22 June 2026 · 8 min read
Quick Answer
The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) closes permanently at 11:59pm AEST on 30 June 2026 and cannot be used to make payments or download records from 1 July 2026. The ATO stopped accepting new SBSCH registrations on 1 October 2025 and recommends the January–March 2026 quarter be the last quarter you use it. Before the deadline you must: (1) download your full SBSCH transaction history, (2) choose a replacement super solution, and (3) be ready for Payday Super, which starts the same day — 1 July 2026 — requiring super to be paid within 7 days of every payday instead of quarterly.
For almost two decades the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) let employers with 19 or fewer employees, or under $10 million in turnover, pay super for all their staff in one transaction, for free, through the ATO. That free service is ending. The ATO has confirmed the SBSCH will close permanently from 1 July 2026, with existing registered users able to use it only until 11:59pm AEST on 30 June 2026.
This is not a soft wind-down you can ignore. New registrations already stopped on 1 October 2025, so if you are not already enrolled, you cannot start. After 1 July 2026 the service disappears entirely — you will not be able to make payments through it, and critically, you will not be able to log in to download your historical records. Anything you have not exported is gone.
The closure is deliberately timed to coincide with Payday Super, the biggest change to super in a generation, which also begins on 1 July 2026. From that date, super must be paid within 7 days of each payday rather than quarterly — a cadence the old quarterly clearing house was never built for. This guide walks through exactly what you need to do, in order, before the deadline. SAB Account AI (sabaccountai.com) was built for this exact transition: it calculates super on ordinary time earnings for every pay run, tracks the new 7-day Payday Super deadline, and keeps a permanent record of every payment so you are never again dependent on a government portal that can be switched off.
The SBSCH was designed for a quarterly world. Under the old rules, employers paid super four times a year — by 28 October, 28 January, 28 April, and 28 July — and the clearing house batched those payments and distributed them to each employee''s fund. That model is incompatible with Payday Super, which from 1 July 2026 requires contributions to reach employees'' funds within 7 days of every payday.
The ATO has stated that the SBSCH was built on ageing technology that cannot support the frequency and real-time data matching Payday Super demands. Rather than rebuild it, the ATO is decommissioning it and directing employers toward commercial payroll and super solutions that report through Single Touch Payroll (STP) and clear payments quickly. In short: the free quarterly tool is being retired because the law no longer allows quarterly super.
This matters for your bottom line. The SBSCH was free. Most replacement options are not. Choosing a low-cost, compliance-ready replacement now — before the rush in late June — protects both your compliance position and your cash flow.
Key fact: The SBSCH closure and the start of Payday Super are the same date — 1 July 2026. They are two halves of one reform.
Why the closure is happening
First, download your complete SBSCH transaction history. Log in through ATO Online Services for Business, export every payment instruction and receipt, and save it somewhere permanent. After 1 July 2026 these records are unrecoverable, and you are legally required to keep super records for five years under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992.
Second, choose your replacement before the deadline — not after. Options include your default super fund''s own clearing house, a commercial clearing house, or payroll software that calculates and reports super and integrates payment. Whatever you choose must support STP Phase 2 reporting and same-day or next-day payment to meet the Payday Super 7-day window.
Third, run a test pay cycle in the new system before your first real July payroll. Confirm employee fund details (USI, member numbers), super calculations on ordinary time earnings at the 12% guarantee rate, and that payments actually clear within the 7-day window. The ATO measures Payday Super compliance by when funds are received, not when you click send.
Do this first: Export your SBSCH records today. Once the portal closes on 1 July 2026, there is no way to retrieve them — not by phone, not by request.
Your pre-deadline checklist
The hidden shock for many small businesses is that the SBSCH was genuinely free, and its closure removes a free service that 600,000-plus small businesses relied on. Commercial clearing houses and payroll platforms charge monthly fees, per-employee fees, or both. Xero payroll starts around $50-70 per month; MYOB sits in a similar band. For a sole trader with one or two employees, that is a steep jump from $0.
This is where the choice matters. You do not necessarily need a $70-a-month enterprise payroll suite to pay super for a handful of staff. What you need is something that calculates super correctly on ordinary time earnings, flags the 7-day Payday Super deadline on every pay run, reports through STP, and keeps permanent records. SAB Account AI does exactly that from $9 per month — built specifically for Australian sole traders and micro-businesses who were the core users of the SBSCH.
Cost reality: The SBSCH closure quietly turns a free obligation into a paid one. Choosing a $9/month tool over a $70/month suite saves a micro-business over $700 a year.
Cost comparison
The SBSCH did three jobs: it calculated nothing (you entered amounts), it distributed payments to funds, and it kept a record of what you paid. The two parts small businesses will miss most are accurate calculation and permanent record-keeping — and those are exactly the parts that cause ATO penalties when they go wrong.
SAB Account AI calculates super at the 12% guarantee rate on ordinary time earnings automatically for every employee on every pay run, so you never under-pay and trigger a Super Guarantee Charge. It tracks the Payday Super 7-day deadline and flags it before it lapses. It reports through STP Phase 2. And it stores a permanent, audit-ready record of every payslip and super calculation — so unlike the SBSCH, your history does not vanish when a government portal is switched off.
For the actual transfer of funds to super accounts, SAB Account AI works alongside your chosen payment method or super gateway, while owning the compliance layer the ATO actually penalises you on: correct amounts, on time, properly recorded.
The part that matters: ATO penalties come from wrong amounts, late payments and missing records — not from which portal you used. SAB Account AI owns that compliance layer from $9/month.
What SAB Account AI covers
The SBSCH closes 1 July 2026. SAB Account AI (sabaccountai.com) calculates super on every payday, tracks the new 7-day Payday Super deadline and keeps permanent records — from $9/month. Switch before your first July payroll.
SAB Account AI — ATO-compliant invoicing and payslips for Australian small businesses. From $9/mo.
Start free trialThe Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closes permanently at 11:59pm AEST on 30 June 2026. From 1 July 2026 you cannot make payments through it or log in to download records.
No. The ATO stopped accepting new SBSCH registrations on 1 October 2025. If you are not already enrolled, you cannot start using it.
They become permanently inaccessible after 1 July 2026. You must download and save your full transaction history before the deadline, as you are required to keep super records for five years.
The SBSCH was built for quarterly super payments. Payday Super, starting 1 July 2026, requires super to be paid within 7 days of each payday, which the legacy system cannot support, so the ATO is decommissioning it.
For sole traders and micro-businesses, low-cost payroll tools that calculate super, track Payday Super deadlines and report through STP are far cheaper than full payroll suites. SAB Account AI starts at $9/month versus $50-70/month for Xero or MYOB payroll.
If you use your super fund''s own clearing house you may be able to continue, but you must still meet the Payday Super 7-day deadline from 1 July 2026 and report correctly through STP. Confirm your fund''s facility supports the new cadence.