Payroll in Australia

Australia has no single statutory payday. Follow the applicable award or enterprise agreement first. If it does not set a pay frequency, employees must be paid at least monthly. Weekly and fortnightly payroll are both allowed, and fortnightly is the common pattern.

Payday and payslips

Agree the payday in writing and keep to it. The employee's payday is one date. Your superannuation and tax remittance dates are different. Keep them apart in your payroll calendar.

Check the award or agreement that covers each employee before you set the cycle. It can fix the frequency, and it also drives overtime, breaks and penalty rates. A contract can be written or verbal, but it cannot reduce minimum rights under the National Employment Standards (NES), an award or an agreement.

The dossier does not set out payslip content rules or issue deadlines. Confirm the current payslip requirements with the Fair Work Ombudsman before your first pay run. As a working practice, show pay components and deductions on separate lines.

No 13th-month payment

There is no statutory 13th-month or extra salary payment in Australia. Any bonus is a matter of contract, award or agreement. If you offer one, state it in the employment terms so it is not mistaken for an entitlement.

Remitting superannuation and tax

Employees do not pay social contributions. The employer pays the Superannuation Guarantee, set at 12% of eligible qualifying earnings. From 1 July 2026, contributions are due each payday and normally must reach the fund within 7 business days. Specified exceptions allow longer. Build the fund processing time into your calendar, because the payment must arrive at the fund, not just leave your account.

Income tax is withheld from pay. For 2026-27 there are 5 bands, from 0% to 45%. The dossier does not cover withholding schedules or remittance deadlines, so confirm the current reporting and payment calendar with the Australian Taxation Office before the first pay date.

Payroll tax is separate. It can apply when your Australian wage bill exceeds the threshold in the relevant state or territory. Rates, thresholds and taxable payments vary, so request a location-specific calculation.

Working time that affects pay

The NES sets 38 weekly hours plus reasonable additional hours. Overtime, breaks and penalty rates come from the applicable award or agreement, not from the NES alone. Public holidays differ by state and territory, so use the 2026 calendar for the employee's location. There is no uniform nationwide holiday count.

Leave accrual also feeds payroll. Full-time and part-time employees accrue 4 weeks of annual leave on ordinary hours, and full-time employees accrue 10 days of personal leave per year. Casuals do not receive these paid entitlements. Unused balances carry forward.

For minimum pay, the national minimum wage from 1 July 2026 is A$26.44 an hour, or A$1,004.90 for a 38-hour week. It applies to adult employees in the national system without an award or agreement. Junior, apprentice, trainee and supported-wage rules differ.

Australia taxes employment income on a progressive scale. For 2026-27 there are 5 bands, running from 0% to a top rate of 45%. The dossier gives the band count and the range, but not the individual thresholds or the middle rates. This guide does not quote them. Take the thresholds from the current published schedule for the payment date before you build or check any payroll calculation.

How income tax withholding works

Employers withhold income tax from each payment of salary and pay it to the tax authority on the employee's behalf. The amount withheld depends on the pay for that period and on the employee's declared circumstances. Because the scale is progressive, a single flat percentage does not give a reliable take-home estimate. Use the withholding schedule that applies to each payment.

Pay frequency follows the applicable award or agreement. If none sets it, employees must be paid at least monthly, and weekly or fortnightly payroll is also possible. Check how your pay cycle interacts with the withholding schedule you use.

Allowances and credits

The dossier does not cover offsets, credits or tax-free thresholds. Check the current published rules before assuming any apply to an employee. Do not estimate net pay from the band structure alone.

Employee deductions

Employees pay no social security contributions. The employee contribution rate is 0% of gross pay. The compulsory employer contribution is superannuation, which is paid on top of salary and is not deducted from the employee's wages.

• The superannuation guarantee is 12% of eligible qualifying earnings.
• From 1 July 2026, contributions are due each payday. They normally must reach the fund within 7 business days, with specified exceptions allowing longer.

Other deductions from pay, such as those under an award, an enterprise agreement or a written authorisation from the employee, are outside the dossier. Check the applicable instrument before deducting anything beyond tax.

Taxes that sit on the employer side

Payroll tax can apply when an employer's Australian wage bill exceeds the relevant state or territory threshold. Rates, thresholds and taxable payments vary by location, so request a location-specific calculation. It is a cost to the employer and is not taken from the employee's pay.

The corporate tax rate is 30% and the VAT rate is 10%. These are business and transaction taxes. Neither is an extra percentage taken out of an employee's salary.

Australia has no social security contribution system like those in many European countries. The main employer contribution is the Superannuation Guarantee, paid into the employee's chosen super fund. The employer rate is 12%. The employee rate is 0%, so nothing is withheld from pay for this contribution.

Employer and employee rates

The 12% applies to eligible qualifying earnings, not to every payment made to a worker. Confirm which payments count as qualifying earnings for each role before you set up payroll.

When contributions are due

From 1 July 2026, super contributions are due each payday. They normally must reach the fund within 7 business days. Specified exceptions allow longer. Check the exceptions that apply to your payroll arrangement, and make sure your payroll calendar allows for the fund to receive the money in time.

Ceilings and thresholds

The dossier for this guide does not set out a maximum contribution base or a minimum earnings threshold for the Superannuation Guarantee. Do not assume that every dollar of pay is covered, and do not assume a cap does or does not apply. Check the current rules on eligible qualifying earnings and any base limits with the tax authority or your payroll provider before you budget.

What is and is not included

• Included: the 12% Superannuation Guarantee, paid by the employer on eligible qualifying earnings.
• Not included: any employee-side social contribution. The employee rate is 0%.
• Separate costs: payroll tax, which can apply when your Australian wage bill exceeds the relevant state or territory threshold. Rates, thresholds and taxable payments vary by location, so get a location-specific calculation.
• Separate costs: workers' compensation insurance, which employers must arrange. Coverage and premiums depend on the state or territory scheme and the type of work.

Cost example

The dossier does not include a worked salary example for Australia, so this section does not show one. To estimate the employer cost of a hire, take the gross pay that counts as eligible qualifying earnings and apply 12%. Then add payroll tax and workers' compensation premiums using figures for the employee's location and role.

Annual leave

Full-time and part-time employees accrue 4 weeks of paid annual leave, based on ordinary hours. The dossier lists this as 20 working days. Casual employees do not receive this paid entitlement. Certain shiftworkers qualify for an additional week, and unused leave carries forward, so balances stay on your books until they are taken or paid out. Check the applicable award or enterprise agreement for anything that adds to this floor, including how leave is loaded or cashed out.

The employer pays annual leave through normal payroll. There is no government fund that reimburses it.

Public holidays

Australia does not have one uniform nationwide holiday count or identical substitution rules. Use the 2026 calendar for the employee's state or territory, including relevant regional holidays. Do not apply a single national figure to every employee. The employer pays public holidays as part of ordinary payroll, and award or agreement penalty rates for work on a holiday need separate checking.

Personal leave and sick pay

Full-time employees accrue 10 days of personal leave per year. Part-time entitlement is proportional to ordinary hours. Unused balances carry forward. Casuals do not receive this paid entitlement. Notice and evidence requirements apply, so set out in your leave policy what the employee must provide.

There is no state-run sick pay scheme in the dossier. The employer funds paid personal leave from its own payroll. Confirm any award or agreement top-ups before processing.

Maternity, paternity and parental leave

Two separate things matter here: the employment right to take leave, and government-funded pay.

The unpaid leave entitlement is separate from the government's Parental Leave Pay scheme. Partner reservations, sharing rules and eligibility conditions apply to the pay, and the 130 days is a total for the family, not for each parent. Check each employee's eligibility before you describe the benefit to them. Confirm whether any award, agreement or company policy adds employer-paid parental leave.

Superannuation on leave

The super guarantee is 12% of eligible qualifying earnings. From 1 July 2026, contributions are due each payday and normally must reach the fund within 7 business days, with specified exceptions allowing longer. Check which types of leave pay count as qualifying earnings for the employee before you run payroll. The dossier does not cover this, so confirm it rather than assume.

Australian employment compliance rests on the National Employment Standards (NES), the applicable award or enterprise agreement, the written terms you give the employee, and a small set of payment and insurance duties. Check the instrument that applies to each hire first, because it can add to the NES but cannot reduce it.

Registration and insurance

Before the first payday, confirm the employer entity, workers' compensation cover and right to work. Employers must arrange the required workers' compensation insurance. State and territory regulators run the schemes, and coverage and premiums depend on the scheme and the work. Payroll tax can apply once your Australian wage bill exceeds the relevant state or territory threshold. Rates, thresholds and taxable payments vary by location, so get a location-specific calculation rather than assuming one national rule.

For work eligibility, registered organisations can use the Home Affairs VEVO service to check visa conditions with the visa holder's permission. Citizenship is proved separately, and an employment agreement does not itself grant immigration permission.

Filing and payment deadlines

Superannuation is the main fixed deadline. The guarantee is 12% of eligible qualifying earnings. From 1 July 2026, contributions are due each payday and normally must reach the fund within 7 business days, with specified exceptions allowing longer. Pay frequency follows the award or agreement. If it sets none, employees must be paid at least monthly. Weekly and fortnightly cycles are both used. For income tax filing and reporting deadlines, check the current requirements with the tax authority or your payroll adviser, as they are not covered here.

Contracts and written terms

A contract can be written or verbal, but it cannot reduce minimum rights under legislation, the NES, an award or an enterprise agreement. Use a written agreement that names the actual employer and sets out the employment terms.

• Fixed-term contracts: for contracts covered by the rules introduced on 6 December 2023, the usual limits are 2 years including extensions and no more than one renewal option. Consecutive-contract restrictions and exceptions apply. Give the required Fixed Term Contract Information Statement.
• Casuals: casual status requires no firm advance commitment to ongoing work and entitlement to a casual loading or specific casual rate. Regular hours alone do not decide status.
• Probation: the employer usually chooses the period, commonly 3 to 6 months. It is not a statutory period, and minimum entitlements continue during it.
• Classification: for constitutionally covered businesses, the whole-of-relationship test applies from 26 August 2024 and looks at the practical working relationship as well as the contract.

Records

The dossier for this guide does not set out record-keeping periods or payslip content rules. Check the current requirements before you finalise your process. At a minimum, keep the signed agreement, the applicable award or agreement, leave balances, superannuation payment evidence and visa checks on file.

Notice and termination

There is no statutory dismissal procedure in days, but notice and other rules still apply. The usual NES minimum notice is:

Add 1 week if the employee is over 45 with at least 2 years' service. Exceptions apply. Redundancy pay follows the NES schedule of 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 16 weeks for completed service bands from 1 to under 10 years, then 12 weeks at 10 or more years. Small-business and other exceptions, and award-specific schemes, can change the entitlement.

Unfair dismissal protection generally requires a minimum employment period of 6 months, or 12 months for a small-business employer with fewer than 15 employees. This is separate from probation, and other eligibility rules apply.