Super Guarantee Calculator (Australia)

What the super guarantee calculator does

This super guarantee calculator turns a set of ordinary time earnings into the compulsory superannuation an Australian employer owes on them, for any pay period you use. It applies the current guarantee rate, caps the earnings at the maximum contribution base, annualises the answer so a fortnightly figure and a quarterly figure can be compared honestly, and then shows what is actually left after contributions tax when the money lands in the fund.

It is written for both sides of the payslip. An employer can use it to budget a wage bill and check a payroll run. An employee can use it to confirm that the super line on a payslip matches what the law requires, which is the single most common payroll error in Australia and the reason the ATO recovers hundreds of millions of dollars of unpaid super every year.

The rate and what it applies to

The guarantee is a percentage of ordinary time earnings, currently 12 per cent. Ordinary time earnings are not the same as total salary and wages, and the difference matters in both directions.

Included are wages for ordinary hours, over-award payments, most allowances, shift loadings, commissions, bonuses that relate to ordinary hours, and paid leave taken while still employed. Excluded are overtime worked outside ordinary hours, unused annual leave paid out on termination, genuine redundancy payments and reimbursements of expenses.

The calculator keeps bonuses and allowances in one box, because they add to the guarantee base, and overtime in another, because it does not. Enter overtime anyway if you want the total employer cost figure to be right; it simply flows through to cost without generating super.

There is no longer a monthly earnings floor. The old 450 dollar monthly threshold was removed in July 2022, so almost every employee earns super from the first dollar. The main remaining exception is an employee under 18, who is only entitled to the guarantee if they work more than 30 hours in a week.

The maximum contribution base, stated plainly

Compulsory super is not payable on unlimited earnings. The maximum contribution base sets a ceiling, and this is the one figure in the tool that needs a plain explanation rather than a number quoted with false confidence.

The value maintained for this market is 62,500 dollars, and the parameter is named and stored as a quarterly maximum contribution base. The calculator therefore treats it as a per-quarter ceiling, giving an annual ceiling of 250,000 dollars, and pro-rates it to whatever pay period you select: about 20,833 dollars a month, about 9,615 dollars a fortnight, about 4,808 dollars a week.

There is a live complication. The Payday Super reforms change when super has to be paid, moving employers from quarterly contributions to paying at the same time as salary and wages, and the contribution base is being restated to fit a per-payday world rather than a quarterly one. If your fund, your payroll software or the ATO expresses the base annually for your pay cycle, the annual ceiling this calculator produces is the number to compare against, and a quarter-by-quarter reading of the same value will only match if your quarters are even. Where a high earner is close to the ceiling, check the ATO position for the current financial year rather than relying on a pro-rata split.

You can switch the ceiling off entirely with the advanced toggle. Many employers pay the guarantee on full earnings by agreement, and the uncapped figure is what their payroll owes.

Salary sacrifice sits on top, not inside

Before 2020 an employer could reduce the guarantee base by the amount an employee sacrificed, which quietly turned an employee benefit into an employer saving. That loophole closed on 1 January 2020.

Today the guarantee is calculated on pre-sacrifice ordinary time earnings, and sacrificed amounts cannot be counted towards meeting the obligation. So sacrifice adds to your super rather than rearranging it. What it does share with the guarantee is cap space: both are concessional contributions, both are taxed at 15 per cent going into the fund, and both count against the same annual concessional cap. The calculator adds them, compares the total to the cap, and reports the room left or the excess.

Excess concessional contributions are not lost. They are added to your assessable income, taxed at your marginal rate with an offset for the tax the fund already paid, and an interest charge applies. It is untidy rather than catastrophic, but it is worth avoiding by watching the total.

Who the guarantee actually covers

The obligation is wider than the word employee suggests, and that is where small businesses get caught.

Full-time, part-time and casual staff are all covered, and residency makes no difference: a temporary visa holder earns the same guarantee as a citizen, and the money can be claimed back through the departing Australia superannuation payment when they leave for good. Company directors drawing wages are covered. So are many contractors, because a contractor engaged wholly or principally for their labour is treated as an employee for superannuation purposes even when they invoice through an ABN and hold their own insurance. The substance of the arrangement decides it, not the paperwork.

The remaining exclusions are narrow. An employee under 18 is only entitled to the guarantee if they work more than 30 hours in a week, and the same 30 hour test applies to private domestic work such as a nanny or a house cleaner. Work performed wholly outside Australia for a foreign employer sits outside the system, as does a small set of prescribed employees under international social security agreements holding a certificate of coverage.

If you are not sure which side of the line an engagement falls on, price it as if the guarantee applies. Recovering a shortfall years later, with interest and an administration component attached and no deduction available, is far more expensive than paying it on time.

Reading the results

The headline figure is the guarantee for the period you entered. Underneath it the annual, quarterly and monthly equivalents let you check a payslip against a quarterly lodgement or an annual budget.

The effective rate is worth a glance for high earners. It equals the headline rate until earnings pass the contribution base, then falls, which is the honest measure of what super is worth as a share of total pay at senior levels.

Contributions tax of 15 per cent is deducted by the fund on the way in, so the net into fund figure is the amount that actually starts earning. Very high earners pay an additional charge on concessional contributions under Division 293, which is assessed personally rather than by the fund and is not modelled here.

Results are an estimate based on published ATO rates and the figures you enter. They are not personal financial, superannuation or taxation advice, and an employer with an unusual pay cycle, award or contractor arrangement should confirm the position with the ATO or a registered agent.

About This Tool: Super Guarantee

Super guarantee: use this tool to get an instant, accurate estimate. The figures follow official ATO guidance and every rate and threshold is kept up to date for 2026. Adjust the inputs above to match your situation, or browse all our calculators to plan your next step.