SG payment dates and deadlines

We suggest making monthly – or more frequent – payments for super guarantee (SG) payments. This is to help with business cashflow.

If your business is not required to pay monthly under an award or agreement, you can pay SG contributions quarterly.

SG payment dates

If your SG payments are quarterly, you must pay by the following dates

Q1 (1 July to 30 September)	28 October
Q2 (1 October to 31 December)	28 January
Q3 (1 January to 31 December)	28 April
Q4 (1 April to 30 June)	28 July

It’s important to understand the quarterly due dates are the dates when the payments must be in your employees’ accounts – NOT the date you pay it.

To ensure you meet the payment due dates, you need to leave adequate time for the payment to be processed and arrive in your employees’ superannuation accounts – this means payment is due at least three banking days prior to the due date.

SG Payments through SuperChoice

If you’re using SuperChoice, First Super’s online payment system, we recommend using bank transfers. This makes refunds easy in case of overpayment or incorrect account details and speeds up the transfer.

However, if you do use BPAY payments you will need to be mindful of your financial institution’s processing timeframes. We recommend you allow at least three banking days for payments to be received.

New SG payment deadlines from 1 July 2026

It’s important to know that from 1 July 2026, SG contributions will be required to be paid at the same time as an employee’s salary and wage.

So, if your staff are paid fortnightly, you will also need to pay SG contributions fortnightly.

What happens if you miss your SG payments?

Sometimes, payments will be missed.

This is why we suggest making your pay run at least monthly rather than quarterly to decrease the risk of missing the quarterly due dates.

Monthly payments may have additional benefits for small businesses with managing cash flow, as well as help your staff grow their super balance due to compounding interest.

If you use our clearing house, SuperChoice, and set up a recurring superannuation payment, the likelihood of missing the payment dates is further reduced.

If you miss the deadlines listed above, the ATO may charge you the SG charge. This is not tax deductible.