Superannuation guarantee

Super is paid on top of your wage

Superannuation is money set aside for your retirement — and in Australia your employer pays it on top of your wage, straight into your super fund. It is never deducted from your take-home pay. The compulsory rate, the superannuation guarantee, is currently 12% of your ordinary earnings.

That’s why every calculator on this site keeps super as its own figure, beside your take-home pay and inside the total cost to your employer (your wage plus super) — never folded into your deductions. Treating super as if it were taken out of your pay is the most common mistake in a take-home estimate.

What is the superannuation rate?

The superannuation rate is 12% for the current financial year. The super rate, the super percentage, the superannuation guarantee rate and the SG rate are all the same figure under different names: the minimum share of your ordinary earnings your employer must pay into your super fund. The ATO calls it the superannuation guarantee, which is the name used throughout this site.

It is a floor rather than a ceiling. An employer or a fund can accept more, and some arrangements provide more — but it is the least that may be paid for an eligible employee, and it is paid in addition to the wage rather than out of it.

Payday Super and the contribution cap

From 1 July 2026, under the Payday Super reforms, employers must pay the super guarantee at the same time as each payday, rather than quarterly. Alongside that change, the maximum contribution base — the earnings ceiling for compulsory super — is expressed as an annual figure of $270,830. Earnings above that ceiling carry no compulsory super guarantee, though an employer or fund can still accept extra contributions. For most employees the cap never comes into play; it only affects very high earners.

Why it shows as a separate figure

When you use the calculator, your take-home pay comes from your gross salary less income tax and the Medicare levy — super plays no part in that subtraction. Alongside it, the calculator shows the super your employer pays and the total it costs them to employ you. Two offers at the same salary put the same amount in your pocket, but the one with more super is worth more overall — which is exactly why super deserves its own line rather than being buried in a single headline salary.

One simplification to note: the calculator treats your whole gross salary as taxable and does not model salary sacrifice — arrangements where you agree to put part of your pre-tax pay into super or another benefit. Salary sacrifice can change both your taxable income and your super, but it needs details the calculator doesn’t ask for, so it is left out of this version. What the calculator shows is the standard case: your stated wage, the tax on it, and the compulsory super your employer adds on top.

“Plus super” or “including super” — read the offer carefully

Because super sits on top of the wage, the way a job offer is worded changes what you actually earn. A figure quoted as plus super is your wage, with the guarantee paid on top of it. The same headline figure quoted as a package including superalready has the guarantee folded in, so the wage underneath — the part your take-home is worked out from — is smaller. Two offers with the same big number can leave different amounts in your pocket depending on which wording applies. When you compare offers, put the wage into the calculator and let it show the super separately, so you’re always comparing take-home against take-home rather than one packaging style against another.