From 1 July 2026, compulsory employer superannuation contributions must be calculated in relation to payees' qualifying earnings (QE) instead of ordinary time earnings (OTE). Single Touch Payroll (STP) submissions for payments made from 1 July 2026 must report a payee's year-to-date QE if the payee has accrued compulsory employer superannuation since the start of the corresponding financial year.
Because of this, when sending an STP submission to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), FastTrack360 now automatically reports payees' year-to-date QE for payments made on or after 1 July 2026.
How the QE amount is determined
If a payee has accrued superannuation, the system references the pay code group selected in the Qualifying Earnings Pay Code Group field to determine the subset of the payee's year-to-date earnings that constitute QE.
To access this field:
Click Payroll, then click Maintenance.
Click Superannuation, then click Eligibility Rules.
The amount reported is exclusive of amounts that have been salary sacrificed into anything other than superannuation, that is, gross deductions where the deduction type is anything other than Payee Superannuation.
QE in STP pre and post-submission reports
FastTrack360 features STP pre and post-submission reports and data extracts that allow you to check what will be reported to the ATO and what has been reported to the ATO when an STP submission is sent. Both reports now include a year-to-date (YTD) QE column, showing the YTD QE amount that will be or has been reported for each payee.
📌 Note: Because QE can only be reported from 1 July 2026, the YTD QE column displays a zero value for any submissions that relate to a pay date before that date.
Benefits
This enhancement ensures compliance with the ATO's payday superannuation reporting requirements, effective from 1 July 2026. By automatically calculating and including the YTD qualifying earnings (code Q) in STP payloads, the system enables you to meet your statutory reporting obligations without manual intervention.
Configuration
⚠️ Important: For the period beginning 1 July 2026, the pay code group configured in the Qualifying Earnings Pay Code Group field must include all pay codes that contribute towards QE, and only those pay codes. If it's configured incorrectly, QE amounts reported in STP could be overstated or understated.
The ATO requires that the QE amount reported in STP for a payee cannot exceed the maximum superannuation contribution base (MSCB) for the corresponding financial year.
FastTrack360 caps the maximum QE amount reported based on the value configured in the Maximum Contribution Base field under Payroll, Maintenance, Superannuation, and then Eligibility Rules.
It's therefore important that the correct MSCB amount is configured in the superannuation eligibility rules for the period beginning 1 July 2026.
For more information about changes to the superannuation eligibility rules, see Annual threshold for maximum super contribution base (AU only).