Guides / How to track contractor super in Xero without payroll
How to track contractor super in Xero without payroll
Keep one row for each contractor payment: the date you paid, the amount without GST, the labour share, 12% super on that share, and the date the super must reach the fund, which is 7 business days after you pay. A spreadsheet or Supercue will do; no payroll software is needed to keep this record. Neither pays the super.
Last updated 8 Nov 2026. This is information, not tax or legal advice; check with the ATO or your adviser.
The row to keep for each payment
For a contractor paid by invoice, the payday is the date you pay the invoice, so each payment has its own date and its own deadline.
| Paid on | Paid, without GST | Labour share | Super at 12% | Must reach the fund by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 30 Jul 2026 | $2,500.00 | 100% | $300.00 | Tue 11 Aug 2026 |
| Thu 3 Sep 2026 | $1,250.00 | 100% | $150.00 | Mon 14 Sep 2026 |
| Fri 4 Sep 2026 | $3,000.00 | 70% | $252.00 | Tue 15 Sep 2026 |
| Thu 10 Dec 2026 | $4,000.00 | 80% | $384.00 | Mon 21 Dec 2026 |
Super on each row is 12% of the labour part: for the last row, 12% of 80% of $4,000.00 is $384.00.
Steps
- In Xero, open the Purchases menu, select Bills and pick the bill tab you want. Use Search to set a Start date, End date or Date type if you want to narrow the list.
- Next to New Bill, click the menu icon, select Export bills, check the details and click Export. Xero downloads a CSV file to your computer.
- Xero exports up to 500 transactions at a time and lists each line item as its own row, so a long list needs batches and one bill can take several rows. The Xero page does not list the columns in the file, so check that yours shows the date each bill was paid.
- Keep the contractors who are paid mainly for their labour. For each payment, take the date you paid and the amount without GST, work out the labour part, and take 12% of it.
- Add 7 business days to the pay date to get the date the super must reach the fund, and mark the row when the super is paid.
What this does not do
This page covers the record only: how much super and by when. It does not cover how to pay the super, and we have not checked what Xero's payroll features do for contractors.
Supercue does not pay super, does not use a clearing house or SuperStream, and does not connect to Xero. The ATO pages we read do not give a rounding rule for super amounts; Supercue rounds each payment to the nearest cent, half a cent up, which is its own rule.
Build the table from a Xero CSV
Supercue reads a Xero payments or bills CSV in your browser, so the file is not uploaded. You mark the contractors and enter each labour share, and it fills in the super and the fund date for every payment, with a summary CSV to download. It is free for your first 10 rows, then $19 a month.
Questions people ask
Do I need Xero Payroll to track contractor super?
Not for the record on this page, which is a table of dates and amounts. This page does not cover how to pay the super, and we have not checked what Xero's payroll features do for contractors.
Can I export contractor payments from Xero?
Xero Central describes exporting bills to a CSV file: Purchases, Bills, then Export bills from the menu next to New Bill. The page does not say which columns the file has, so check yours for the payment date.
How many bills can I export from Xero at once?
Up to 500 transactions by default. For more, export in batches, by status or with a search that filters transactions into groups.
What if only part of a payment is for labour?
Work out the labour part first, because super is worked out on the labour component of the invoice. If the contract does not show it, the ATO page says you can use reasonable market value and keep records of how you worked it out.
Does the fund date count from the invoice date?
No. If you pay a contractor by invoice, the ATO says the payday is the date the invoice is paid, and the super has to reach the fund within 7 business days after payday.