As part of the Payday Super changes, superannuation switches from being calculated on Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE), STP label O, to Qualifying Earnings (QE), STP label Q.
The Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE) field will update to Qualifying Earnings (QE) as part of MicrOpay version 9.5 SP1. Any component that has OTE ticked will have QE ticked after the upgrade is applied and you have performed Change Tax Year.
From 1 July 2026, QE is the earnings that superannuation should be based on and will be reported through STP Reporting. Your QE setup is based on the ATO's definition of QE and includes OTE and some additional components. You flag a component as QE on the Pay Component, Addition, Deduction and Leave Reason.
Employer Contribution (Payroll, Maintenance, Superannuation) is used to calculate the Superannuation. You select the Pay Components, Additions, Deductions and Leave Reason that you pay super on. The system enforces superannuation caps based on components selected in your Employer Contribution, not on QE or super value. Once the annual earnings threshold is reached, the system automatically stops calculating superannuation for the remainder of the financial year.
See Qualifying Earnings Components for more information on which items are considered Qualifying Earnings.
Note: In MicrOpay, deductions are treated as negative values, so ticking Qualifying Earnings (QE) does the reverse. If you tick QE, then the deduction will reduce the QE and the salary that was sacrificed will be excluded (or deducted) from QE.
For example, if an employee receives Normal of $1,000 and has a $100 deduction and QE is not ticked, then the QE value would be $1,000, i.e. it is included. If QE is ticked, QE would show $900.00 and exclude the salary sacrifice.
The ATO specifies that amounts sacrificed to superannuation should be included in qualifying earnings, therefore you wouldn't tick Qualifying Earnings (QE).
For more information on Qualifying Earnings, see our summary document based on the ATO's documentation, Super Guarantee Treatment for Payday Super.
For this change, first check your current setup by:
Identify what is Qualifying Earnings.
Update the QE configuration.
Update your Employer Contribution.
Complete this step after changing tax year and before entering your first pay for the 2026-2027 Financial Year.
Update Qualifying Earnings
Step One - Check Qualifying Earnings documentation
Identify which of your components should be flagged as Qualifying Earnings.
To assist, we have created a summary document based on the ATO's documentation, Super Guarantee Treatment for Payday Super. Or see Qualifying Earnings Components.
Step Two - Update the QE setup
The change to QE should be minimal as OTE and QE treatment is the same for most payment types.
Note: Ensure you have upgraded to MicrOpay version 9.5 SP1 for the OTE to QE conversion to occur during the tax year change.
When Payday Super compliance changes are applied to MicrOpay:
The pay component OTE field is renamed to QE.
Current OTE settings (ticked or unticked) are retained. Items ticked as OTE will have QE ticked and items not ticked as OTE will not be ticked to QE.
QE can be updated in two ways, either through the STP2 Setup or through the individual components. To use STP2 Setup, you will need Admin access.
Go to Access MicrOpay Evo Administration, System Configuration, STP2 Setup.
Click on the Pay Components tab.
Tick STP2 QE for the required components.
Repeat step three for the Additions and Deductions and Leave Reasons tabs.
Click Save. The changes will update the components, additions, deductions and leave reasons.
Alternatively, you can edit the individual components.
Go to the relevant component area:
Payroll, Maintenance, General, Pay Components
Payroll, Maintenance, General, Additions and Deductions
Payroll, Maintenance, Leave, Leave Reasons
Edit the component that needs to be changed.
For Additions and Deductions or Leave Reasons, click on the STP Reporting tab.
Tick Qualifying Earnings (QE).
Click OK.
To export or create a report of your QE setup:
Add the STP2 QE column to each grid and use Save Grid to export to Excel.
Manually combine the three export files into one to create one list.
Step Three - Update the Employer Contribution
To see what components are included in your Employer Contribution for super calculations, run IQ-SuperPC - Super Scheme Pay Components and IQ-SUPERPCC - Super Scheme Payr Components Details.
Go to Common, IQ and run both:
IQ-SUPERPC - Super Scheme Pay Components.
IQ-SUPERPCD - Super Scheme Pay Components Details
Super Code represents the Employer Contribution Code, either enter:
the code for one Employer Contribution, e.g. the code of your 12% SGL employer contribution.
%, this is the wildcard for all Employer Contributions.
In IQ-SUPERPCD - Super Scheme Pay Components Details, you can specify an individual addition, deduction, leave reason or user defined leave class, by entering the code of the item in Pay Code, e.g. AB01 to see where the addition has been attached. To include all, use the wildcard, %.
Click OK to run the report.
Use Save Grid to export.
Note: If you have ticked one of the All boxes (e.g. All Additions before tax) in the Employer Contribution, the report will include All and can't differentiate which ones (if any) are excluded. In this instance, use the Addition & Deduction Codes tab of the Employer Contribution.
The steps below will affect how your super is calculated. Only complete this after you have completed the End of Year for 2025-2026, but before you enter transactions for the first pay in 2026-2027.
Go to Payroll, Maintenance, Superannuation, Employer Contribution.
Edit the employer contribution.
Select the Calculation Parameters tab.
Ensure the correct Pay Components are ticked in the drop-down.
If you need to add Leave Reasons, Addition & Deduction Codes or User Defined Leave, select the relevant tab.
Click Select. This will display a list.
Highlight the item you want to add and click OK.
Ensure the Included column is ticked.
Repeat until all required components have been selected.
Click OK to save the change.
Note: The steps above are used when All Additions Before Tax or All Additions After Tax are unticked. If All Additions Before Tax is ticked, then by default, Super is calculated on all Additions Before Tax. In this instance, exclude selected Additions before Tax from super calculations by unticking Included.