payday, unless an extended timeframe applies.
• Employers generally have 20 business days to make contributions to a new employee’s fund, or when contributing to a new fund for an existing employee.
• Complex remediation and disclosure requirements for non-compliance and updated penalty regime.

Why hospitality and gaming will feel this first

High-frequency payroll and high variability can cause more ‘near misses’

Weekly pays, late roster approvals, and last-minute adjustments, such as meal breaks, allowances, overtime, and penalty rates, increase the risk of shortfalls and late payments when super must follow every pay event.

Casuals, turnover, and onboarding volume

More starters and leavers mean more stapling/choice workflows, fund changes, and edge cases, now with tighter timeframes and more scrutiny.

Complex multi‑function operating models

Hotels, pubs, clubs, and groups often operate across multiple entities, awards, sites, and payroll files. Payday Super magnifies the impact of:

• incorrect wage code configuration
• split pay cycles (front-of-house vs back-of-house, events, contractors)
• off-cycle runs (terminations, backpay, corrections).

Tips, allowances, loadings, and ‘what counts’

If your payroll wage codes aren’t cleanly mapped to what is (and isn’t) superable under the new QE approach, you could end up with systematic underpayments or overpayments across thousands of micro-transactions.

The ATO is moving toward more data and more targeted compliance

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has published a risk-based first-year compliance approach (PCG 2025/D5) that categorises employers as low, medium, or high based on payment behaviour. It also makes clear that the ATO must still apply the law if a shortfall exists, even for employers who otherwise appear ‘low risk’.

You are more likely to hear from the ATO where non‑compliance exists. The compliance approach also reflects a shift toward active, risk‑based employer profiling, separating genuine compliance efforts from those not attempting to comply and cases of serious non‑compliance.

Practical ‘must-do’ focus areas for hospitality and gaming

1) Payroll process testing and clean-up

Confirm, test, or redesign your roster-to-pay workflow to ensure it closes quickly enough to calculate and pay the correct QE and super each payday.

Build a controlled process for employee superannuation data acquisition and superannuation fund payment rejections.

2) Wage code and earnings mapping clean-up

Review every earnings type, including penalty rates, overtime, allowances, leave types, bonuses and incentives, commissions, reimbursements, tips and gratuities, and backpay.

Align your wage code configuration with Single Touch Payroll (STP) and Payday Super reporting and calculation requirements, and don’t wait until June 2026.

Perform high-level or detailed data testing as needed to assess current compliance or identify systematic errors.

3) Pay cycle readiness

Confirm whether your pay cycle can reliably meet ‘received by fund in 7 business day’ at peak periods, as public holidays and weekends are particularly relevant for venues.

Design a process for off-cycle runs so super doesn’t fall through the cracks.

4) Cashflow and working capital planning

Moving from quarterly to per-pay super will cause a shift in cash timing, so model this now across weekly pay cycles and seasonal trading peaks.

5) Shortfall detection and voluntary disclosure capability

Establish a repeatable monthly control to reconcile payroll superannuation liabilities with fund receipts.

Develop a documented workflow to identify shortfalls early, along with a methodology for calculating, preparing, and managing disclosures when required.

6) Decide who owns what

Payroll, finance, HR, venue operations, and system vendors need a single implementation owner and a tested calendar covering configuration, parallel run, control testing, and go-live.

How SW can help

At SW, we help businesses, including those in hospitality and gaming, navigate the new Payday Super changes, helping you stay compliant and reduce risk. We can review your payroll and rostering processes to ensure super contributions are calculated correctly on every pay, even with weekly cycles, casual staff, and variable rosters. We help design workflows that manage off-cycle payments, high staff turnover, and super fund changes efficiently.

Our team can also help you understand the cashflow impact of moving from quarterly to per-pay contributions and implement controls to detect any shortfalls early. We provide advice and support for voluntary disclosures if needed and coordinate across payroll, HR, and finance to make the transition smooth and manageable.

With our expertise, you can be confident that your business is ready for Payday Super and that you can focus on running your operations without unnecessary stress.