Quick answer
The payroll cut off time is the latest moment your bank accepts a pay file to process it that business day, commonly around 6pm to 6:30pm Sydney time at the big banks. Most wages travel as a batch direct entry payment, and the staff member's own bank decides when they show. To be safe, authorise the pay run by mid-afternoon on the business day before payday.
Key points
- Big-bank payroll cut-offs sit around 6pm to 6:30pm Sydney time on business days. Some smaller banks close file uploads earlier.
- Queensland, WA and NT employers lose an hour or more against Sydney time until daylight saving ends on 4 April 2027.
- Wages usually travel by direct entry, which settles in five batches each business day, not by instant payment.
- Missed the cut-off? Individual fast payments over the NPP can still land the same evening, within your daily limit.
- Under Payday Super, the 7-business-day super deadline counts from payday, so a late pay run squeezes the super side too.
Payday isn’t the moment you press “pay” in the payroll software. For your staff, it’s the moment the money shows in their banking app. Between those two points sit four hand-overs: your software, your bank’s file cut-off, the interbank settlement and the employee’s bank posting the credit. Each one runs to its own timetable.
Miss one and Thursday’s wages become Friday’s. Here’s the timetable, worked backwards, and the plan for when you’ve already missed it.
What is a payroll cut off time?
It’s the latest time your bank will accept a payment file or a batch of payments and still process it that business day. Anything after it waits for the next business day.
Two published examples from the big banks:
- ANZ says payroll payments need to be authorised before 6pm (AEST) on a bank business day to be processed that day. Requests after that, or on weekends and public holidays, move to the next business day.
- NAB Direct Link lists a 6:30pm cut-off (AEST/AEDT) for direct credits. After that, payments process the next business day.
Not every bank or channel is that generous. Some smaller banks set mid-afternoon cut-offs for bulk payment file uploads. Your cut-off depends on your bank and how you lodge (online banking batch, an uploaded ABA file, or a direct software connection). Look it up once, write it on the payroll checklist, and check it again whenever you change banks or software.
How long does a payroll payment take to clear?
Most Australian wages still travel by direct entry, the batch system known as BECS. The Reserve Bank’s June 2026 review of account-to-account payments describes BECS as handling “most salary, welfare and pension payments”. In December 2025, the industry body AusPayNet dropped its June 2030 target date for retiring it, so this timetable isn’t going away soon.
The RBA explains that direct entry obligations settle on a same-day basis in five netted settlements through each business day. Settlement between banks is only half the trip, though. ANZ notes plainly that the time it takes for the employee’s account to be credited “will depend on the policy and systems of the employee’s bank”.
In practice, the stages look like this:
| Stage | Who controls it | What can push it to tomorrow |
|---|---|---|
| Pay run finalised and approved in software | You | Timesheet queries, a second approver who’s offline |
| File or batch authorised in business banking | You, then your bank | Missing the bank cut-off; batch over your limit |
| Interbank settlement (direct entry) | Banks, via RITS | Weekends and RITS holidays |
| Credit posted to each employee’s account | Employee’s bank | That bank’s own posting runs, often overnight |
That last row is why “submitted on payday” so often means “arrived the next day”. The safe habit is to have the pay run authorised by mid-afternoon on the business day before payday. That leaves room for one hiccup and still lands overnight.
Does your time zone move the cut-off?
Yes, if you’re not on Sydney time. Most cut-offs are set in AEST or AEDT. Daylight saving started on 4 October 2026 in NSW, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia, and runs to 4 April 2027.
| Your state | A 6:30pm Sydney cut-off during daylight saving is… |
|---|---|
| NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS | 6:30pm local |
| South Australia | 6:00pm local |
| Queensland | 5:30pm local |
| Northern Territory | 5:00pm local |
| Western Australia | 3:30pm local |
A Perth payroll officer who finalises the pay run after lunch has very little margin. Our Western Australia and Queensland pages cover the gap in more detail.
Which days don’t count?
Direct entry only settles on business days. The RBA’s settlement system (RITS) is closed on weekends and on a set list of national holidays where they’re observed in NSW and Victoria. The next few that catch payroll:
- Friday 25 December 2026 (Christmas Day), and Monday 28 December as the Boxing Day substitute in most states.
- Friday 1 January 2027 (New Year’s Day).
- Tuesday 26 January 2027 (Australia Day).
State-only holidays, like Melbourne Cup Day on Tuesday 3 November, don’t close the settlement system. They can still close your payroll officer’s office, your approver’s diary and a lot of local business. If payday sits on or just after a holiday, the safe sending day is the last business day before it. The cut-offs and holidays page lays out the full summer calendar.
If any week this summer looks like wages might arrive before the customer payments that fund them, find out where you stand while there’s still a business day or two to play with.
Missed the payroll cut-off? Your rescue plan
It’s 6:45pm, the file didn’t go, and payday is tomorrow. Work through this in order.
- Check whether the batch is pending or rejected. If it’s sitting in the queue for tomorrow, decide now whether to let it run late or cancel it. Never pay twice: cancel the batch before you pay anyone another way.
- Pay individually over the NPP. Fast payments settle 24/7 in near real time. Pay each employee by PayID or a fast “Pay Anyone” transfer, using the exact amounts from the pay run. Not every transfer goes as a fast payment, so check your banking shows it as one.
- Check your daily limit before you start. A team’s wages can easily blow past a standard online banking limit. Some banks need an extra security step, or time, to lift one. Find out on a calm day, not at 7pm.
- Tell the team before they notice. A short message (“wages will land tonight / by 10am, sorry for the delay”) stops a dozen anxious calls. Then check your award or agreement for any late-payment terms. The Fair Work Act sets monthly pay as the floor, but most awards set the pay frequency and some have their own rules about late wages.
- Record it. Note what was paid, how and when, so the payroll software, the bank feed and the Single Touch Payroll report all line up.
What if the money for the pay run isn’t there yet?
Sometimes the file is ready and the account isn’t. A customer paid late, or a big invoice is still “in the payment run”. That’s when two clocks stack up: the funding clock and the payroll cut-off.
The order matters. Money has to be in your account and cleared before you authorise the batch, and some banks check future-dated batches against your balance the night before. So a same-day solution has to land with time to spare before the cut-off, not at 6pm.
- Smaller unsecured amounts can be funded the same day, if everything’s in order. Unsecured and cash-flow options for trading businesses typically run from $5k to $500k, sized on turnover and bank statements. The unsecured timeline shows what gets checked, and when.
- Property-secured funding moves fast too. $20k to $250k is possible the same day, and up to $5m is possible within 24 to 48 hours. Those suit a bigger or longer gap rather than one pay run.
- Plan for where the funds land. Our page on when funds land explains why late-afternoon releases may arrive that evening or the next morning.
The 24-Hour Funding Clock models your state, security and paperwork, then shows whether an earliest window lands before or after your payroll cut-off.
Don’t forget the super side
From 1 July 2026, Payday Super changed the timetable. The ATO says contributions must reach the employee’s fund within 7 business days of payday, unless a longer period applies, such as 20 business days for a new employee’s first contribution. Payday counts as day zero.
Three timing points owners miss:
- The ATO’s Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closed on 1 July 2026. If you used it, your new route (payroll software, a commercial clearing house or a fund portal) has its own processing time inside those 7 days.
- A rejected contribution doesn’t get extra time. A wrong member number or fund detail can burn days. Check new starters’ details on their first pay run.
- The super debit often leaves a few days after wages. Keep that cash aside on payday, so a slow customer payment doesn’t leave the super account short on day six.
Illustrative example: a Brisbane café, Thursday payday
Illustrative scenario only. Not a real business or loan. A café in Brisbane pays 14 staff fortnightly on Thursdays. The owner banks with a big bank whose direct-credit cut-off is 6:30pm Sydney time. In winter, that was 6:30pm in Brisbane too.
On a Wednesday in November, the owner finalises the pay run after the dinner rush and authorises it at 5:50pm. It’s past the cut-off, because daylight saving put the bank’s 6:30pm at 5:30pm in Brisbane. The batch is queued for Thursday’s processing, which means most staff won’t see wages until Thursday night or Friday morning.
The owner cancels the queued batch, checks the daily payment limit (high enough, because they lifted it before Christmas trade last year) and pays all 14 staff individually by PayID before 7pm. Most see the money that evening. A message to the staff group chat heads off the questions. The next day, the owner moves the pay-run authorisation to 2pm Wednesday and adds a calendar note: “Cut-off is 5:30pm Brisbane until 4 April.”
Your payroll timing checklist
- Find your bank’s cut-off for the way you actually lodge payroll, and convert it to local time for both halves of the year.
- Authorise the pay run by mid-afternoon on the business day before payday.
- Mark RITS holidays (25 and 28 December, 1 and 26 January) and move those pay runs earlier.
- Know your daily fast-payment limit, and lift it in advance if a rescue run would exceed it.
- Send super with the pay run, well inside the 7-business-day window.
- Have the cash cleared in the account before you authorise, not just “on its way”.
Keep payday on time, even when the cash is late
A missed cut-off is usually a timing problem. A pay run with no money behind it is a cash problem, and that one’s easier to fix a day or two out than at 5pm. If a slow customer or a heavy month is putting payday at risk, let’s get started.
The enquiry takes about a minute, and your credit file isn’t touched just for asking, because there’s no credit check when you first enquire. Your details go to one team and aren’t sent to a pile of lenders, so your phone stays quiet. A real person looks at your payday, your bank’s cut-off and your state, then calls you with what’s realistic. Please fill in the form accurately, including when payday is and roughly how much the pay run needs, so the first option we look at can land before your cut-off.
Frequently asked questions
What time do I need to send payroll so staff are paid on payday?
Treat the afternoon of the business day before payday as your real deadline. Banks process direct entry files submitted before their cut-off, often around 6pm to 6:30pm Sydney time, but the employee's own bank then decides when the money shows. Sending a day early gives every bank time to post it by payday morning.
How long does a payroll payment take to clear in Australia?
A pay file submitted before your bank's cut-off is usually processed that business day and commonly shows in staff accounts overnight or the next morning. ANZ, for example, says payroll requested before 6pm AEST on a business day is processed the same day, but timing of the credit depends on the employee's bank.
I submitted the pay run late. Will my staff get paid today?
Probably not through the normal batch. A direct entry file lodged after the cut-off, or on a weekend or public holiday, usually rolls to the next business day. If wages must land today, cancel the batch if it's still pending and pay each person individually by fast payment, within your daily limit.
Can I pay wages by PayID or Osko?
Yes, as individual payments. Fast payments over the New Payments Platform settle 24/7 in near real time, so they're a good rescue when you've missed the cut-off. They're less practical for a large team because each payment is keyed separately and counts towards your daily limit.
Does a public holiday move payday?
It moves the processing. Direct entry only settles on business days, so if payday falls on or just after a public holiday, send the pay run on the last business day beforehand. Check your award or agreement for what it says about payday falling on a non-working day.
How does a late pay run affect Payday Super?
From 1 July 2026, super must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of payday. The clock starts on payday regardless of how rushed the wages were, and the ATO doesn't extend it if a fund rejects the payment. Send super with the pay run, not at the end of the window.
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