Fact-checked against ATO — Work out if you have to pay super on 2026-04-25.
Almost everyone who works in Australia is owed employer-paid super. And almost everyone gets the rules a little bit wrong. The classic slip-up is believing something that used to be true: that super only starts once your monthly pay clears a set figure. It doesn’t anymore. That threshold is gone. So the real questions – who gets super, when, and how much – are simpler than they were a few years back, and most kitchen-table chat about it hasn’t caught up.
Why “you only get super if you earn enough” is out of date
For years, an employer only had to pay super once you earned more than $450 in a month with them. That rule was scrapped in July 2022. Since then, super applies to your ordinary time earnings from the very first dollar – for almost every employee, on almost every shift.
The change got plenty of coverage at the time. But plenty of people still run on the old rule. Casuals picking up short shifts assume they miss out. Small employers running a tiny payroll assume the $450 line still exists. And younger workers in their first job often don’t hear about super at all.
The current rules sit on the ATO’s “How much super to pay” page, and the headline is blunt: most employees get Super Guarantee on their ordinary time earnings, no matter how small the pay. The only real carve-outs left are for very young workers and a narrow band of contractor arrangements.
What the Super Guarantee actually is
The Super Guarantee – SG for short – is the legally required minimum slice of your ordinary time earnings that your employer has to pay into your super fund. It sits apart from your salary. It isn’t optional. The ATO enforces it, and any missed SG payment piles up as a debt owed back to you.
The rate has climbed on a published schedule for years, and you’ll find the current figure on the ATO page above. It applies to ordinary time earnings – roughly, the wages for your normal hours, casual loadings included, but not most overtime. The ATO sets out exactly what counts and what doesn’t, and the lines aren’t always obvious.
Here’s something nobody really spells out on day one of a job: SG is an employer obligation, not a kind bonus. It’s part of what it costs to employ you, even when your payslip lists it on its own line. So when a job ad says “$70,000 plus super”, that super isn’t generosity – it’s a separately stated chunk of the legal cost of the role.
Who is eligible for super in Australia
The default rule is broad. Employees – casuals and part-timers included – are eligible. The best starting point is the ATO’s “Work out if you have to pay super” tool, which walks through the categories one by one.
Categories that are eligible:
- Full-time, part-time, and casual employees
- Temporary residents working in Australia
- Company directors who are paid for their work in that capacity
- Family members employed in a family business, on the same terms as other employees
- Most contractors paid mainly for their labour (more on this below)
Categories with conditions or carve-outs:
- Workers under 18 – eligible only if they work more than 30 hours in a week
- Some non-residents working overseas for an Australian employer
- Domestic and private workers in private households, with hour-based thresholds
The striking part is how few people actually fall outside the net. Most “I don’t get super” assumptions turn out to be wrong, and under-30s on casual contracts are the group most likely to be eligible without realising it.
Eligibility at a glance
Here is the same information as a quick reference table, built from the rules already covered above:
| Worker type | Eligible for employer SG? | The condition that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time, part-time, casual employees | Yes | Paid on ordinary time earnings from the first dollar |
| Workers under 18 | Only sometimes | Must work more than 30 hours in a week |
| Temporary residents working in Australia | Yes | Treated like other employees |
| Company directors paid for their work | Yes | Paid in that capacity |
| Contractors paid mainly for their labour | Usually yes | Substance of the relationship, not the ABN |
| Genuine result-based contractors | Often no | Defined project, free to delegate, multiple clients |
| Self-employed / sole traders | No automatic SG | Can contribute themselves, within limits |
Workers under 18, and the small-hours rule
Under-18s are the one group where an hours-per-week rule still bites. Super only has to be paid if an under-18 employee works more than 30 hours in a given week. Below that, super isn’t required – though an employer can choose to pay it anyway.
So part-time after-school work for under-18s often doesn’t trigger super at all. A high-schooler doing a few shifts a week usually isn’t eligible, while their mate working the same job for more hours is. The moment they turn 18, the hours rule falls away and the standard SG rules take over.
This is one of the last cases where the dollar amount on the payslip and the eligibility outcome part ways. For everyone over 18, eligibility tracks earnings and is basically automatic. For under-18s, it tracks hours instead.
A worked example (Illustrative only)
Say two 17-year-olds work the same casual job. The numbers below come straight from the under-18 rule in this article – the 30-hours-a-week line – and not from anywhere else.
- Jordan works more than 30 hours in a week. That clears the threshold, so super is payable on those ordinary time earnings.
- Sam works under 30 hours that same week. That sits below the threshold, so super isn’t required – although the employer is free to pay it.
Same job, same age, different hours – and the 30-hour line is the only thing that decides it. Once either of them turns 18, the hours stop mattering and both are covered on earnings.
Contractors, ABNs, and where super still applies
“I’ve got an ABN, so I’m a contractor and I don’t get super” is one of the most confidently repeated bits of wrong information about super. The ATO doesn’t decide eligibility on whether you use an ABN. It decides on the substance of the working relationship.
If a contractor is paid mainly for their labour – meaning the contract is really for the person’s time and effort, with limited room to delegate, similar control by the engaging party, and a similar look and feel to employment – the ATO often treats them as an employee for super purposes, ABN invoices and all. It shows up most often with:
- IT contractors and developers placed at a single client for an extended period
- Trade subcontractors working primarily for one builder
- Personal-services contractors on long-running engagements
The carve-outs are real, but narrower than people assume. A genuine contractor delivering a defined project, free to send a substitute, working for several clients, and paid for a result rather than time, may sit outside SG legitimately. But the line is fact-specific, and a registered tax agent is usually the right call whenever the engagement looks employment-like.
Self-employed people – eligible to contribute, not entitled to receive
Sole traders and the self-employed have no employer to pay them super. The system doesn’t spin up a Super Guarantee for them automatically. But they can still contribute to super themselves and – within limits – claim a tax deduction for personal contributions.
The ATO and ASIC’s Moneysmart page on how super works runs through the personal contribution rules, including caps and notice requirements. The trade-off is that without an employer SG payment, the decision to contribute rests entirely with you – which is why a lot of self-employed people reach retirement age with much smaller super balances than employees on similar lifetime incomes.
For the wider retirement picture, our retirement-systems explainer covers how the super, age pension, and personal savings layers fit together in Australia.
Frequently asked questions
Who is eligible for superannuation in Australia?
Most employees are entitled to employer-paid super under the Super Guarantee, regardless of how much they earn. The old $450-per-month threshold was abolished in 2022, so even very small pay is covered. Eligibility extends to many casuals, part-timers, and some contractors paid mainly for their labour.
Are casual workers eligible for super?
Yes. Casual workers are eligible for Super Guarantee in the same way as part-time and full-time employees. The same rate applies on ordinary time earnings, including casuals’ regular hourly pay. Whether the employee classified themselves as casual is not what determines eligibility — the work relationship is.
Do contractors get super in Australia?
Sometimes. Contractors paid mainly for their labour are usually treated as employees for super purposes under the Super Guarantee, even when they invoice through an ABN. The ATO has a tool to work out whether a particular contracting arrangement triggers super. Pure-product or pure-result contracts usually don’t.
What most people get wrong about super eligibility
The single biggest mistake is assuming the rules are stricter than they are. The $450 threshold is gone. The full-time-only rule is a memory. The “I’m a contractor, so no super for me” line is wrong more often than it’s right. Super eligibility in Australia is about as broad as it has ever been – and the gap between what people think and what the rule says is exactly where most missed contributions hide.
The other thing worth knowing: missed SG isn’t just lost money – it’s recoverable. The ATO takes reports of unpaid super, investigates, and can force employers to pay arrears with interest. If you reckon you were owed super in a past job and never got it, there’s a path to check, even years later, through the ATO’s individuals super page.
So the practical move on the worker side is simple: check that super is showing up on your payslips and actually landing in a fund. On the employer side, use the ATO’s eligibility tool instead of trusting your memory of the old rules. The system isn’t trying to catch you out – it’s just asking a different question than the one most of us grew up answering.
What matters most, in order
If you only check a few things, work through them in this order:
- Confirm you’re an employee or labour-based contractor. If you are, the default is that you’re covered – the $450 threshold no longer exists.
- If you’re under 18, count the hours. Super is only required once you work more than 30 hours in a week.
- If you contract through an ABN, look at the substance. Paid mainly for your labour usually means super applies; a genuine result-based contract usually doesn’t.
- If you’re self-employed, decide to contribute. No SG comes automatically, but you can pay in yourself and may claim a deduction within limits.
- Check your payslips, then act on gaps. Make sure super is listed and reaching your fund – and if past super went missing, report it to the ATO.