Super guarantee charge calculator

This calculator estimates the super guarantee (SG) charge an employer client faces for late or missed super. It runs two different sets of rules, because the law changed on 1 July 2026.

• Quarters up to 30 June 2026 use the quarterly rules: the shortfall is worked out on salary and wages, plus nominal interest at 10% a year, plus a $20 administration component for each employee with a shortfall.
• Paydays (QE days) from 1 July 2026 use the Payday Super rules: the shortfall for the payday, plus notional earnings at the general interest charge (GIC) rate compounding daily, plus an administrative uplift of between 0% and 60%.

Choice loading can be added under either set of rules. The calculator picks the rules from the quarter or payday you enter. For the background to Payday Super, see the Payday Super guide. To work out the on-time date for a payday, use the Payday Super due date calculator.

Quarters before 1 July 2026

The quarterly SG charge still applies to any quarter ending on or before 30 June 2026, even when it is lodged or assessed later. The amending Act says the old law, as in force on the last day of the quarter, continues to apply to that quarter.

What you enter

• The quarter, from July to September 2021 through to April to June 2026.
• For each employee: salary and wages for the quarter (including overtime), ordinary time earnings (OTE), and super paid in time to count for the quarter (by 28 days after the quarter ends).
• The date the SG charge statement is lodged, or the date the ATO makes a default assessment.
• Optionally, late contributions paid to the fund that the employer will elect to offset, and contributions that did not follow the choice of fund rules.

How it is calculated

1. Shortfall. The charge percentage for the quarter (10% for 2021–22, 10.5% for 2022–23, 11% for 2023–24, 11.5% for 2024–25, 12% for 2025–26) is reduced by on-time contributions as a percentage of OTE. What is left is applied to salary and wages. Both bases are capped at the maximum contribution base for the quarter.
2. Nominal interest. 10% a year on the total shortfall, from the first day of the quarter up to, but not including, the later of the lodgment due day and the date the statement is lodged.
3. Administration component. $20 for each employee with a shortfall.
4. Choice liability. Where the choice of fund rules were not followed, the employee's shortfall is increased by 25% of the difference between the shortfall that would have existed if the non-complying contributions had not been made and the actual shortfall (s 19(2A)), capped at $500 for each employee for the notice period.

Because the shortfall is applied to salary and wages, a client who paid SG on OTE but paid it late can owe more than the super they missed. Paying 12% of OTE on time, on the other hand, reduces the charge percentage to nil, so there is no shortfall even where salary and wages are higher than OTE.

Quarter	Super due to the fund	SG charge statement due (lodgment day)
1 July to 30 September	28 October	28 November
1 October to 31 December	28 January	28 February
1 January to 31 March	28 April	28 May
1 April to 30 June	28 July	28 August

The ATO's own worked example

In its SG online course, the ATO uses an employer with 30 employees, each paid $12,000 in salary and wages for the July to September 2025 quarter. Nothing was paid on time, and the statement was lodged on 20 November 2025.

Component	Working	Amount
Shortfall	$360,000 × 12%	$43,200.00
Nominal interest	$43,200 ÷ 365 × 150 days × 10% (1 July to 27 November 2025)	$1,775.34
Administration	30 × $20	$600.00
SG charge		$45,575.34

The statement was lodged before the 28 November lodgment day, so interest runs to 28 November, not 20 November. Lodging early does not reduce nominal interest. Lodging late increases it.

Late payment offset

Under the quarterly rules, a contribution paid to the fund after the 28-day deadline but before the assessment can be elected as an offset. It is applied against that employee's nominal interest first, then the shortfall. The administration component cannot be offset. In the ATO's example, a $36,000 late payment leaves $9,575.34 still payable. Once claimed, the late payment is no longer deductible. The ATO's statement guide says the offset is available for quarters from 1 July 2003 to 31 March 2026, so the calculator does not apply it to the April to June 2026 quarter and shows a warning instead. The transitional rules also limit the offset to late contributions made before 1 July 2026: a contribution made on or after 1 July 2026 for an earlier quarter cannot be offset and is instead applied to the earliest unpaid QE day under Payday Super (Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025, Sch 1 item 182(5)).

The quarterly SG charge is not tax deductible.

Paydays from 1 July 2026

Under Payday Super, the charge is worked out for each payday, which the law calls a QE day. There is no SG charge statement. The ATO makes an assessment, and the charge is payable on the day the assessment is made.

What you enter

• The QE day, the qualifying earnings paid to the employee that day, and whether the 7 or 20 business day period applies.
• Each contribution for that payday and the date the fund received it.
• The assessment date, or the date you want an estimate as at.
• Whether the ATO has made an ATO-initiated SG charge assessment or an SG charge estimate against the employer since 1 July 2026, and whether and when a voluntary disclosure statement was lodged.
• Any contributions that did not follow the choice of fund rules.

How it is calculated

1. SG amount. 12% of qualifying earnings for the payday.
2. Base shortfall. The SG amount less contributions received by the fund within the on-time period. The calculator counts 7 or 20 business days using the same whole-of-state holiday data as the due date calculator.
3. Final shortfall. The base shortfall less late contributions received before the assessment, applied in the order the fund received them.
4. Notional earnings. For each day from the day after the on-time period ends to the day before assessment, while the final shortfall is more than nil, the GIC daily rate is applied to the base shortfall plus earnings already accrued. Accrual stops on the day a late contribution reduces the final shortfall to nil.
5. Administrative uplift. A percentage of the final shortfall plus notional earnings, taken from the ATO table below.
6. Choice loading. 25% of contributions for the payday that did not follow the choice of fund rules, capped at $1,200 per employee, reduced by choice loading on earlier paydays in the same notice period.

Notional earnings are worked out on the base shortfall, not the reduced final shortfall. In the ATO's example, an employer who paid $100 of a $120 SG amount late still accrues notional earnings on $120 until the day before assessment, because $20 remains unpaid.

Administrative uplift

The uplift starts at 60%. It falls by 20 percentage points if there was no ATO-initiated SG charge assessment (or SG charge estimate) in force in the 24 months before the payday. For paydays up to 30 June 2028, that 24-month window is treated as starting on 1 July 2026, so quarterly charges do not count. A voluntary disclosure statement lodged before assessment reduces it further. Days are counted with the QE day as day 1.

Voluntary disclosure statement lodged	No ATO-initiated assessment in the window	ATO-initiated assessment in the window
Within 30 days of the QE day	0%	20%
31 to 60 days	5%	25%
61 to 120 days	10%	30%
More than 120 days	25%	45%
Not lodged before assessment	40%	60%

GIC rates the calculator uses

Notional earnings use the GIC daily rate for each day. The ATO publishes the rate a quarter at a time, so the calculator only covers days for which a rate has been published.

Quarter	GIC annual rate	GIC daily rate
July to September 2026	11.43%	0.03131507%
October to December 2026	11.51%	0.03153425%

If notional earnings would still be accruing on any day after 31 December 2026 (for example, an assessment date after 1 January 2027 with super still unpaid), the calculator stops and says so, rather than guessing a rate. The table will be updated when the ATO publishes the January to March 2027 rate.

A worked estimate

This is our own example, not an ATO one. An employee is paid $5,000 on Thursday 2 July 2026. The SG amount is $600 and none is paid. The 7 business day period ends on Monday 13 July 2026. The ATO assesses on 15 October 2026, the employer has had no earlier ATO-initiated assessment, and no voluntary disclosure was lodged.

Component	Working	Amount
Final shortfall	$600 less nil contributions	$600.00
Notional earnings	$600 compounded daily: 79 days (14 July to 30 September) at 0.03131507%, then 14 days (1 to 14 October) at 0.03153425%	$17.75
Administrative uplift	40% × ($600.00 + $17.75)	$247.10
SG charge		$864.85

Most of the cost is the uplift, not the interest. If the employer had paid the $600 to the fund and lodged a voluntary disclosure within 30 days of the payday, the uplift would have been 0%.

For Payday Super paydays, the SG charge components are deductible. GIC on a late-paid charge and late payment penalties are not.

What the calculator will not do

• Payday Super estimates where any day of notional earnings falls after 31 December 2026, until the ATO publishes the next GIC rate.
• Quarters before 1 July 2021.
• Defined benefit schemes, employer shortfall exemption certificates, amnesty quarters and Commissioner remissions.
• Payday Super paydays where the employee may have passed the maximum contribution base ($270,830 of qualifying earnings for 2026–27). You can enter the SG amount directly instead.
• Out-of-cycle payments, exceptional circumstances determinations and the bunching rule. Enter the on-time date yourself for these.
• GIC on an unpaid SG charge, and late payment penalties after a notice to pay.

The ATO's own SGC statement and calculator tool remains the reference for lodging a quarterly statement. Treat these results as a planning estimate for a client conversation, not a figure to lodge.

SG charge questions are among those tested in the Nagaris AI Accounting Index. For a checklist to work through with clients, see the Payday Super checklist.

Questions

Is the SG charge worked out on OTE or salary and wages?

For quarters up to 30 June 2026, the shortfall is applied to salary and wages, including overtime. For paydays from 1 July 2026, it is 12% of qualifying earnings for the payday.

What GIC rate applies to Payday Super notional earnings?

The GIC daily rate for each day, compounding daily. The ATO published 0.03131507% for July to September 2026 and 0.03153425% for October to December 2026.

How much is the administrative uplift?

It starts at 60% of the final shortfall plus notional earnings. It falls to 40% if there was no ATO-initiated assessment in the window, and can fall to 0% if a voluntary disclosure statement is lodged within 30 days of the payday.

Is the SG charge tax deductible?

The quarterly SG charge for periods before 1 July 2026 is not deductible. For paydays from 1 July 2026, the charge components are deductible, but GIC on a late-paid charge and late payment penalties are not.

What is the choice loading?

Under the quarterly rules, 25% of the difference between the shortfall that would have existed if the non-complying contributions had not been made and the actual shortfall, capped at $500 per employee for the notice period. Under Payday Super, 25% of the non-complying contributions, capped at $1,200 per employee for the notice period.

Can I use this to lodge an SG charge statement?

No. It gives an estimate. Use the ATO's SGC statement and calculator tool to lodge, and expect the ATO's assessment to be the final figure.

Sources

• ATO, What happens if you don't pay super correctly (Payday Super)
• ATO, The quarterly super guarantee charge
• ATO, Super guarantee charge statement completion guide
• ATO, SG employer obligations course, Module 6: Rectifying late quarterly payments
• ATO, General interest charge (GIC) rates
• ATO, Key super rates and thresholds: super guarantee
• Treasury Laws Amendment (Payday Superannuation) Act 2025 (No. 57, 2025)
• Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, compilation C77 (27 March to 30 June 2026)
• Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Regulations 2018, compilation from 1 July 2026 (Division 3, administrative uplift)
• Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Regulations 2018, compilation C07 (section 13, nominal interest rate)