Superannuation Guarantee Charge: Missed Super 2026

The superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) applies when an employer pays super late, pays too little or breaches fund-choice rules. To correct it, identify the payroll period first: Payday Super corrections and legacy quarterly charge statements follow different rules.

When the Super Guarantee Charge Applies

SGC arises when the employer fails to meet the applicable contribution or fund-choice requirements. A rejected payment can leave super unpaid even when the employer’s bank account shows a debit.

An ordinary contribution goes to the employee’s super fund to meet the employer’s super guarantee obligation. SGC is a statutory liability that can include unpaid super and additional amounts. An assessment establishes the charge payable, and paying the assessment settles that debt with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

The Superannuation Guarantee Charge Act 1992 imposes the charge. The Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 contains the calculation and administration rules. Informal references to a superannuation guarantee levy or surcharge do not create another charge to add to the calculation.

Identify the Affected Payroll Period

Separate earnings paid under the legacy quarterly system from qualifying earnings paid under Payday Super before choosing a statement or calculation. The payment of earnings determines the applicable regime, including where the work happened earlier.

Use the ATO’s changeover allocation rules to identify the exact boundary and the final quarterly period. That final quarter retains quarterly reporting obligations, with special rules for contributions received around the transition.

Build one reconciliation for each affected employee. Collect the following records before deciding what to lodge or pay:

• The employer’s identity, authority for you to act and affected payroll records.
• Earnings paid, with ordinary time earnings and salary or wages for legacy calculations, or qualifying earnings for Payday Super.
• The employee’s fund choice, any stapled-fund response and the contribution details supplied to the fund.
• Amounts paid, bank payment dates, fund receipt evidence and rejected or returned contribution messages.
• Previous statements, lodgment receipts, ATO assessments and payments already made against those assessments.

For Payday Super, calculate the ordinary contribution using 12% of qualifying earnings, subject to the applicable limits and exclusions. Contributions generally need to reach the fund with enough information for allocation within seven business days after payday. Longer periods apply in specified circumstances.

Keep the underlying superannuation guarantee calculation separate from the charge reconciliation. A shortfall caused by an earnings classification error needs both the contribution corrected and the payroll reporting repaired.

Correct a Current Payday Super Shortfall

Pay outstanding Payday Super contributions to the employee’s correct fund promptly while no SGC assessment has been made for that payday. Once assessed, pay the assessed charge to the ATO using its payment instructions.

1. Identify the failed contribution. Match the employee, qualifying earnings day and required contribution to fund responses. A bank debit alone does not establish receipt.
2. Fix the cause. Correct rejected member or fund details, recalculate an underpayment and repair incorrect Single Touch Payroll reporting where needed.
3. Pay the outstanding contribution to the correct fund before assessment. Retain the payment record and evidence that the fund can allocate it. Partial payment reduces the final shortfall, but leaves a balance to resolve.
4. Decide whether to lodge a voluntary disclosure. Consider the first-year compliance criteria and the reduction in administrative uplift available through prompt disclosure.
5. If you lodge, complete the approved disclosure for each affected qualifying earnings day and retain the submitted form with its receipt.

The Payday Super voluntary disclosure statement instructions specify the streamlined form for 2026–27. Record the employer details and relevant payday. Identify affected employees in your supporting workings and calculate their base shortfalls, final shortfalls and non-choice contributions.

The form uses aggregated totals and affected-employee counts. Keep employee calculations and corrective-action records in the file supporting those totals. The base shortfall reflects contributions missing at the on-time deadline. The final shortfall also accounts for eligible late contributions before assessment.

For an authorised agent, open Practice Mail in Online Services for Agents and create a new message. Select “Superannuation”, then “Lodge Payday Super Voluntary Disclosure Statement”. Attach the completed form in a permitted format and submit the message. Retain the sent message, attachment and any acknowledgement or reference supplied.

Online lodgment accepts the sign-in as the electronic signature. If online lodgment is unavailable, the official instructions provide the postal route and require a signed declaration. Do not attach payroll information or fund payment evidence to the online message. Retain those records for an ATO request.

An amended voluntary disclosure replaces the original before assessment, so include the complete totals for that payday. After assessment, the form can request an increase in the assessed shortfall. A disputed or overstated assessment needs the applicable amendment or objection route.

Under the ATO’s first-year compliance approach, attempted on-time payment followed by prompt correction can be low risk. The ATO does not apply compliance resources to review low-risk employers, including those who disclose voluntarily.

That approach guides compliance activity during 2026–27. It does not waive the contribution obligation or turn quarterly payment into a permitted Payday Super schedule. Keep the explanation of what went wrong and how quickly the employer corrected it.

Complete a Legacy Charge Statement

Use a quarterly superannuation guarantee charge statement for a shortfall belonging to the legacy quarterly system. Complete a separate statement for each quarter, including the final quarterly period covered by the ATO’s transition guidance.

1. Download the current statement from the ATO’s legacy SGC form instructions. Enter the employer details, period ended and lodgment date so nominal interest can calculate.
2. Reconcile each affected employee’s earnings and on-time contributions. Calculate the quarterly shortfall on the applicable salary-and-wages basis, including overtime where required.
3. Enter employee details and any choice liability. Apply a late payment offset only when the contribution and quarter satisfy the retained legacy rules.
4. Check the totals and declaration. Obtain and retain the employer’s declaration authorising your lodgment. The Declaration tab needs no physical signature for online agent lodgment, and the client declaration is retained by you.
5. In Online Services for Agents, open Practice mail and select New. Choose “Superannuation” and “Lodge SGC statement”. Attach the completed spreadsheet in the required XLS format and submit it.
6. Retain the submitted spreadsheet and lodgment acknowledgement. Arrange payment to the ATO using the employer’s SGC payment reference number, then reconcile the account.

The employee’s standard choice form records their fund choice. It does not report an employer’s quarterly shortfall or replace an SGC statement.

If the ATO rejects the spreadsheet, check the required file format, completed period and lodgment fields before sending it again. Avoid duplicate statements for the same quarter. The public instructions describe the agent route without requiring you to use the employer’s own sign-in.

For an error in a lodged quarterly statement, request an amendment within four years of the assessment. Include only employees whose information needs correction, with supporting documentation for the amendment request. Use the amendment checkbox and the ATO’s prescribed zero-entry method when reducing a shortfall or choice liability to zero.

Retain the original statement and receipt alongside revised calculations and supporting evidence. Keep the amendment receipt and resulting assessment so the file explains the change without overwriting its history.

Read the Charge Components

The legacy charge uses quarterly shortfall, nominal interest and administration amounts. Payday Super uses payday shortfalls, notional earnings, administrative uplift and any choice loading.

Component	Legacy quarterly system	Payday Super
Shortfall	Calculated using salary and wages, including overtime where required	Final unpaid amount after eligible on-time and late contributions
Interest	Nominal interest at 10% per year from the quarter’s start to the applicable statutory endpoint	Notional earnings at the general interest charge rate, compounded daily on the statutory base
Administration	$20 per affected employee per quarter	Uplift starts at 60% of final shortfalls plus notional earnings, with prescribed reductions
Fund choice	Choice liability under the legacy rules	Choice loading of 25% of non-choice contributions, capped at $1,200 per employee notice period

Under Payday Super, notional earnings use the base shortfall plus accumulated notional earnings while a final shortfall remains. A partial late contribution reduces the final shortfall. It does not simply replace the statutory interest base with the remaining balance.

Notional earnings stop at the applicable endpoint when the final shortfall reaches zero or assessment cuts off the late period. Separate these earnings from general interest charge accruing on an unpaid assessed debt.

The ATO’s current charge component guidance explains uplift reductions. Disclosure timing and the employer’s history of ATO-initiated assessments determine the percentage. An early disclosure and qualifying assessment history can reduce uplift to zero, while other components remain payable.

Illustrative Legacy Reconciliation

Assume a hypothetical employer has one employee with a $1,000 quarterly shortfall. There is no choice liability or eligible offset. Assume the statutory nominal-interest period is 150 days in a 365-day year.

Nominal interest is $1,000 multiplied by 10% multiplied by 150 divided by 365, or $41.10 rounded. Adding the $20 administration amount gives illustrative SGC of $1,061.10. This excludes any separate penalty or general interest charge on unpaid debt.

Use the statement’s actual period and lodgment date for a real calculation. The 150-day assumption is illustrative, and the quarterly formula does not calculate a current Payday Super liability. The super guarantee charge calculator separates its supported period-specific estimates.

Handle Late Payments and Assessments

Apply late contributions according to their regime and receipt sequence. Paying a fund after a deadline does not automatically cancel an assessed charge.

For eligible earlier quarterly periods, the legacy late payment offset requires a qualifying contribution before the original assessment and an election within four years. The contribution must also fall within the retained pre-transition receipt rules. Once elected, that amount cannot also be deducted or used for another period.

The final legacy quarter has no late payment offset. A contribution received after its quarterly deadline cannot reduce that quarter’s liability and instead falls under Payday Super allocation rules. Pay the final quarter’s SGC to the ATO, even if the employer intended a later fund payment to cover that quarter.

For a current payday before assessment, eligible late contributions reduce the final shortfall and are allocated to the employee’s earliest outstanding qualifying earnings day. Reconcile the allocation before assuming a payment covers the most recent payroll run.

After an SGC assessment, pay the ATO using the assessment instructions. If a fund payment and assessment appear to overlap, provide the receipt chronology to the ATO for review. Do not deduct the fund payment from the assessment yourself.

Deductibility also follows the regime. Legacy quarterly SGC remains non-deductible. SGC for Payday Super qualifying earnings days is deductible, including its charge components, while general interest charge on late assessed debt and late payment penalties are non-deductible.

The historical superannuation guarantee amnesty closed in 2020. New disclosures follow the applicable correction and penalty rules. Legacy penalty remission depends on its statutory rules and the ATO’s penalty remission practice statement.

Confirm the Correction is Complete

Close the correction when the contribution and charge records agree with the employer’s payroll and ATO account. A statement receipt alone proves reporting, not payment.

Keep evidence of each completed action:

• The corrected contribution received by the employee’s fund, or payment of the assessed amount to the ATO as applicable.
• The required legacy statement receipt, or a voluntary disclosure receipt where the employer elects to disclose.
• A reconciliation of payroll amounts, eligible contributions, allocations, assessed components and remaining account balance.
• The employer’s retained explanation of the error and corrective action, with rejected-payment messages and repaired reporting where relevant.

For an unpaid assessment, arrange the applicable ATO payment or payment-plan route. Current Payday Super late payment penalties can still arise despite a payment plan. A disputed assessment needs an amendment or formal objection supported by the calculation and contribution records.

For legacy assessments, the ATO’s amendment and objection instructions distinguish the four-year amendment period from the 60-day objection period. Payment remains due while a dispute is considered. Record the correct deadline and responsible practitioner before closing the file.

If a company’s liability remains unpaid, consider the separate director penalty notice consequences. Update the employer’s Payday Super checks so the next contribution reaches the correct fund within its applicable deadline.