Late Super Contributions
Things to consider

Effective 1 July 2026

• Due date – will effectively be the same date as wages are paid
• Super Guarantee Charge (SGC) for late payment will be calculated differently, but late payments will be tax deductible
• Penalties for late payment will change and are higher if you have past ATO SGC penalties 

Due date for contributions
From 1 July 2026 Super guarantee contributions (12% of Qualified Earnings) must be paid to an “employee’s” super fund on pay day and received by the super fund within 7 business days.
Business days exclude any Saturday, Sunday or any day that is a state wide Public Holiday in any day.

New employees are an exception, with 20 business days allowed for the contribution to be received.

Super Guarantee Charge (SGC)
If a super contribution is made late, after 7 business days from the pay day, SGC will apply.
From 1 July 2026 the SGC will be made up of 4 parts;

1. Super Guarantee shortfalls
2. Notional earnings
3. Administrative uplift
4. Choice loadings

1. Super Guarantee shortfalls
   • Base SG shortfall – SG contributions not received by the super fund within 7 business days
   • Final SG shortfall – Base SG shortfall less any late contributions
2. Notional earnings
   • A general interest charge compounding daily based on the ATO GIC rate
     (11.43% for the July to September 2026 quarter )
   • Applied to the SG shortfall amount from the contribution due date to when the contribution is made or the ATO issues a SGC assessment
3. Administrative uplift
   • The uplift % replaces the $20 Admin Fee per employee per quarter charged currently. 
     The uplift % (applied to the Final SG shortfall and notional earnings) will be lower if an SGC Statement for late contribution is reported before the ATO issues an SGC Assessment
   • If an SGC statement is reported voluntarily before an ATO SGC assessment the uplift depends on if a previous ATO SGC assessment has been issued in the past 2 years
     • If the ATO has not issued an SGC assessment in the past 2 years (from 1 July 2026)
       • 0% if reported within 30 days of pay day
       • 5% if reported after 30 days but within 60 days of pay day
       • 10% if reported after 60 days but within 120 days of pay day
       • 25% if reported after 120 days of pay day
     • If the ATO has issued an SGC assessment in the past 2 years (from 1 July 2026)
       • 20% if reported within 30 days of pay day
       • 25% if reported after 30 days but within 60 days of pay day
       • 30% if reported after 60 days but within 120 days of pay day
       • 45% if reported after 120 days of pay day
   • The default administrative uplift if no SGC Statement is reported voluntarily will be
     • 40% if the ATO has not issued an SGC assessment in the past 2 years (from 1 July 2026)
     • 60% if the ATO has issued an SGC assessment in the past 2 years (from 1 July 2026)
4. Choice loadings
   1. 25% of the pay day contribution if the employee is not given a choice of super fund for their contributions

Penalties
From 1 July ATO Penalties will be applied if you do not pay the amount on an SGC notice within 28 days

• 25% of the unpaid SGC, or 50% if a penalty has been applied within the past 24 months

A General Interest Charge will also be applied to overdue amounts.
(11.43% for the July to September 2026 quarter )

The Penalties and General Interest Charge are not tax deductible.