Connection 3 of 5 · Super
SuperStream and Payday Super: how super reaches the fund
Rests on: the ATO’s SuperStream pages, with its Payday Super pages.
SuperStream is the way businesses must pay employees’ super guarantee contributions to super funds, with money and data sent together electronically in a standard format. From 1 July 2026, under Payday Super, a contribution is on time if the fund receives it, with the information needed to allocate it, within 7 business days after the employee is paid.
General information about paying super, not tax or super advice for any employer. The ATO is the official place to check. For employee earnings paid up to 30 June 2026, the ATO says the quarterly super guarantee rules apply.
Payroll or clearing houseSuperStreamSuper fund
Connection 3: money and data travel together, linked by a unique payment reference number.
01 What SuperStream carries
The ATO says SuperStream must be used by employers, self-managed super funds and APRA-regulated funds. It moves money and information the same way across the super system, between employers, funds, service providers and the ATO, and links the data to the payment by a unique payment reference number. One result the ATO names: an employer can make all its contributions in a single transaction, even when they go to several funds.
The ATO’s page on SuperStream changes, last updated 21 June 2026, said that from 1 July 2026 it would upgrade the contributions messaging to version 3, to make rejected contributions less likely, give clearer error messages, allow faster payment, and give earlier notice when important fund details change.
02 The 7 business day clock
From 1 July 2026, super guarantee is paid for each payday instead of each quarter. The clock starts on the QE day, the day the employer pays an employee qualifying earnings, which in most cases is the regular payday. The ATO calls paying super on payday best practice, and says an employer using a commercial clearing house, including one used through payroll software, needs to allow it enough time to process the payment within the 7 business days.
For Payday Super, a business day is any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, or a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory. So a state-wide public holiday anywhere in Australia is not a business day, even for an employer in another state, while a holiday in only part of a state or territory, such as Royal Hobart Show Day, still is.
The deadline applies to all employees entitled to super guarantee. That includes workers the ATO treats as employees under the extended definition for super guarantee, such as independent contractors paid mainly for their labour, sportspeople and performers, and directors or executives of a company.
03 When the clock runs longer
| Situation | When the fund must receive it |
|---|---|
| First contribution for a new employee, or to a new complying super fund for an existing employee after contributions to their previous fund have stopped | Within 20 business days after the QE day. |
| An out-of-cycle payment, such as a bonus, commission or back payment | Within 7 business days after the employee’s next payment of qualifying earnings that is not out of cycle. |
| An exceptional circumstance the ATO has determined for a class of employers: natural disasters and widespread IT and communication outages | Before the later of 20 business days after the QE day and 20 business days after the determination. Determinations are not issued for one employer’s own circumstances. |
| A later due date that overlaps the next payday’s (the bunching rule) | The next payday’s contribution takes the same later due date. |
04 Checking the fund first: the member verification request
The member verification request (MVR) is a new SuperStream message. It lets payroll software or a clearing house check that an employee’s fund details are valid and that the fund can accept a super guarantee contribution. The ATO says an MVR must be used before contributing to a fund for the first time, may be used when an employee’s details change, such as their name, and should not be used before regular contributions when nothing has changed.
Funds must respond within 24 hours, confirming whether the employee matches an active account and whether contributions can be accepted. If the fund can’t accept them, the response says why, for example because the employee’s details can’t be matched, the member has left the fund, or the fund’s eligibility rules don’t allow it. The ATO says the 20 business days for a first contribution give time to sort out any issue the response raises.
05 Errors and faster payments
When a fund rejects a contribution, the ATO says errors need to be found and fixed quickly and the contribution resubmitted to the right account within the 7 business days, a timeframe that “does not reset or extend because there were errors”. Before the change, it warned that payments drawing a warning or information message from a fund could be rejected after 1 July 2026.
All super funds must be able to receive payments through the New Payments Platform (NPP), a real-time payments platform, from 1 July 2026, and the employer or its digital service provider can choose to use it. Contributions sent through the NPP could reach the fund on the day they are paid, though payments through some service providers may take longer. At the other end, the ATO says funds have 3 business days from 1 July 2026, not counting the day of receipt, to allocate or return a contribution.
06 The clearing house that closed
The ATO’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed to new users on 1 October 2025. Existing users had access until 30 June 2026, and from 1 July 2026 it is no longer accessible. The ATO says businesses that used it need to move to another SuperStream option. business.gov.au’s list of things to do before Payday Super started covered payroll software that pays super automatically, clearing houses and super fund portals.
A contribution that arrives late leaves the employer liable for the super guarantee charge, and the ATO’s page on missed or late Payday Super payments covers the charge and how it checks compliance.