Fact-checked against ATO — Work out if you have to pay super on 2026-04-25.
Almost everyone who works in Australia is entitled to employer-paid super, and almost everyone gets the eligibility rules slightly wrong. The most common mistake is the one that used to be true: that super only kicks in once monthly earnings clear a certain threshold. It doesn’t. That threshold was abolished. So the actual rules — who gets super, when, and how much — are simpler than they used to be, and most casual conversation about them hasn’t caught up.
Why “you only get super if you earn enough” is out of date
For decades, employer super only had to be paid once an employee earned more than $450 in a month with that employer. That threshold was scrapped in July 2022. Since then, super applies to ordinary time earnings from the first dollar — for almost every employee, on almost every shift.
Supposedly that change was widely publicised. In practice, plenty of people still operate on the old rule. Casuals doing short shifts assume they’re not eligible. Employers running small payrolls assume the threshold still exists. Younger workers in their first jobs sometimes never hear about super at all.
The current rules are published on the ATO’s “How much super to pay” page, and the headline is straightforward: most employees are entitled to Super Guarantee on ordinary time earnings, regardless of how small the amount is. Actually, the only big remaining carve-outs are for very young workers and certain narrow contractor arrangements.
What the Super Guarantee actually is
The Super Guarantee, or SG, is the legally required minimum percentage of an employee’s ordinary time earnings that an employer has to pay into the employee’s super fund. It’s separate from salary. It’s not optional. It’s enforced by the ATO, and missed SG payments accumulate as a debt to the employee.
The rate has been rising on a published schedule for years and is set out on the ATO page above. The rate applies to ordinary time earnings — broadly, the wages paid for normal hours of work, including casual loadings, but not most overtime. The ATO defines what does and doesn’t count as ordinary time earnings, and the lines aren’t always intuitive.
Here’s the thing nobody quite says out loud at the start of a job: SG is an employer obligation, not a generous extra. It’s part of the cost of employing someone, even if a payslip lists it separately. So when an offer says “$70,000 plus super”, the super is not optional benevolence — it’s a separately stated portion of the legal cost of the role.
Who is eligible for super in Australia
The default rule is broad: employees, including casuals and part-timers, are eligible. The starting point is the ATO’s “Work out if you have to pay super” tool, which steps through the categories.
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
What stands out is how few people actually fall outside the system. Most “I don’t get super” assumptions are wrong, and the under-30s on casual contracts are the group most likely to be unknowingly eligible.
Workers under 18, and the small-hours rule
Workers under 18 are the one group where an hours-per-week rule still applies. Super only has to be paid if an under-18 employee works more than 30 hours in a given week. Below that threshold, super is not required — though employers can choose to pay it.
The implication is that part-time after-school work for under-18s often doesn’t trigger super at all. A high-school student doing a few shifts a week typically isn’t eligible, even though their classmate working the same job for more hours is. Once the worker turns 18, the hours rule drops away and the standard SG rules apply.
This is one of the few remaining cases where the dollar amount on the payslip and the eligibility outcome are decoupled. For everyone over 18, eligibility tracks earnings (and is essentially automatic). For under-18s, eligibility tracks hours.
Contractors, ABNs, and where super still applies
“I have an ABN so I’m a contractor and don’t get super” is one of the most confidently repeated wrong claims about super. The ATO doesn’t decide super eligibility based on whether someone uses an ABN. It decides based on the substance of the working relationship.
If a contractor is paid mainly for their labour — that is, the contract is essentially for the person’s time and effort, with limited delegation, similar control by the engaging party, and similar look-and-feel to employment — the ATO often treats them as an employee for super purposes, even though they invoice through an ABN. This applies most commonly to:
- 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 think. A genuine contractor delivering a defined project, free to use substitutes, working for multiple clients, and paid for a result rather than time, may legitimately fall outside SG. But the line is fact-specific, and a registered tax agent is usually the right call for any case where the engagement looks employment-like.
Self-employed people — eligible to contribute, not entitled to receive
Sole traders and self-employed people don’t have an employer to pay them super. The system doesn’t generate a Super Guarantee for them automatically. But they remain eligible to contribute to super themselves and — within limits — to claim a tax deduction for personal contributions.
The ATO and ASIC’s Moneysmart page on how super works walks through the personal contribution rules, including caps and notice requirements. The catch is that without an employer SG payment, the choice to contribute is entirely on the individual — which means a lot of self-employed people end up with much smaller super balances at retirement age than employees on similar lifetime incomes.
For some context on the broader 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 thing most people get wrong about super 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 I don’t get super” line is wrong more often than it’s right. Super eligibility in Australia is, actually, the broadest it has ever been — and the gap between perception and rule is where most missed contributions sit.
The other piece worth knowing is that missed SG isn’t just lost money — it’s recoverable. The ATO accepts reports of unpaid super, investigates, and can compel employers to pay arrears with interest. People who think they were owed super in past jobs and never got it have a path to check, even years later, via the ATO’s individuals super page.
So the practical move, for anyone on the worker side, is to check that super is showing up on payslips and landing in a fund. For anyone on the employer side, it’s to use the ATO’s eligibility tool rather than rely on memory of the old rules. The system isn’t asking trick questions — it’s just asking a different question than the one most people grew up answering.