Which public holidays move a Payday Super deadline? Every state counts
The 7-business-day window is counted against a national definition of a business day. A public holiday for the whole of any state or territory is not a business day for any employer in Australia — so a Northern Territory holiday moves a Perth deadline, and a Queensland one moves a Hobart deadline. This page lists every such day for 2026–27 and the days that look like they should count but do not.
Published 7 September 2026. Holiday data verified against each state and territory government's published list; ATO QC105846 quoted as last updated 10 August 2026.
The rule
A business day is any day other than: a Saturday or Sunday; a day that is a public holiday for the whole of any Australian state or territory. This means if there is a state or territory-wide public holiday, that day is not a business day for the purposes of Payday Super, even if you are not in that state or territory. If a public holiday applies to only part of a state or territory (for example, Royal Hobart Show Day), that day is still a business day for Payday Super purposes. ATO, Payment deadlines for Payday Super (QC105846), "Definition of 'business day'"
Two consequences follow, and both run against instinct.
- The deadline for a given payday is identical in every state. A Sydney client and a Perth client paid on the same Friday have the same fund-receipt date. There is no such thing as a "WA deadline" under this rule.
- Your own state's calendar is not enough. An employer in Western Australia has to know about NT Picnic Day, the VIC Grand Final Friday, Labour Day in NSW/ACT/SA, the Queensland King's Birthday, Canberra Day, Reconciliation Day and all the rest — because each of them removes a business day from a WA employer's count.
The ATO's own worked example in QC105846 applies exactly this: a non-NT employer's deadlines for 9 July and 30 July 2026 "both include an additional day because the Picnic Day holiday in the Northern Territory is not counted as a business day".
Every state-wide holiday that moves a deadline, 1 July 2026 – 30 June 2027
These are the days that fall on a weekday and are declared for the whole of at least one state or territory. Christmas Day 2026 and Boxing Day 2026 fall on Friday and Saturday; the Monday 28 December substitute is a holiday in every jurisdiction. Days that fall on a Saturday or Sunday are omitted because they never move a count.
| Date | Holiday | Declared for the whole of |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 3 Aug 2026 | Picnic Day | NT |
| Fri 25 Sep 2026 | Friday before the AFL Grand Final | VIC |
| Mon 5 Oct 2026 | Labour Day / King's Birthday (QLD) | ACT, NSW, QLD, SA |
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Christmas Day | Every state and territory |
| Mon 28 Dec 2026 | Boxing Day substitute / additional public holiday | Every state and territory |
| Fri 1 Jan 2027 | New Year's Day | Every state and territory |
| Tue 26 Jan 2027 | Australia Day | Every state and territory |
| Mon 1 Mar 2027 | Labour Day | WA |
| Mon 8 Mar 2027 | Labour Day (VIC), Eight Hours Day (TAS), Adelaide Cup Day (SA), Canberra Day (ACT) | ACT, SA, TAS, VIC |
| Fri 26 Mar 2027 | Good Friday | Every state and territory |
| Mon 29 Mar 2027 | Easter Monday | Every state and territory |
| Mon 26 Apr 2027 | Anzac Day observed (Anzac Day itself is Sunday 25 April) | ACT, NSW, NT, QLD, WA |
| Mon 3 May 2027 | May Day (NT), Labour Day (QLD) | NT, QLD |
| Mon 31 May 2027 | Reconciliation Day | ACT |
| Mon 7 Jun 2027 | Western Australia Day | WA |
| Mon 14 Jun 2027 | King's Birthday | ACT, NSW, NT, SA, TAS, VIC |
Note the cluster in late September and early October 2026: Grand Final Friday (25 Sep) and the 5 October holidays sit inside the window of every payday from about 17 September to 5 October. A Friday 25 September payday lands on Wednesday 7 October; Friday 18 September lands on Wednesday 30 September. Over Christmas, Thursday 24 December runs to Thursday 7 January 2027.
One day is expected but not yet in the table: Victoria's 2027 Grand Final Friday has not been gazetted. When it is, the deadlines whose window spans it move one business day later. Until then, computing without it errs early — the safe direction.
Days that do NOT count
The ATO's rule excludes part-of-state holidays, and the product treats the following as ordinary business days:
- Royal Hobart Show Day (southern Tasmania) — the ATO's own example. Also Recreation Day (northern Tasmania) and the Launceston, Devonport, Burnie and Agfest show days.
- Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) holiday — Brisbane area only — and the other Queensland regional show days.
- Regional show days in the Northern Territory (Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Katherine, Borroloola).
- The NSW Bank Holiday (first Monday in August) — banks and financial institutions only, not the whole state.
- Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday — Saturdays and Sundays are already excluded; a holiday on one changes nothing.
Melbourne Cup Day and the WA King's Birthday — why they are left out
These two are declared state-wide on paper, and most calendars count them. SuperDue does not, and the reason is in the statute, not in a preference.
The ATO's definition tracks the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 s 6(1): a business day is a day other than a Saturday, a Sunday, or "a day which is a public holiday for the whole of any state, the Australian Capital Territory, or the Northern Territory". The question is therefore purely factual — is the day a holiday for the whole of the state in that year?
- Victoria — Melbourne Cup Day (Tue 3 Nov 2026, Tue 2 Nov 2027). The Public Holidays Act 1993 (Vic) s 8 lets the Minister declare that an appointed holiday is not a holiday "in a specified part of the State" and appoint another day that "replaces" it; s 8A lets a non-metropolitan council ask for exactly that in place of Cup Day. Several did for 2026 — Greater Geelong, Greater Bendigo, Warrnambool, Moyne and Wodonga among them — so in those areas 3 November 2026 is not a public holiday, and the day is not a holiday for the whole of Victoria.
- WA — King's Birthday (Mon 28 Sep 2026, Mon 27 Sep 2027). The WA Government's public holidays page states that the City of Karratha and the Town of Port Hedland observe a regional King's Birthday on a different date "instead of" the state date, and that the state date "is not a public holiday in these regions". So it is not a holiday for the whole of WA.
Counting a day that does not qualify would show a deadline one business day later than the true one — a client would pay late believing they were on time. Not counting a day that does qualify shows a deadline one day earlier — a client pays a day early. Faced with an ambiguity the product takes the earlier date. If the ATO publishes a statement that a substituted holiday still counts as whole-of-state, SuperDue will switch and say so here.
Practical effect for WA employers: payday Friday 25 September 2026 is due Wednesday 7 October, not Thursday 8 October. Friday 30 October is due Tuesday 10 November, not the 11th. If a spreadsheet or reminder tool gives you the later date, it is counting a day the Act does not.
What this means for a practice
- Keep one national holiday list, not one per client state, and count against it for every client.
- Re-check the list when a state gazettes or moves a holiday. Victoria's Grand Final Friday is declared late each year; NSW added the Monday after Anzac Day for 2026 and 2027 in February 2026.
- Or let the tools do it: the free checker and the 2026–27 calendar both count against this list, and the calendar's six .ics feeds put the dates in your own calendar app.
Planning information, not tax, legal or financial advice. The legal test is the date the fund receives the money with the information needed to allocate it. Confirm anything that matters with the ATO or your registered tax or BAS agent. Sources are linked in the text; ATO pages are quoted as at the date shown at the top of this guide.