Payday Super 2026 – overview and timeline

Important information and responsibilities

Important: This article explains how MYOB PayGlobal supports Payday Super and Qualifying Earnings (QE). It does not constitute tax, payroll or legal advice. Your organisation is responsible for deciding which payments are qualifying earnings and for meeting your super and STP obligations. You should confirm your treatment of allowances, bonuses and other payments with the ATO, your tax and/or payroll advisor.

What is Payday Super and QE (in brief)?

From 1 July 2026, employers will calculate and report super guarantee using Qualifying Earnings (QE) instead of relying on ordinary time earnings (OTE) alone.

At a high level:

• QE includes OTE plus some additional payments, such as all commissions and certain salary sacrifice amounts that would otherwise have been QE if paid as wages.

• Many employers who already follow the ATO’s guidance for OTE will see similar results, with QE typically being equal to or higher than their current OTE base.

How PayGlobal is supporting Payday Super

We’re introducing Payday Super and QE changes in two stages.

1. Preparation release – (Version 4.77) by 31 March 2026

This release focuses on helping you review your current setup and get ready for QE ahead of 1 July 2026. It includes:

• New “Use in Super Qualifying Earnings” flag on allowances

  • A new field is added to allowances to indicate whether a payment contributes to QE.

  • On upgrade, any allowance with Use in Super OTE = Yes will be automatically updated so that “Use in Super Qualifying Earnings” = Yes as well, preserving your current OTE base as a starting point for QE.

  Figure 1 shows the new and existing fields in a new Australian Super section:

• New “Super Qualifying Earnings” column in Transaction View

  • Transaction View gains a Super Qualifying Earnings amount, alongside existing Super Salary and Wages and Super OTE columns.

  • This lets you compare your current OTE‑based super amounts with how QE will behave, for pays with a payment date on or after 1 July 2026 (in test first).

You will only be able to verify and compare this column in a future pay (payment date of 01/07/2026 or greater) in your Test system after the preparation release has been applied.

• Updated Super Settings – clearer Maximum Earnings Base (MCB) behaviour

  • The Super Settings window is updated to make it clearer what the Maximum Earnings Base ($) is derived from, and whether it is using quarterly OTE or annual QE.

• Removal of minimum monthly income threshold flags

  • Flags related to the old minimum monthly income threshold for SG are removed, as this threshold has not applied since 1 July 2022.

New “Employee subject to industrial instrument” field on Employee Super Fund

• A new Employee subject to industrial instrument flag is added to Employee Super Fund records.

• This field will be used in a later release to help control how SG is calculated where industrial instruments require super on amounts beyond the SG minimum.

2. Australian EOFY / tax release – in time for 1 July 2026

The EOFY/tax release (AU tax release) will introduce the remaining changes needed to go live with QE:

• STP reporting will automatically include year‑to‑date QE amounts and the related super liability for submissions in the 2026–27 tax year onwards.

• The STP Manager tool will show the new QE amounts, and selected SuperStream Alternative File Format (SAFF) and super reports will be updated to optionally include QE‑liable amounts.

• Existing pays for 2025–26 and prior years remain based on OTE‑liable earnings, while pays for 2026–27 and later will be based on QE‑liable earnings in line with ATO requirements.

Details and final timing for this release will be provided in our AU tax release documentation and customer communications closer to go‑live.

What you should do now

1. Review your setup for Payday Super (QE)

Use our dedicated article Check your PayGlobal setup for Payday Super (QE) to:

• Confirm whether your organisation is likely to be using a standard OTE configuration or more custom configuration.

• Identify any allowances, bonuses, commissions and other payments that may need updates for QE.

• Plan what you can safely do in the preparation release vs what should wait for the EOFY/tax release.

You can work through the checklist yourself, or book a Payday Super review package with MYOB Professional Services if you’d like expert assistance.

2. Confirm how you pay super

If you:

• Generate payment or SAFF files from PayGlobal to pay super directly, understand how updated QE amounts will appear in your reports and reconciliation process.

• Use a clearing house or third‑party service to make super payments on your behalf, confirm with them that your file format, data and payment timing will continue to meet Payday Super requirements.

MYOB is not responsible for the configuration or compliance of any third‑party clearing house or service your organisation uses.

3. Understand changes to the Maximum Earnings Base (MCB)

From 1 July 2026, the Maximum Contributions Base will be assessed against annual QE rather than quarterly OTE, and the amount you enter in Max earnings base ($) for post‑1 July 2026 Super Settings will represent an annual cap.

Our article “Maximum earnings base and Payday Super in PayGlobal” explains:

• How MCB will behave before vs after 1 July 2026.

• What this means for higher‑earning employees and those with variable earnings or commissions.

• What you should review in your Super Settings and related configuration.

4. Decide whether to work with MYOB Professional Services

If you think your organisation may be using custom configuration for super and allowances—especially where industrial instruments or complex allowance groups are involved—we recommend booking a Payday Super review package to work with the MYOB Professional Services team. This is particularly important if:

• You currently calculate SG using allowance group / payroll rule configurations rather than the standard allowance flags.

• You pay super on amounts that go beyond the SG minimum due to an award or enterprise agreement.

For further assistance, refer to the pages below:

Check your PayGlobal setup for Payday Super (QE)

Making super payments under Payday Super

Maximum earnings base and Payday Super in PayGlobal

Paying super on payday | Australian Taxation Office

Disclaimer

All screenshots are examples only and should not be used as a basis for your system configuration.