Early warning signs you missed the super clearing house transition
Check whether your payments reached the funds
The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed permanently from 1 July 2026 as part of the Payday Super reform. Businesses that were using it needed another way to pay employee superannuation.
If you sent a payment instruction to the SBSCH on or after 1 July 2026, it was not processed. Payments received by the SBSCH on or after 1 July 2026 are returned to employers.
Start with your bank account. Look for returned payments from the ATO in the weeks following any payment you made to the SBSCH after closure. If you see one, the super for that period did not reach your employees' funds.
Check your payroll records against provider confirmations for every super payment you expected to make since 1 July 2026. Do not assume that a debit from your account means the contribution arrived at each employee's fund. Confirm receipt with your new provider or the funds directly.
Source: Small Business Superannuation Clearing House , Australian Taxation Office
Payday super changed the deadline and the consequences
From 1 July 2026 super guarantee contributions must be received by your employees' super funds within 7 business days after paying your employees, with enough information to allocate the contributions to the employees' member accounts. This replaced the old quarterly deadlines.
The final quarterly payment for the April to June 2026 quarter was due in employees' super accounts by 28 July 2026. From 1 July 2026, all new super obligations are calculated and paid for each payday, not quarterly.
If you were paying fortnightly wages but still relying on the SBSCH for quarterly super, the closure created an immediate gap. Your first payday in July 2026 triggered a super obligation due within seven business days. If you had not yet set up a replacement payment method, that deadline passed unmet.
The super guarantee charge applies when amounts are not received by a super fund within the required timeframe. For Payday Super obligations from 1 July 2026, the charge is calculated on qualifying earnings, includes interest that compounds daily at the general interest charge rate, and includes an administrative uplift amount.
The administrative uplift amount is designed to recoup some of the ATO's costs associated with investigating and assessing the super guarantee charge and to incentivise prompt disclosure of super guarantee shortfalls. It starts at 60 per cent of your unpaid super and interest. It can be reduced if you lodge a voluntary disclosure statement before the ATO assesses you, and if the ATO has not initiated a super guarantee charge assessment against you in the previous two years. Unlike the quarterly super guarantee charge, the Payday Super charge components are tax deductible.
Warning sign one: you have not tested the new provider
Setting up an account with a commercial clearing house or enabling super payments in your payroll software is not the same as confirming the payment process works end to end. The first time you discover a configuration error should not be after a payment deadline has passed.
Send a test payment well before your next payday. Confirm with the employee's super fund that the payment was received, allocated correctly and matched to the member account. Check how long the process took from the moment you instructed the payment to the moment the fund confirmed receipt.
If your payment method relies on a clearing house, ask the provider how long processing takes and whether that time counts toward the seven-business-day deadline. If you use a commercial clearing house, the employee's super contribution is counted as being paid on the date the super fund receives it, not the date the clearing house receives it from you.
Identify who in your business checks for error messages or rejected payments. A payment sent is not the same as a payment received. If the fund rejects a contribution because of incorrect member details or a closed account, you need to know about it within days, not weeks.
Source: SuperStream for employers , Australian Taxation Office
Warning sign two: you are unsure whether July payments are late
If you cannot confirm whether your super payments since 1 July 2026 were received by employee funds within the required timeframe, that uncertainty is itself a problem. The obligation does not wait for you to work it out.
In the first year of Payday Super, from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, the ATO's focus is on helping employers transition and get it right. From 1 July 2026, you must ensure super guarantee contributions are received by your eligible employees' super funds within 7 business days after each payday.
The ATO has published a compliance approach for the first year. Employers who have attempted to ensure super guarantee for each employee is paid for the relevant payday, by making contributions on time and for the correct amount, and who take steps to correct any issue as soon as reasonably practicable, are considered low risk. The ATO will not apply compliance resources to review low-risk employers.
Gather your payment instructions, bank records and any confirmation or error messages from your provider. Match them against your payroll obligations for each payday since 1 July. If any payment is unconfirmed or any error message went unanswered, treat it as unpaid until you prove otherwise.
Source: Getting it right: compliance in the first year of Payday Super , Australian Taxation Office
Warning sign three: the ATO has contacted you
If the ATO has written to you about superannuation obligations or unpaid amounts, the problem has already moved past the early-warning stage. Do not treat the letter as the start of a conversation you can have later.
A director of a company that fails to meet a superannuation guarantee charge liability in full by the due date automatically becomes personally liable for a penalty equal to the unpaid amount. This applies to payday super obligations in the same way it applied to quarterly super.
Open the correspondence immediately. Identify what the ATO is asking you to do and the deadline for doing it. If the letter refers to specific periods or paydays, pull the records for those dates and confirm whether the payments were made and received.
Bring the ATO letter, your super payment records and your payroll reports to your registered tax agent without delay. Ask what your current obligation is, what your personal exposure as a director may be, and what response the ATO expects within the stated timeframe.
What to do if you missed the transition
If your super payments have not reached employee funds since the SBSCH closed, the first step is to pay the outstanding amounts to the funds now. Do not wait for an ATO assessment or hope the problem will go away. Paying late contributions reduces the super guarantee charge you may face.
You can lodge a voluntary disclosure statement for any missed or late payments. Making a voluntary disclosure statement can reduce your final super guarantee charge by decreasing the administrative uplift amount. It can only be lodged before you receive an assessment from the ATO for a QE day, which is the day you make a payment of qualifying earnings to your employees.
In the first year of Payday Super, for QE days from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, the ATO is supporting employers who try to do the right thing. The ATO will not apply compliance resources to review the actions of employers who are considered low risk, even if they submit a voluntary disclosure statement.
Set up a working payment method and test it before your next payday. Download any records you still need from your old system. Keep your payroll records, payment confirmations and fund receipts together so you can prove when each obligation was met.
Source: Making a voluntary disclosure for Payday Super , Australian Taxation Office
Get advice before the exposure grows
Unpaid superannuation creates both a company liability and potential personal director exposure. The longer it remains unaddressed, the larger the interest component and the fewer options you have to manage it.
Speak to your registered tax agent about your payroll records, super payment history and any ATO correspondence. Ask them to confirm your current position, whether a voluntary disclosure is appropriate and what reporting obligations apply.
If you have received ATO correspondence about director penalties or if the unpaid amount is significant, obtain advice from an appropriately qualified insolvency or restructuring adviser. Do not assume switching payment providers or lodging a form resolves the underlying liability.
CRP works with construction businesses managing cash flow pressure, tax debts and compliance obligations. Use the contact form below to explain your situation.