Most people look up the super guarantee rate for one of two reasons: they want to sanity-check what their employer is paying into their fund, or they employ someone and want to be sure the contributions they are making are correct for this quarter. Both tasks need the same thing — a rate that is right for the period you are looking at, read from the official source rather than remembered from a news headline.
That last point matters more than it sounds. The super guarantee percentage is set for income years and has changed over time, so any number quoted in an article, a forum post or a workplace chat can quietly become wrong. This guide deliberately does not print a figure. It shows you where the figure lives and how to read it, so the answer you get is the one the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) publishes at the moment you look.
What the super guarantee rate is
The super guarantee (SG) is the minimum superannuation most employers must pay on behalf of eligible employees. It is expressed as a percentage, and the rate that applies depends on the income year you are looking at — not on when you happen to be reading about it.
The practical consequence is that there are two different questions people often confuse:
- "What is the rate right now?" — answered by the current income year's entry in the ATO's published rate table.
- "What rate applied to this past pay period or quarter?" — answered by the entry for that earlier income year, which is why the ATO's calculator exists.
If you are reconciling last financial year's contributions or checking a payslip from an earlier quarter, using today's rate will give you the wrong number.
Where the current rate is published
The ATO maintains a Super guarantee page within its key superannuation rates and thresholds section. This is the authoritative place to read the SG percentage, listed against income years. The same page, according to the ATO, carries a separate super guarantee percentage for Norfolk Island (transitional rate), which has applied from 1 July 2016 — so if your circumstances involve Norfolk Island employment, check that specific column rather than assuming the general rate applies.
Use only that page (or the ATO's calculators) as your reference. Third-party summaries are convenient but lag behind updates, and a stale percentage is worse than no percentage at all.
How to check it in three steps
- Open the ATO's Super guarantee rates page. Bookmark it rather than saving a screenshot, so you always see the live figure.
- Find the income year you need — the current one if you are checking what should be paid today, or the relevant past year if you are checking a historical period.
- Note whether any special column applies to you, such as the Norfolk Island transitional rate, before you move on to calculating dollar amounts.
If you are an employee, the next comparison is simple: take the percentage you just read, apply it to the earnings base your employer uses, and compare the result with what actually landed in your fund. If you are an employer, apply it to each eligible employee's earnings for the pay period and check the total against what you have been paying.
Using the ATO's quarterly calculator
For dollar figures, the ATO publishes a quarterly superannuation guarantee contributions calculator. Per the ATO, the tool is designed so you can calculate super guarantee contributions weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly, depending on what suits your business. That flexibility is the main reason to use it: you enter the pay frequency that matches your payroll rather than converting everything to a quarterly figure yourself.
Two cautions come straight from the way the ATO presents the tool:
- Check your inputs. The ATO asks users to confirm that the information they enter is correct — a calculator is only as good as the numbers and the rate you feed it.
- Use it when a different rate applied. The ATO notes the tool is there because a different super guarantee rate applies for some periods. In practice, that makes it the right instrument for past quarters and for checking a period that spans more than one income year, not just for the current quarter.
The cap that limits how much you pay on
Percentage alone will not give you the right answer if earnings are high. The ATO's rates material also covers the maximum contribution base, which caps the earnings on which SG must be calculated each quarter. According to the ATO, that base is indexed in line with average weekly ordinary time earnings issued by the Australian Bureau of Statistics each income year.
What this means in practice: above a certain level of earnings, additional salary or wages do not attract further SG contributions. If you are checking contributions for a higher income earner, look up the maximum contribution base for the relevant income year as well as the percentage — using only the percentage will overstate what is required.
A quick checklist
| What to check | Where | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| SG percentage for the income year | ATO Super guarantee rates page | The rate is set per income year, not fixed permanently |
| Norfolk Island transitional rate (from 1 July 2016) | Same ATO page, specific column | A different percentage applies for that transitional case |
| Maximum contribution base for the year | ATO rates and thresholds material | Caps the earnings SG is calculated on |
| Pay frequency used | ATO quarterly SG calculator (weekly/fortnightly/monthly/quarterly) | Wrong frequency produces a wrong figure |
| Whether the figure matches your fund | Your super fund statement or member portal | Confirms what was actually received, not just what was owed |
Questions worth verifying yourself
Some parts of an SG calculation depend on your specific arrangement, and it is worth separating what is published fact from what you need to confirm:
- Which payments count. The earnings base employers use for SG is defined by the ATO and does not necessarily equal gross pay — overtime, allowances and bonuses can be treated differently. Read the ATO's definition rather than assuming your payslip total is the base.
- Whether you are eligible. SG is generally an employee entitlement; the position can differ for contractors and some other arrangements. If you are not sure of your classification, that is a question for the ATO or your adviser, not an assumption to build a calculation on.
- When contributions were received. An amount owed in one quarter may be received in the next. Compare payment dates as well as amounts when reconciling.
- Which fund and account. If you have multiple accounts, contributions may have gone somewhere you are not watching.
If the numbers do not line up
Start with your own records: your payslips, your employment contract, and your fund's transaction history for the period. If the difference is real, raise it with your employer's payroll team in writing — underpayments are often administrative, such as the wrong pay frequency or an out-of-date rate left in a payroll system.
If that does not resolve it, the ATO is the body that handles super guarantee enquiries and can be contacted about unpaid contributions. This guide cannot tell you what outcome to expect, and nothing here should be read as a prediction that any shortfall will be recovered.
Your next step
Open the ATO's Super guarantee page and read the percentage for the income year you are checking. If you need a dollar figure, enter the same period's rate into the ATO's quarterly calculator using your actual pay frequency, then compare the result with your fund statement or payroll report. Do this before you act on any number you have seen quoted elsewhere, including in older articles.
For employers, the same exercise is worth repeating at the start of each income year and whenever payroll settings change, because the rate and the maximum contribution base can both move.
General information only
This article is general information about finding published superannuation rates in Australia. It is not personalised legal, tax, financial, superannuation or migration advice, and it does not account for your individual circumstances. Rates, thresholds and indexation change, and the ATO is the responsible official source for the current super guarantee percentage, the Norfolk Island transitional rate and the maximum contribution base. Verify current figures on the ATO website before relying on them, and speak to your fund, employer or a registered adviser about your situation. Australian Today is an independent publisher; it is not a lender, broker, government body, regulator or comparison service.