Starting 1 July 2026, superannuation guarantee contributions must be calculated, reported, and paid every time payroll is processed — not just quarterly. For small business owners across Australia, this is one of the most significant payroll compliance changes in years.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering Payday Super) Bill has passed both houses of Parliament, making Payday Super the law of the land. From 1 July 2026, employers must pay superannuation guarantee contributions on or before their employees' payday — not quarterly. For accountants and bookkeepers advising Australian businesses, the implications are substantial.

With Payday Super taking effect on 1 July 2026, many business owners are asking the same question: how strictly will the ATO enforce the new rules in year one? The short answer is that the ATO intends to be firm on compliance but measured in its approach to penalties during the transition period.

Payroll is one of the most critical functions in any business. It manages wage calculations, superannuation contributions, tax withholding, and regulatory reporting. Yet many Australian businesses operate with payroll systems that expose them to significant risk — often without realising it until something goes wrong.

When payroll goes wrong, the instinct is to blame the payroll system. But in many small businesses, the root cause sits further upstream — in how shifts are rostered, tracked, and communicated to the people processing pay. Rostering and payroll are deeply connected, and weaknesses in one invariably create problems in the other.

Section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 has been on the books for decades, but it has taken on renewed significance following the ATO's release of Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2022/2. For the thousands of Australian families that operate through discretionary trusts, understanding these rules is now essential.

The intersection of ATO Tax Determination TD 2022/11 and the Federal Court's decision in Commissioner of Taxation v Bendel has created one of the more significant areas of uncertainty in Australian trust taxation. For trustees and their advisers, understanding how these two positions interact is critical to managing compliance risk.

In the 2021-22 financial year, the ATO collected over $1 billion through its superannuation compliance activities. A significant portion of that figure came from the Superannuation Guarantee Charge — the penalty regime that applies when employers fail to pay super fully or on time. Understanding how the SGC works is essential for every Australian employer.

Payroll tax is a state and territory tax on wages paid by employers. For most industries, the rules are relatively straightforward — if you employ staff, you pay payroll tax on wages above the threshold. But for medical centres that engage general practitioners and other clinicians as independent contractors, the rules are considerably more complex.

Real estate professionals — agents, property managers, auctioneers, and support staff — often incur significant work-related expenses that can be claimed as tax deductions. Understanding what you can and cannot claim is essential to ensuring you pay only the tax you owe.