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.

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The Hospitality and Tourism sector, along with other hard hit industries like Aviation, has been given a temporary reprieve with the wage increase to apply from 1 October 2022.

The wage increase however has been split, meaning millions of workers on a higher Award rate will only see an increase of 4.6 per cent.

This increase comes on top of an increase to the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate as well as abolishing the minimum monthly wage threshold for SG contributions to apply.

Employers need to be ready

Employers should review employee remuneration and ensure wages do not fall below the minimum wage and consider the total hours worked and overtime hours to mitigate any risks to modern slavery laws. It is important that employers update their payroll software accordingly.

Employers who are subject to Awards that provide for annual leave loading of 17.5% to employees will also need to adjust the minimum wage rate where the loading is based on the minimum wage rather than the employee’s base salary.

For the latest superannuation impacts that all businesses need to know before 1 July 2022, download our webinar Superannuation changes 2022/23 or view our recent article Don’t get caught out by upcoming superannuation changes.

How SW can assist

SW through our joint venture with OnTap Hospitality can assist you with all of your bookkeeping, payroll and management reporting needs.

Do not hesitate to contact our Hospitality and Tourism sector specialists Tim Stillwell, Andy Lau and Jeremy Wicht or our payroll expert Sharon Burke.

The post Increase to national minimum wage appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

Within the gaming sector, our expertise spans the areas of independent operational analysis and review, auditing, business continuity planning, debt and equity finance, tax, virtual CFO services and much more.

Working with tourism and hospitality businesses we are well versed in these sectors’ unique needs and have the expertise to help you with accounting, tax and audit advice, risk management, strategic business planning and more.

We recognise the unique challenges our clients face, such as rising operational costs, adapting to the post-COVID environment, and difficulties in sourcing and retaining staff. Our SW team is here to help you capitalise on opportunities by harnessing technological advancements to streamline operations. We also provide accounting and tax compliance services as well as virtual CFO services, bookkeeping, and payroll support to maintain the financial health of your business.

At the forefront of industry trends and issues, our industry group consistently provide valuable resources, including alerts and articles tailored to the hospitality and gaming sectors. Furthermore, we host webinars, events and boardroom lunches that focus on critical changes within the gaming industry, ensuring you remain well-informed and prepared for the future.

Our THG services

Working with some of the most innovative businesses in the gaming, tourism, hotels and hospitality industries, our foundation of knowledge and expertise enables us to provide tailored, sector-specific solutions for your business.

We are well versed in these sectors’ unique needs and have the expertise to help you with:

Industry Associations & Sponsorships

Through our industry networks, we have partnered with the Australian Hotels Association, On Tap Hospitality, Tourism Accommodation Australia Community Clubs Victoria and Queensland Hotels Association.

Being at the forefront of industry issues, we regularly share resources such as alerts, articles and videos to the tourism, hospitality and gaming industry. We also have hosted webinars, events, roundtables and boardroom lunches to discuss the impending changes to the gaming industry.

Australian Hotels Association (AHA) Victoria

Community Clubs Victoria (CCV)

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Tourism Accommodation Australia (TAA) Victoria

Queensland Hotels Association (QHA)

The post Tourism, hospitality & gaming appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

He regularly assists foreign businesses and investors on their move to Australia, providing initial structuring and set up advice, strategic tax planning, ongoing operational advice, as well as full accounting, tax and corporate secretarial compliance outsourcing services.

Andy’s skills include assisting both locally and foreign owned businesses across a range of industries including hotels and hospitality, financial and professional services, start-ups, information technology, property and construction and wholesaler and distributor.

In addition, Andy has developed expertise in providing strategic business and outsourcing services for major hotels and hospitality groups in Australia. His experience includes assisting these clients with due diligence assignments, cross border structuring advice, funding negotiation, post-acquisition settlement review and acting as outsourced CFO with the responsibility of managing the full finance and compliance functions.

His multilingual speaking skills (English, Chinese, Malaysian and Indonesian) together with his ability to bridge the language and cultural barriers have been invaluable in his dealings with businesses from all around the world including China, USA, Europe and other South East Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Andy’s experience includes:

• Assisting with the successful acquisition of a major five star hotel for AUD$85m
• Assisting with the divestment of the business operation of a multinational group in Australia for $45m
• Assisting with the delivery of strategic tax restructuring solutions including asset protection and succession planning for a high net wealth family group
• Assisting start-ups with strategic planning, structuring as well as Research & Development and Early Stage Investors Tax Incentives considerations.

Andy is a Partner of SW Audit and a Director of SW Accountants & Advisors Pty Ltd.

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SACES has urged the State Government to adopt a more consultative approach with the hotel sector after millions of dollars and thousands of jobs were lost as a result of the short notice. Associate Professor Michael O’Neil, Executive Director at SACES and author of the report, believes that input from the industry ahead of future outbreaks could satisfy case management measures, while “reducing the risks of adverse mental health, societal, employment, business and economic outcomes”.

Click here to access the full report, ‘Impacts of COVID-19 Lockdown: A Case Study of the South Australian Hotel Industry November 2020’.

How can ShineWing Australia help?

Our hotel and hospitality experts can support your business in navigating the ‘new normal’ which is demanding more flexibility and business strategy than ever before. Reach out to a member of our national team below.

Contacts

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