I must admit Payday super largely passed me by until recently. Certainly I thought it was mainly an issue for me as an employer rather than someone receiving employer contributions into my SMSF.
As an employer, I have to make sure my company can comply with the new rules from 1 July 2026 to pay super contributions for my staff within 7 business days of paying their salaries. And it’s not good enough that the money leaves my company’s bank account within 7 days, it has to actually land in the employee’s super fund and be ready to be allocated by the fund in that time – including passing through the clearing house we use for super.
Fortunately we can tick that box.
But Payday super actually has a few ramifications for SMSFs receiving employer contributions and it’s worth being aware of these.
On time lodgement of the annual return just got even more important
If an SMSF’s annual return is more than two weeks overdue, its regulation details are removed from an online service called “Super Fund Lookup” on the first business day of the following month.
An employer who tries contributing to an SMSF where its regulation details have been removed will generally see that payment rejected and contributions will need to go to another fund. There’s a special extension (to 20 days rather than 7) when this happens. But it’s still a very narrow window – and this is the bit that’s new, we now have a very tight timeframe to get it right.
Of course, this is music to my ears as an administrator of 5,000 funds. I love anything that encourages my clients to respond promptly when we ask for information to complete their annual return or send it to them for signing. But it will certainly introduce some additional pressure – particularly since the vast majority of SMSF annual returns are due in a few weeks on 15 May.
It also means anyone who knows their SMSF return is not going to be lodged on time (perhaps there’s a long running issue they need to deal with that’s stopping them) should probably set up a new (temporary) super account in a public fund now to make sure their employer has “somewhere” to pay post 1 July 2026 contributions into.
Check the SMSF’s bank account
From 1 July 2026, all super funds receiving employer contributions must have an “NPP enabled” bank account. This includes SMSFs, other than where the contributions are from related party employers.
NPP stands for New Payments Platform. I’d never heard this term before – although I now understand the fact that I see “Osko” on my personal banking app (and those payments happen instantly) tells me my personal bank account is NPP enabled. I’ve double checked my SMSF’s bank account is too.
Note – employers don’t have to pay via Osko etc (they could still use EFT or BPAY if they wanted to). But they might start because they only have 7 days to get the money from their bank account into the SMSF’s. And importantly, unless the SMSF is only receiving employer contributions from related employers, it has to be ready to take payments this way.
Most major banks already offer NPP enabled accounts, so I expect most SMSFs will be fine. The ones to check would be cases where employer contributions are currently being paid to the cash accounts of wrap or platform providers.
And of course if any of this prompts a change of bank account, the details of any new bank accounts must be given to the ATO.
Can the SMSF’s software support Member Verification Requests?
Payday super is not just about when a contribution is received. It’s also about whether the fund can accept and allocate it.
From 1 July 2026, employers have to use the ATO’s new Member Verification Request (MVR) process before making a super contribution to a fund for an employee for the first time.
The MVR allows employers to confirm whether a fund can accept a contribution for a particular employee.
Most SMSF accountants use one of three major software providers (Class, BGL or SuperMate) and they are all over this. They’ll make sure the process is fully automated and the fund’s accountant won’t need to do anything for this process to work. But if an SMSF’s accountant uses something different, it’s worth checking.
Watch excess contributions
Nothing has changed when it comes to the limits on concessional contributions each year ($30,000 for 205/26 for most people, going up to $32,500 next year). But what might change is that employers who are getting ready for Payday super could bring more payments into this year or have more occurring next year than usual.
For example, imagine an employer has historically paid super contributions quarterly. At the end of July 2025, a payment would have been received for the April – June 2025 contributions. But as part of getting ready for Payday super, they’ve changed practices. They’re planning to make the April – June 2026 contributions just before 30 June 2026 and then they’ll start making contributions every fortnight in line with their employees’ pay periods from 1 July. That means five quarters worth of contributions will happen in 2025/26. For most people it won’t be a problem. But someone aiming to maximise their concessional contributions now has a problem. The Government has said they’ll have measures to deal with this – but at the moment they’re only talking about dealing with excesses in 2026/27.
There’s certainly plenty to think about for employers when it comes to Payday super. But equally, a few traps to be aware of for employees who receive super contributions into their SMSF.
Meg Heffron is the Managing Director of Heffron SMSF Solutions, a sponsor of Firstlinks. This is general information only and it does not constitute any recommendation or advice. It does not consider any personal circumstances and is based on an understanding of relevant rules and legislation at the time of writing.
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