Superannuation is the retirement savings system built into Australian employment. Your employer has to pay a minimum share of your earnings into a super fund in your name, and that money stays invested in the fund, generally until you retire, rather than reaching your bank account.
The minimum is the superannuation guarantee. The Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 sets the charge percentage at 12, so the floor is 12% of your earnings. Timing changed on 1 July 2026: under Payday Super, the money has to reach your fund within seven business days of each payday, according to Treasury, and an employer who misses that becomes liable for the superannuation guarantee charge.
The point that matters for pay is that the guarantee is paid on top of salary. It never comes out of your take-home. Where it does change the figures is in how a job is advertised. "$100,000 plus super" means a $100,000 salary and $12,000 more into your fund. "$100,000 including super" is a package, and the salary inside it is $100,000 divided by 1.12, about $89,286. Salary sacrifice is different again: there you choose to send part of your salary to super before tax, which lowers take-home pay as well as taxable income.
New Zealand's KiwiSaver works the other way round, taking the employee's share out of gross pay, which is why a like-for-like salary comparison between the two countries has to treat them differently.
The take-home pay calculator shows the 12% guarantee beside your pay without deducting it, has a switch for when the figure you entered is a package that already includes super, and takes any salary sacrifice off before tax.