Payday Super started on 1 July 2026. Employers now pay super with each pay run instead of quarterly, and the contribution has to reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of payday. If you run payroll in Xero or MYOB, most of the mechanics are built in, but the parts around the payroll (fund details, reconciliation, rosters, old systems) are where things go wrong. This checklist covers what to look at.
What actually changed
Three changes matter for your systems:
- Super is paid every pay run. Each payday now carries its own super deadline, so a late or failed payment shows up within days, not at the end of the quarter.
- The ATO's free Small Business Superannuation Clearing House has closed. If you used it, you need another way to pay, and you should keep any records you downloaded from it before it closed.
- Single Touch Payroll reports super with each pay event. The ATO can compare what you reported with what funds received, so differences are easier for them to see.
For the detail of the rules, including any exceptions that apply to your business, check the ATO's guidance or ask your accountant. The rest of this article is about making your systems keep up.
Check 1: super payments are switched on in your payroll
Xero and MYOB both offer built-in ways to pay super from payroll. Make sure the feature is set up, linked to the right bank account, and approved in time for each pay run.
- Who approves the super payment, and what happens when they are away?
- Does the payment leave early enough to reach the fund within the deadline?
- If you pay staff weekly, is someone approving super every week now?
Check 2: employee fund details are complete and correct
Returned contributions are one of the most common problems. Under quarterly payments, a wrong member number was fixed once a quarter. Now it can bounce every pay run.
- Fund name, USI or SMSF details and member numbers for every employee
- New starters: fund details collected before their first pay
- A named person who handles returned contributions the same day
Check 3: super reconciles every pay run
In Xero or MYOB, super payable should clear each pay run. If it doesn't, something is out of step.
- Run a super payable check after each pay run, not just at quarter-end
- Investigate any balance left in super payable straight away
- If you run more than one entity, check each one
Check 4: rosters and timesheets feed payroll on time
Payday Super puts more pressure on everything upstream of payroll. If timesheets arrive late from a rostering or job system, the pay run slips and so does the super deadline.
- Do approved hours flow from your rostering, timesheet or job system into Xero or MYOB automatically?
- Are award rates and allowances calculated before the data reaches payroll, or fixed by hand afterwards?
- Who chases missing timesheets before the pay run cut-off?
If hours are still re-keyed from one system into payroll, that step is now on a tighter clock. See eliminating double data entry for how that usually gets fixed.
Check 5: payroll that isn't in Xero or MYOB
The harder cases are payroll outside the accounting system:
- A separate payroll or rostering product whose super and journal have to land in Xero or MYOB correctly each pay run.
- An older desktop payroll. MYOB has announced the retirement of EXO Payroll, so businesses still paying staff from it need to plan a move. See MYOB Acumatica and EXO.
- Several entities on different systems, where super is calculated in one place and reported in another.
These are integration problems more than payroll problems. The data has to flow reliably, every pay run, with someone alerted when it doesn't. See Xero and MYOB integration repair if an existing connection is already unreliable.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need new software for Payday Super?
Usually not. Xero and MYOB both handle super payments from payroll. What most businesses need is to set the feature up properly, clean up employee fund details, and make sure payroll inputs arrive on time.
What happened to the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House?
The ATO closed it. Businesses that used it need another way to pay super, typically the option built into their payroll software, and should keep any records they downloaded before it closed.
Why are contributions being returned?
Most often because of wrong or missing fund details, such as member numbers or USI. With super paid every pay run, these errors appear more often, so fix the employee records rather than the individual payments.
Our payroll runs in a separate system. What should we check?
Check that each pay run's super and payroll journal reach Xero or MYOB correctly and on time, that super payable reconciles, and that someone is alerted if the transfer fails.
If your payroll, rostering and accounting systems don't line up each pay run, or you are moving off an old payroll system, book a free initial chat and we'll tell you what it would take to make it reliable.