AU Payday Super: ZonePayroll Updates + Actions Required for Payroll Teams

Regulatory Overview – For Informational Purposes Only

Disclaimer: This guide provides a general overview of Australia's Payday Super regulations for informational purposes. It does not constitute legal, financial, or tax advice. While we strive to keep this information current as of June 4, 2026, regulations and timelines are subject to change by the Australian authorities.

Zone assumes no liability for the accuracy or completeness of this information or for any actions taken based upon it. For definitive legal requirements and the most up-to-date mandates, please consult the official Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website and your professional payroll advisors.

Summary: This article explains the changes that ZonePayroll is making in response to AU Payday Super legislation updates which go into affect on July 1, 2026.

To learn more about the updates, please see our article here. 

In response to the AU Payday Super legislation, Zone Payroll is pushing two updates to our application. 

• June 6, 2026 Updates: Pay Component Subtype + Informational Banner 
• June 20, 2026 Updates: Countdown Banner, Maximum Contribution Base Updates, + Start Super Remittance button shortcut

Background 

According to the ATO (Australian Taxation Office): AU Payday Super legislation creates some changes to the way employers are paying and reporting on superannuation. See additional details here. The impact to the ZonePayroll product focus on the requirements for companies to report on Qualifying Earnings (QE) and Super Liability (SL) in STP (Single Touch Payroll). 

To help explain how the ATO is defining Qualified Earnings, see these repurposed images from the ATO March 10, 2026 Payday Super Webinar for Tax Professionals below. For details, please visit the ATO website. 

To accommodate the needs of our AU customers, Zone made a few changes to ZonePayroll.

Changes to ZonePayroll

June 6 Informational Banner: A new informational banner now appears at the top of the Pay Run record to keep Australian customers informed as the legislation date approaches.

June 6 Pay Payroll Update:

• OTE Field Title Change - OTE field has been renamed to OTE/QE. 

June 6 Pay Component Sub Type Updates:

• OTE Field Title Change - OTE field has been renamed to OTE/QE/Incurs Super. For AU reporting purposes, this box should be checked for any Pay Component Sub Types (PCST) that incur super. 
• New field added to PCST - STP Super Entitlement Type field now appears under the Australia field group on the PCST record. A value must be recorded for all PCST that are considered Qualified Earnings (QE). (See second image above.)
• Note that a PCST may incur super but not be Qualified Earnings. 
• To facilitate the cutover process for our customers, Zone prepopulated the STP Super Entitlement Type field for all of our standard ZonePayroll PCST records. Please see the section on mapping logic at the bottom of this article to learn more. Customers are expected to review these updates prior to July 1: see the detailed expectations for customers below. 
• Note that changes to STP Super Entitlement Type will not take affect until July 1. Payroll teams can make changes in ZonePayroll now, ahead of the July 1 cutover, with confidence that those changes will not take affect until July 1.

June 20 Color-Coded Banner: A new banner on the pay run record will provide a countdown across the 7 day window from the pay date, helping customers ensure that super funds have been received within 7 days from the pay date. 

• More details will be available with the June 20 release. 
• The 7 day banner will not take affect until July 1. 
• Note that the color-coded banner is only an informational reminder for Payroll teams and will not reflect whether funds have been processed or received. 

June 20 Maximum Contribution Base: The maximum contribution base will change from quarterly to yearly on July 1. The threshold will match the value set by the ATO. 

• Note that changes to the Upper Super Threshold will not go into affect until July 1, although the changes will be visible on June 20. 

June 20 Start Super Remittance Button: To save customers time, Zone will release a shortcut to initiate the super remittance process after a pay run is complete. 

• More details will be available with the June 20 release. 

Expectations for ZonePayroll Customers 

Beginning June 6, ZonePayroll customers are expected to review the changes to Pay Component Sub Type (PCST) updates for all standard PCST and to manually update the STP Super Entitlement Type fields for any custom PCST.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. View the Pay Component Sub Type (PCST) list (Payroll Admin Tab > Payroll Setup)

2. Find each PCST that should incur super: OTE/QE/Incurs Super = Yes 

   Zone automatically left all checked boxes (previously called OTE) checked.

   Because the OTE/QE/Incurs Super field is repurposed from the existing OTE field, any changes made to this field now (checking or unchecking the checkbox on a record) will have an impact on pay runs prior to July 1. If you need to make changes, make any updates to this field AFTER the last pay run before July 1.

    

3. Edit the PCST record

4. Verify that the check should be there indicating that this Pay Component Sub Type should incur super

   PCST Record > Primary Info > OTE/QE/Incurs Super (checked)

In-app field level help for OTE/QE/Incurs Super: 

This field has different behaviour in different jurisdictions. 

AUSTRALIA — Check this box to indicate that this Pay Component Sub Type (PCST) attracts Superannuation. This applies to both Qualifying Earnings and Industrial Obligations.
For STP reporting from 1st July 2026 (PayDay Super), you must also set the STP Super Entitlement Type field in the Australia section to specify how the superannuation amount should be categorised and reported to the ATO. Review the field level help on STP Super Entitlement Type for further information.

5. When the PCST should incur Super (the above field is checked), verify that the value (or lack of value) for the new STP Super Entitlement Type is accurate (or blank): PCST > Australia > STP Super Entitlement Types
   • Zone automatically applied a value (or left blank) all of the ZonePayroll standard PCST fields based on logic that can be found at the bottom of this article. It is your responsibility to verify that these values are correct and update them if required. 
   • For custom records, it is your responsibility to identify which value (if any) should be used in the new STP Super Entitlement Type field using the definition below.

In-app field level help for STP Super Entitlement Type, defines each field value: 

Select Super Entitlement Type for this PCST:

• Qualifying Earnings (Q): Total paid to a payee constituting qualifying earnings for SG purposes.
• Superannuation Liability (L): Mandated SG contributions. Includes higher amounts if obligated under an industrial instrument (award/agreement). This is set on the Employer Super PCST only. 
• RESC (R): Optional, employee-influenced employer contributions (e.g., Salary Sacrifice, above maximum base, or co-contributions) not mandated by law or policy. This is set on the Additional Employer Super and Salary Sacrifice Superannuation PCST only. 

• NB: If you have Industrial Obligations and do not want to report the amount as Q, leave blank to exclude from STP reporting to the ATO.

  Field to be used for STP Reporting Post 1st July 2026

5. Repeat steps 1-4 for until all PCST records have been verified/updated. 

   Note that customers can make updates at any time but that the ATO requires these updates are made and verified by July 1. 

   Updates to STP Super Entitlement Type made prior to July 1 will take affect on July 1 and not before. Therefore any pay runs made prior to July 1 will not be impacted by the changes made to the STP Super Entitlement Type until July 1.

   All updates will take affect on July 1.

   ***Because the OTE/QE/Incurs Super field is repurposed from the existing OTE field, any changes made to this field now (checking or unchecking the checkbox on a record) will have an impact on pay runs prior to July 1. If you need to make changes, make any updates to this field AFTER the last pay run before July 1.***

Zone's Mapping Logic for STP Super Entitlement Type Values

To help our customers, Zone prepopulated default values for all OTE/QE/Incurs Super PCST records. The table below provides the mapping that was used to create the defaults. It is your responsibility to verify that the STP Super Entitlement Type values are correct for all standard and custom PCST records prior to July 1.