Superannuation

Work out, record and pay super correctly - choice of fund, stapled funds, contribution caps and Payday Super due dates.

Overview

Mployr calculates Super Guarantee automatically on each pay run and records a contribution per employee per pay period, each with the fund it's payable to and the date it's due. This guide covers how the fund is chosen and how the amount is worked out. For running the pay run itself, see the Payroll guide.

The Super Guarantee Rate

Super Guarantee is charged at the rate set for the financial year - 12% for 2026-27 - on ordinary time earnings (OTE).

An employee can be set to a higher rate than the statutory minimum with Super Rate (%) on their pay settings (the Remuneration tab) - untick Match super guarantee rate (12%) to enter it. The stored per-employee rate acts as a floor: Mployr pays the greater of that rate and the legislated Super Guarantee rate, so an employee on an agreed 13% keeps it, and an employee left on an old lower figure is still topped up to the legal minimum.

Which Fund Gets Paid

Choice-of-fund rules run as a waterfall:

The employee's chosen fund - the fund they nominated, recorded against their profile

Their stapled fund - where the employee hasn't chosen, you must request their stapled fund from the ATO before going any further

Your nominated default fund - which must offer a MySuper product

How Mployr applies it: a pay run pays one fund per employee - the fund marked Default on their Super tab, or their only active fund where they have just one. A second fund that isn't marked Default is never paid. If they have no fund - or several with none marked Default - it pays your business's default fund and records it on their Super tab as an Employer default fund, marked Default. Mployr doesn't make the stapled-fund step for you or check that your default offers MySuper - those are yours to do, so record the employee's chosen or stapled fund before their first pay run.

Recording an Employee's Fund

Open the employee in People Management

Go to the Super tab and click Add Super Fund (or Add a super fund if none is recorded yet)

Choose Super fund and click Select a super fund to find it by name or USI - funds come from the ATO's register, so you never type a USI by hand. For a Self-managed fund (SMSF), enter the fund's name, ABN, electronic service address (ESA), BSB, account number and account name instead

Enter their Member number

Tick Set as default fund if this is the fund to pay, and click Add Fund

Only one fund is ever the default: ticking Set as default fund on a fund takes Default off the employee's others.

Employees can add and edit their own fund on the Super tab of My Profile. They can also add one while they complete their onboarding: the fund they add there becomes their default, including when one is already on file - for example the employer default recorded by an earlier pay run. Someone holding two funds can click Make default beside the other to switch back.

Requesting a Stapled Fund

Where a new starter hasn't chosen a fund:

Open the employee's Super tab

In Stapled Super Fund (ATO), click Request stapled fund (Re-check with ATO asks again later)

Once the live ATO connection is on, a stapled fund that's found is recorded as the employee's fund

Mployr also makes this request by itself each day for employed people who have no active fund and no request yet, so the card may already show one.

Stapled fund lookups aren't connected to the ATO yet. While the card shows

simulation mode, a request is recorded for your records but nothing is sent

to the ATO, no fund is recorded, and the result always says to use the default

fund. Until the live connection is enabled, request the stapled fund from the

ATO directly (through Online services for business) and add the fund it returns

on the employee's Super tab.

Mployr won't stop you paying your default fund to someone with no fund of their own - under the rules, the stapled-fund request is the step that makes the default lawful. Make the real request with the ATO before the employee's first pay run.

Setting Your Default Fund

Your nominated default fund is set under People > Payroll > Settings > Default Super Fund. Pick it from the ATO's Super Fund Lookup register, which is refreshed weekly. Only funds an employer can nominate - active, without contribution restrictions - are offered, and self-managed funds can't be a default. Once set, a default can be changed but not removed.

Changing your default doesn't move employees who have already been paid into the old one - it stays on their Super tab as their Employer default fund. Update those employees' Super tabs too.

When Nobody Has a Fund

If an employee has no fund and your business has nominated no default, that's a compliance gap, not "no super owing". The pay run blocks rather than quietly producing a payslip with no contribution behind it - add their super fund, or set a default super fund in Payroll Settings. Do it while the pay run is still a draft and click Calculate again, so the contribution is recorded against the new fund.

How Much Is Payable

Ordinary Time Earnings

Super is charged on OTE. Annual leave loading and long service leave taken are treated as OTE. Overtime, and unused annual or long service leave paid out on termination, are not.

The Maximum Contribution Base

There's a cap on the earnings a single employer must pay super on. From 2026-27 the maximum contribution base is assessed annually - $270,830 for the year - rather than per quarter, following the Payday Super changes. Mployr applies the cap against the year, not the pay period.

Assessing the Cap

The cap is assessed against cumulative OTE rather than each pay period in isolation, so a large one-off payment in a single period doesn't over- or under-cap. Pay days before 1 July 2026 use the old quarterly cap, assessed against quarter-to-date OTE; from 2026-27 the annual cap is assessed against the year to date.

Payday Super

From 1 July 2026, super must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of each payday rather than quarterly - 20 business days for the first contribution to a fund for a new employee, or after they change fund (see the ATO's Payday Super payment deadlines at ato.gov.au). Mployr records a due date against every contribution - 7 business days after the pay run's payment date, or 20 for a first contribution to a fund (for paydays before 1 July 2026, 28 days after the end of the quarter) - so you can see what's payable and by when rather than working it out from a calendar. Weekends, and public holidays observed across a whole state or territory, don't count as business days.

Each contribution's due date is in the Superannuation records download (in the Employee records card under People > Payroll > Compliance). The Superannuation timing card on the same page lists contributions from finalised pay runs that have passed their due date without being recorded as received by the fund.

Recording Super as Received

Once your clearing house or fund confirms payment of overdue super:

Go to People > Payroll > Compliance

In Superannuation timing, click Record received beside the employee - or Record all as received when several are listed

Enter the Date the fund received it - the day the fund received the money, not the day you sent it - and, if you like, a Payment reference such as the clearing house batch number

Click Record as received

The contributions come off the overdue list. If the date is after the due date, Mployr notes that the super was paid late - the super guarantee charge still applies to late super.

Paying Super

Mployr works out and records what's owed, but doesn't send contributions to funds yet - SuperStream isn't switched on. Pay through your clearing house or fund as you do now:

Use each finalised pay run's Super figures for what each employee is owed - the payslip PDF names the fund it goes to

Pay the contributions through your clearing house or fund so each fund receives them by the due date
Keep the confirmation against the period, and once a contribution is overdue, record when the fund received it (see Recording Super as Received)

The Superannuation download under People > Payroll > Compliance lists contributions with their amount, fund, USI and due date - and, once recorded, the date received and payment reference - for your records. It includes pay runs that are still in draft, so match it to your finalised runs.

Frequently asked questions

An employee's payslip shows super but no fund

That means contributions couldn't be resolved to a destination. Record the employee's chosen fund on their Super tab, or nominate a business default under People > Payroll > Settings, then click Calculate on the pay run while it's still a draft. Until a fund can be found, the pay run won't finalise. A stapled-fund request can't fill the gap while lookups are in simulation mode - request it from the ATO directly and add the fund it returns.

Super is going to the wrong fund

Mployr pays the fund marked Default on the employee's Super tab. If the employer default - or an old fund - still shows Default, edit the right fund and tick Set as default fund; the other one loses it. Employees can do this themselves on the Super tab of My Profile. If you also pay through Xero, change the fund there too - an import from Xero doesn't change which fund is the default here.

During onboarding it shows a super fund I don't want to use

That fund is already recorded against you - often your employer's default fund, added when a pay run was calculated before you'd chosen one. Click Add another super fund, choose Super fund, click Select a super fund and type at least two characters of your fund's name or USI, pick it from the list, enter your Member number and click Add Fund, then Save and continue. The fund you add becomes your default, and the one that was there stops being it. To go back, click Make default beside the other fund. If your fund doesn't appear in the search, check its name or USI on your fund statement; a self-managed fund is added as Self-managed fund (SMSF) instead.

Do I have to request a stapled fund for everyone?

No - only where the employee hasn't chosen a fund themselves. If they've nominated a fund, that's step 1 of the waterfall and you're done. The stapled-fund request is what you must do before falling back to your own default.

An employee wants more than 12% super

Untick Match super guarantee rate (12%) and set a higher Super Rate (%) on their pay settings. Mployr always pays the greater of the employee's rate and the statutory rate, so their agreed rate is honoured and can never drop them below the legal minimum.

Why is super capped for my highest earner?

The maximum contribution base limits the earnings a single employer must pay super on - $270,830 for 2026-27, assessed annually. Above that, no further Super Guarantee is compulsory for that employee from you.

When is super actually due now?

Under Payday Super, within 7 business days of each payday rather than quarterly - 20 business days for a new employee's first contribution to a fund, or after they change fund. Every contribution Mployr records carries its own due date - you'll find it in the Superannuation records download under People > Payroll > Compliance.

Does Mployr send the super to the funds?

Not yet. Contributions are calculated and recorded with their fund and due date, but nothing is transmitted - pay them through your clearing house or fund as you do now.

Can an employee use their self-managed fund?

Yes. On the Super tab, choose Self-managed fund (SMSF) and enter the fund's name, ABN, electronic service address (ESA), BSB, account number and account name, plus the member number. A self-managed fund can't be your business's default fund.

Tips

Collect fund details during onboarding - it's far easier than chasing them at the first pay run
Make the stapled-fund request as soon as a starter joins without a fund
Check super by due date, not just by fund, now that Payday Super applies
Check each employee has exactly one fund marked Default
Review employees on non-standard super rates each July, when the statutory rate can move
Keep clearing house confirmations with the period they relate to

In this guide