If you work across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, each state's Security of Payment Act gives you different deadlines for progress claims, payment schedules and retention release. Miss a payment schedule deadline and you can end up owing the full amount claimed. Miss a retention release date and money you're owed sits with someone else. The practical answer is one claims and retention register, fed from your job system and Xero or MYOB, that lists every claim sent and received and every retention held, with the deadline for each worked out under the right state's rules.
This guide sets out the main deadlines as at October 2026 and how to build that register. It's a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Contracts can set shorter times, and the Acts have more detail and exceptions than fit here, so check your contracts with a construction lawyer.
Security of Payment Act deadlines by state
Queensland: BIF Act
Under the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017:
- Payment schedule: the respondent must give one within the period in the contract or 15 business days after the payment claim is given, whichever ends first. If you don't, the claimant can pursue the full amount claimed.
- Payment due date: the date in the contract, or 10 business days after the claim if the contract is silent. The QBCC says the maximum term is 15 business days for commercial building contracts and 25 business days for subcontracts; a longer term is void and the 10-day default applies.
- When to claim: generally within the period in the contract or six months after the work was last done, whichever is longer.
- Retentions: on contracts covered by the trust account scheme, cash retentions withheld from subcontractors must be held in a retention trust account. The QBCC's trust account pages explain which contracts are covered.
New South Wales: SOPA
Under the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999, per the NSW Government:
- When to claim: on the date in the contract, or the last day of the month if none is stated.
- Payment schedule: within 10 business days after receiving the payment claim. If you don't give one, you're liable for the full amount claimed.
- Payment due: a head contractor claiming from a principal must be paid within 15 business days of the claim; a subcontractor (non-residential work) within 20 business days.
- Supporting statement: a head contractor's claim to the principal must come with a supporting statement declaring subcontractors have been paid.
- Retention trust: If your project is valued at $20 million or more, cash retentions held by the head contractor from subcontractors must go into a trust account with an authorised deposit-taking institution. The head contractor tells the government the account details within 14 days of opening it, keeps a ledger, gives each subcontractor its ledger at least every three months (or up to six months if agreed in writing), and reports an overdrawn account within five days. The NSW Government says penalties of up to $22,000 apply.
Victoria: reformed SOP Act
Victoria's amended Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 has applied since 15 April 2026, including to existing contracts. In summary, from law firm commentary and our own guide to Victoria's reforms:
- When to claim: one payment claim a month, with special December rules.
- Payment due: no later than 20 business days after the claim; a longer contract term has no effect.
- Retention and other security: there's now a right to claim release of performance security, such as retention money. Release claims can be made from 20 business days after the defects liability period ends (or earlier if the contract allows), and security must be released within 10 business days of the earliest claim date. A party must give at least 5 business days' notice before drawing on security.
- Christmas: 22 December to 10 January doesn't count as business days for the Act's time limits.
- No retention trust: Victoria did not introduce a retention trust scheme.
Why deadlines get missed
The deadlines aren't complicated on their own. They get missed because the information sits in different places:
- Claims received arrive by email, through a portal or through a claims tool such as Payapps. The date they were received starts the clock, and it often isn't recorded anywhere useful.
- Claims sent live in the job system or the claims tool, while the invoice and payment live in Xero or MYOB.
- Retention terms (percentage, cap, release stages, defects period) are in the contract, often only in a PDF.
- Practical completion and defects dates live with the project manager.
- Business days differ by state, with public holidays and Victoria's Christmas exclusion on top.
So whoever does accounts payable sees the bill, but not the date the claim was served. The contract administrator knows the job, but not whether the payment went out.
What a claims and retention register holds
One row per claim, and one per retention:
For each payment claim (sent or received)
- Job, contract, state and the other party.
- Date served or received, and how.
- Amount claimed.
- Payment schedule due date, worked out under that state's rules and the contract.
- Payment schedule given (date and amount scheduled).
- Payment due date and date actually paid (from Xero or MYOB).
- Status: open, scheduled, paid, disputed.
For each retention (held or owed)
- Job, contract, state and the other party.
- Retention percentage, cap and amount held to date.
- Release stages (for example, half at practical completion, the rest after defects).
- Practical completion and defects liability end dates.
- Earliest release claim date and release due date.
- Whether it must sit in a trust account (Queensland or NSW), and the trust ledger balance.
- Amount released and date.
Our guide to retentions and progress claims in Xero covers the accounting entries in Xero. This register sits above that and tracks deadlines.
Building it from the systems you have
A spreadsheet register is a sensible start if one person owns it and updates it weekly. It stops working when you have many jobs across states, or when the person who updates it is away.
The joined-up version takes claims from the job system or claims tool, invoices, bills and payments from Xero or MYOB, and contract terms and dates entered once per job. A business-day calendar for each state works out every due date, and the register flags anything due in the next few days. It can also feed your construction cash flow forecast, because retention releases and claim due dates are cash you can plan around.
Use a claims app on its own if it does all of this already. If it handles claims but not retentions, or doesn't know when you paid in Xero, connecting it is usually cheaper than replacing it. See builder accounting software integration.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to give a payment schedule?
In Queensland, the earlier of the contract period and 15 business days after the payment claim. In NSW, 10 business days after receiving it. In Victoria, check the Act and your contract. If you don't respond in time, you can be liable for the full amount claimed.
What is retention tracking?
Keeping a record of every retention you hold or are owed, by job, with the amount, the release stages and the dates each amount falls due. It needs dates from the contract and the site, and amounts from your accounts.
Do Victoria's new rules apply to my existing contracts?
Yes. The amended Act applies to contracts entered before, on or after 15 April 2026, though claims served before that date generally stay under the old process.
Does NSW require a retention trust account?
Yes, if your project is valued at $20 million or more and you're the head contractor holding cash retentions from subcontractors. Smaller projects aren't covered by the trust rules, but you still need to track what you hold and owe.
If claims, schedules and retentions are tracked across emails, a claims app, Xero and a spreadsheet, book a free initial chat. We'll tell you honestly whether your existing app can do it or what it would take to connect what you have.