Payday Super from 1 July 2026: what it means for screen shoots

Since 1 July 2026, the timing of employer super in Australia has changed. Contributions that used to accumulate across a quarter now move at payday, and the fund has to receive the money inside a short window — 7 business days in the ordinary case, or 20 business days for a qualifying first contribution. The rate did not change: the Super Guarantee stays at 12%. What changed is the calendar, and on short-cycle screen shoots that calendar is tight.

What Payday Super changed

Until 1 July 2026, an employer could hold super across a quarter and pay it by the quarterly due date. Payday Super ended that. Now every payday for an eligible worker triggers a super obligation with a receipt deadline attached to that pay date. Which deadline depends on whether it is the payee's first contribution.

• ·Ordinary payday — 7 business days. In the ordinary case, the fund must receive the contribution within seven business days of the pay date.
• ·Qualifying first contribution — 20 business days. A qualifying first contribution after a start, restart or fund switch gets the longer window. A later contribution ordinarily uses seven business days unless another statutory extended-period condition applies; record the condition rather than inferring it from whether the booking is one-off.

For a producer running monthly or ad-hoc talent payroll, this is structural. Super stops being a quarterly true-up and becomes a per-run task with a hard receipt deadline attached to each pay date.

Why it bites harder on screen productions

Screen payroll is short-cycle by nature. A shoot wraps on a Tuesday and the performer is often paid inside a fortnight, sometimes inside the week. Under the old cadence, the super on that fee could sit in the production account until quarter end. Now it has to reach the fund within days of the performer being paid, which on a fast-payment shoot is days after the shoot itself.

Across a campaign with a principal, a handful of featured extras, a block of extras and a voiceover booking, that is a weekly or fortnightly super run rather than a quarterly one.

What it means for producers

Payroll and clearing-house timing

Any process still built around quarterly super batches needs to move to per-run. Both windows are measured to the fund, not to your clearing house, so a contribution sent on payday can still miss the deadline if it routes through a slow clearing house. Confirm the turnaround with your bookkeeper or production accountant, and treat the seven-day window as the working constraint on repeat payees.

Cash-flow timing

Short-cycle super can tighten working capital. For engagements where SG applies, contributions based on the applicable earnings amount land much sooner than under quarterly processing. Forecast the confirmed bases and rates at quoting time rather than discovering them post-shoot.

Contractor-versus-employee classification

Payday Super does not change the coverage tests. Sections 12(3) and 12(8) can extend SG coverage to labour contracts and specified performance or production work by an individual, but the entity and engagement facts still need review. Where SG applies, the shorter receipt cadence makes the classification and earnings base time-critical.

Payroll-house and EOR arrangements

If talent payroll runs through an employer of record or a specialist payroll house, pin down who owns the seven-day deadline. Who generates the contribution, who remits it, who is the counterparty at the clearing house, and who is accountable if the fund receives it late. Agree it in writing before the go-live, not after.

The 12% rate did not change

The headline is easy to misread. Payday Super is a cadence and receipt-window reform, not a rate rise. The headline SG percentage stays at 12%, but coverage and the statutory earnings base still turn on the engagement. Existing budgets need both those inputs reviewed, as well as a tighter payroll calendar.

What producers need to do now

1. Plan the payroll and provider hand-off so the fund receives each contribution within the applicable window; do not rely on a quarterly batch.
2. Confirm the clearing-house turnaround. Both the 7- and 20-day windows are measured to the fund, not to your clearing house.
3. Revisit contractor-versus-employee classification on every recurring performer engagement.
4. If talent payroll runs through an EOR, agree in writing who owns the receipt deadline.
5. Forecast super cash flow on every active campaign so it is planned, not discovered.

How Screenpay handles it

Screenpay applies the recorded SG rate to the dated earnings base you classify and confirm. It prompts for s12(3)/s12(8) review and supports the ordinary seven-business-day receipt workflow on runs carrying super. A statutory extended period may exist, but those cases are not supported for approval in this release and must use an externally reviewed workflow. It produces a bank-format ABA for validation by your own bank; Screenpay never holds or moves the money.

• ·Recorded SG rate applied to a confirmed earnings base, with its source shown.
• ·s12(3)/s12(8) classification review prompted before approval.
• ·The ordinary seven-business-day planning date surfaced on every supported run carrying super; extended-period cases remain external-review only.

Guide reviewed 7 August 2026. Sources reviewed: Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025; Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992. The review date is not a guarantee that every applicable rule is current. Confirm the application of Payday Super, including state payroll-tax and workers-compensation interactions, with a registered tax agent or your production accountant. See also the other rule guides.