The super guarantee rate for 2025-26 is 12% of ordinary time earnings, up from 11.5% in 2024-25. This is the final scheduled increase. The rate stays at 12% from 1 July 2025 onwards, with no further legislated increases. From 1 July 2026, Payday Super replaces the quarterly payment system
If you employ anyone in Australia, superannuation guarantee (SG) is one of the fixed costs you cannot negotiate. You pay it on time and in full, or you pay more through the super guarantee charge (SGC). This page covers the current super rate, the quarterly payment deadlines, the maximum contribution base, what changes next year, and what happens if you miss a due date
All figures below are sourced from the ATO's key superannuation rates and thresholds page, current as at April 2026
What is the super guarantee rate for 2025-26?
The SG rate for the financial year starting 1 July 2025 is 12% of each eligible employee's ordinary time earnings (OTE). OTE is the pre-tax amount you pay employees for their ordinary hours of work. It includes base salary, commissions on ordinary hours, and some allowances. It does not include overtime payments
The 12% rate applies to all salary and wages paid on or after 1 July 2025, even if some of the pay period falls before that date. If you run a fortnightly pay cycle that straddles 30 June and 1 July, the entire payment uses 12% because the pay date is what matters, not the work period
Super guarantee rate history
The SG rate has increased gradually since its introduction. Here is the recent history from the ATO:
| Financial year | SG rate |
|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 9.5% |
| 2020-21 | 9.5% |
| 2021-22 | 10.0% |
| 2022-23 | 10.5% |
| 2023-24 | 11.0% |
| 2024-25 | 11.5% |
| 2025-26 | 12.0% |
| 2026-27 onwards | 12.0% |
The rate sat at 9.5% for seven years (2014-2021) before the staggered increases began. Those 0.5% annual jumps between 2021 and 2025 added up. For an employee earning $80,000, the increase from 9.5% to 12% means an extra $2,000 per year going to their super fund. For the employer, that is $2,000 more in labour cost per employee. Multiply that across a team of 10 and it is a $20,000 annual impact
Maximum super contribution base
You do not have to pay SG on earnings above the quarterly maximum super contribution base. For 2025-26, the ATO has set this at $62,500 per quarter, which means the maximum SG you are required to pay for any single employee is $7,500 per quarter ($62,500 x 12%)
This cap matters for higher-earning employees. If someone earns $280,000 a year ($70,000 per quarter), you only calculate SG on the first $62,500 of each quarter. Your industrial agreement or employment contract may require you to pay super on the full amount, but the SG legislation does not
Quarterly payment due dates
Super contributions must be received by the employee's super fund by the quarterly due date. Sending the payment is not enough. It needs to arrive. If you use a commercial clearing house, allow extra processing time. The ATO's Small Business Superannuation Clearing House treats payments as received on the date the clearing house gets them, but commercial clearing houses do not get that same treatment
| Quarter | Period | Due date |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Jul - Sep 2025 | 28 Oct 2025 |
| Q2 | Oct - Dec 2025 | 28 Jan 2026 |
| Q3 | Jan - Mar 2026 | 28 Apr 2026 |
| Q4 | Apr - Jun 2026 | 28 Jul 2026 |
These are the same dates every year - 28 days after each quarter ends. When a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline extends to the next business day. For a full timeline of every employer compliance deadline, see our Australian financial year calendar
What happens if you miss the due date
Miss a quarterly super payment by even one day and you are liable for the super guarantee charge. The SGC is not a simple late fee. It is calculated differently from normal super and it costs more:
- The shortfall amount is calculated on total salary and wages for the quarter, not just ordinary time earnings. Overtime is included. This means the SGC base is typically higher than what you would have paid on time
- Nominal interest at 10% per annum, accruing from the start of the quarter (not the due date) until you lodge the SGC statement
- Administration fee of $20 per employee per quarter
The SGC is not tax deductible. On-time super contributions are. So you pay more, on a higher base, and you cannot claim it. The ATO takes late super seriously because it directly affects employees' retirement savings
If you miss the due date, you need to lodge an SGC statement with the ATO. The statement is due by the 28th of the second month following the quarter end (for example, 28 November 2025 for Q1). Use the ATO's SGC statement and calculator tool to work out what you owe
We have seen businesses miss a deadline because their clearing house was slow to process, or because a pay run straddled a quarter boundary and the super was not allocated to the right period. Common mistakes, but the ATO does not waive the SGC for admin errors. Our guide on payroll errors that cost businesses thousands covers the most frequent ones
Payday Super from 1 July 2026
The quarterly super system ends with the Q4 2025-26 payment. From 1 July 2026, employers must pay super at the same time as wages. Contributions must reach the employee's nominated super fund within seven business days of the pay date
This is a major change to payroll operations. If you pay your team weekly, you will be making weekly super payments instead of batching them quarterly. The ATO has indicated a risk-based compliance approach for the first year under draft practical compliance guideline PCG 2025/D5, but the legislation is passed and the obligation is real from day one
The practical preparation: make sure your payroll software handles Payday Super (Xero does via SuperStream), check that your clearing house processes payments within the seven-day window, and adjust your cashflow to account for super leaving the business every pay cycle instead of quarterly. Our Payday Super guide covers the full transition in detail
How super is reported through STP
Single Touch Payroll (STP) Phase 2 requires employers to report super liability information to the ATO with every pay event. This means the ATO already knows what super you owe before the quarterly due date arrives. If your reported STP figures do not match your actual super payments, the ATO will notice
In Xero, STP reporting happens automatically with each pay run. The super amounts calculated at the current super rate of 12% are reported to the ATO in real time. When you process the actual super payment through Xero's SuperStream integration, the payment data reconciles against the reported liability. Keeping your pay runs up to date and processing super promptly is the simplest way to stay compliant
Employer obligations at a glance
For the 2025-26 financial year, if you employ anyone:
- Pay 12% SG on each eligible employee's ordinary time earnings, to their nominated fund, by the quarterly due date
- Report through STP every pay event, including super liability amounts
- Use SuperStream to make super payments electronically (you cannot pay super by cheque or direct deposit to the fund)
- Check the maximum contribution base if any employee earns more than $62,500 per quarter
- Lodge an SGC statement if you miss a due date, even by one day
- Prepare for Payday Super starting 1 July 2026 by confirming your payroll software and clearing house can handle the transition
Super is one of those obligations that runs quietly in the background when it is set up correctly, and creates serious problems when it is not. If you are unsure whether your payroll is calculating SG correctly, or you want someone else to manage the compliance calendar, our managed payroll team handles SG, STP reporting, and the quarterly deadlines as part of the service
