Insights · Payroll · 28 October 2026

Payday Super over Christmas: the shutdown checklist for employers

This is the first Christmas under Payday Super. Super used to be a quarterly bill you could plan around in January. Now it’s due after every pay run, including the ones either side of the shutdown, while your clearing house, your fund and half your team are on holidays.

1. The rule in one line

Since 1 July 2026, super guarantee must be received by the employee’s fund within 7 business days after payday, with the details the fund needs to allocate it. The clock starts on the day you pay the wages, not the day you press pay on the super. Time your clearing house takes to process counts inside those 7 days, and the ATO says there’s no extension if a payment is rejected or delayed. The rate is 12%. Background is in Payday Super for employers.

2. Count business days, not calendar days

A business day is any day other than a weekend or a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory, even one where you don’t operate. Christmas Day (Friday 25 December 2026) and New Year’s Day (Friday 1 January 2027) are not business days, and nor is a Boxing Day holiday that applies across a whole state or territory. That stretches the calendar deadline for pay runs around Christmas, but it’s easy to miscount. The safest habit is the one the ATO recommends: pay super on payday.

3. Bonuses, leave loading and the last pay before the break

Christmas bonuses. Super on an out-of-cycle payment such as a one-off bonus is generally due within 7 business days after the employee’s next regular payday. If they have no next payday (they’ve left), the 7 days run from the bonus itself.
Paying leave in advance. If you pay annual leave before the shutdown, check with your payroll provider which amounts count as qualifying earnings and make sure the super goes with that pay run.
Casuals and contractors. The deadline also applies to workers who are employees for super purposes, such as contractors paid mainly for their labour. See contractor or employee?

4. New starters over summer

Taking on holiday staff? The first contribution for a new employee, or to a new fund for an existing employee, has 20 business days after that payday. After that, the normal 7 business days apply. The ATO suggests verifying fund details before the first payment (its new member verification request, if your software or clearing house offers it), because a rejected payment doesn’t buy you extra time.

5. The shutdown checklist

Confirm your clearing house and payroll software’s holiday processing cut-offs, and who can approve a super payment while you’re away.
Schedule super to go out on each payday in December and January, not “when we’re back”.
Check fund details for anyone new or who has changed funds this year.
Build the super into your Christmas shutdown cash flow plan and 13-week forecast, next to wages, leave and the February BAS.
If a payment does go late, the super guarantee charge applies. Directors can also be personally exposed: see director penalty notices.

Quick answers

When is super due under Payday Super?

From 1 July 2026, the ATO says super guarantee must be received by your employee’s fund, with the information needed to allocate it, within 7 business days after the day you pay qualifying earnings (usually payday).

Do Christmas public holidays count as business days?

No. The ATO defines a business day as any day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, or a day that is a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory, even if it isn’t a holiday where you are. Christmas Day and New Year’s Day are not business days.

When is super due on a Christmas bonus?

The ATO and funds explain that super on an out-of-cycle payment such as a one-off bonus is generally due within 7 business days after the employee’s next regular payday. If the employee has no further regular payday, for example they have left, the standard 7 business days from the bonus payment applies.

What about someone who starts over the holidays?

The first super guarantee contribution for a new employee, or to a new fund for an existing employee, has a longer deadline: it must be received by the fund within 20 business days after that payday.

Download · PDFThe Christmas and January cash flow checklist: 7 sections, one page each side, PRM branded. Print it and tick it off.

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Sources

General information only. This doesn’t take your circumstances into account and isn’t tax, financial or legal advice. Rules are from ATO published information as at October 2026. Talk to your accountant or registered tax agent before acting. PRM is not a registered tax agent; tax agent services are provided by Australian Tax & Super Pty Ltd (TPB 25291395).