Qualifying Earnings (QE)

Qualifying Earnings (QE) are the earnings base Australian employers use to calculate Superannuation Guarantee under Payday Super.

Qualifying Earnings is a new Australian payroll term for Payday Super. It brings together ordinary time earnings and certain other payments so employers can calculate superannuation guarantee (SG) consistently from 1 July 2026.

The ATO’s Payday Super guidance says SG will need to be calculated as 12% of an employee’s qualifying earnings, and that QE is a new term that brings together ordinary time earnings (OTE) and other payments. Employers should check official guidance, payroll software updates, awards, agreements, and professional advice where payment types are unclear.

Where Qualifying Earnings Appears

You will usually see Qualifying Earnings in:

payroll software setup for earnings, allowances, bonuses, commissions, and salary sacrifice
draft pay runs and super calculation checks
Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting from 1 July 2026
Superannuation Guarantee (SG) review work
payroll audit files and accountant questions about pay categories
Payday Super readiness checks before the new timing rules start

QE is especially important when a business has casual staff, commissions, mixed allowances, salary sacrifice arrangements, or contractors who may be treated as employees for SG purposes.

How Qualifying Earnings Works In Practice

Before Payday Super starts, employers commonly think about SG using ordinary time earnings. From 1 July 2026, QE becomes the Payday Super calculation base.

The practical job is to review each pay item and ask whether it should be included in QE. For many simple payrolls, the answer may feel similar to today’s SG setup. For more complex payrolls, the details matter because the wrong category can lead to underpaid or overpaid super.

Employers should pay close attention to:

ordinary hours and paid leave
commissions and bonuses
allowances and loadings
salary sacrifice amounts
contractor payments that may fall within SG rules
corrections and off-cycle payments

Simple Example

A small sales business pays an employee a weekly base wage plus commission. Under Payday Super, the payroll setup needs to identify which parts of that pay are qualifying earnings so SG can be calculated correctly on payday.

If the qualifying earnings for the week are $1,400, the SG calculation at the 12% rate is:

$1,400 x 12% = $168

The employer then needs to send the $168 super contribution as part of the Payday Super workflow.

Why Qualifying Earnings Matters

Qualifying Earnings matters because it controls the amount of super an employer must pay. If a pay item is set up incorrectly, the business may pay the wrong SG amount even if the payment is sent on time.

It also matters for reporting. The ATO’s software developer guidance says STP products need to support reporting QE under a new code from 1 July 2026. That means payroll categories should be reviewed before the first Payday Super pay run, not after errors appear.

For small businesses, this is a good time to clean employee records, confirm pay item settings, and ask an accountant, registered tax professional, or payroll adviser about unusual payment types.

Easy Way To Remember It

Qualifying Earnings answer the question: which earnings should super be calculated on under Payday Super?

How Gimbla Can Help

Gimbla helps keep payroll setup, pay runs, super amounts, and accounting records in one workflow. That can make QE review easier because the business can see how employee details, pay items, STP reporting, and super payments connect.

Use the create an employee guide to review payroll setup, and Gimbla’s Payday Super Ready page to understand the broader timing change.

Helpful Gimbla Guides

In Short

Qualifying Earnings are the earnings used to calculate SG under Payday Super. The term matters because payroll categories need to be correct before super is calculated, reported, and paid on payday.