Payroll Services in Australia — STP Phase 2 Compliant, Payday Super Ready, Error-Free Every Run

Payday Super is an Australian Government reform that changes when employers must pay superannuation contributions for their employees. Currently, employers are required to pay super at least quarterly into employees' nominated super funds. From 1 July 2026, this changes fundamentally — super must be paid on the same day as wages and received by the employee's super fund within 7 business days of each pay run. This reform eliminates the quarterly timing gap that some businesses have relied on as a short-term working capital buffer and introduces real-time ATO monitoring of super payments via STP Phase 2 reporting. Non-compliance will trigger the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC), which includes the unpaid super, an interest charge, and an administration fee — and critically, unlike ordinary super contributions, SGC amounts are not tax deductible. The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) will also close permanently on 1 July 2026.

The Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate for Australian employers is 12% of each employee's ordinary time earnings as of 1 July 2025. This rate applies to all eligible employees — generally those earning at least $450 per month, though this minimum earnings threshold was removed for most employees. The 12% rate represents the mandatory employer contribution that must be paid into each employee's nominated superannuation fund by the due date. Ordinary time earnings generally means the wages paid for an employee's ordinary hours of work, excluding overtime. Salary sacrifice arrangements and other voluntary contributions are separate from the 12% mandatory SGC obligation. From 1 July 2026, the timing of these contributions will also change under the Payday Super reform — requiring super to be paid on each payday rather than quarterly.

STP Phase 2, or Single Touch Payroll Phase 2, is the current ATO payroll reporting framework requiring all Australian employers to submit detailed payroll data to the ATO in real time — on or before each payday. STP Phase 2 expanded on the original STP reporting to include more detailed income type classifications, disaggregated gross wages, allowances, overtime, and salary sacrifice amounts, as well as superannuation data. All Australian employers with at least one employee are required to be STP Phase 2 compliant — there are no size exemptions. Each STP report sent to the ATO replaces the old annual payment summary process, and employees can view their year-to-date payroll data through MyGov. Growwth Partners processes STP Phase 2 reports for every client payroll run, with pre-lodgement validation to ensure data accuracy before submission