The Australian Taxation Office has revisited and reworked its guidance on superannuation obligations for musicians and other performers following months of concern from the live music sector about the impact of new payday superannuation requirements.

The revised guidance clarifies several areas that had generated confusion for venues, festivals, promoters, agents and performers, including which costs are subject to the 12 percent superannuation guarantee, how genuine revenue-sharing arrangements are treated, and where responsibility lies when booking agents or intermediaries are involved.

The ATO has also implemented a new 20-business day option for new or first time employee payments, a substantial extension that grants administration teams and bandleaders extra time to set up the initial paperwork for a new band member or artists they’ve never used before.

Photo © Tijs van Leur/UnSplash

While the Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) has welcomed the changes as a practical improvement, it also warns that significant problems remain unresolved.

In a statement, ALMBC chair Howard Adams said the ATO had “listened on the practical side”, particularly by separating performance fees from expenses including travel, freight and backline, and confirming that genuine door deals and revenue-sharing arrangements can sit outside the super guarantee.

Under the revised guidance, super applies to the performance component of a payment. Costs relating to rehearsal studio hire, equipment hire, freight, travel and accommodation, engaging other individuals or entities, intellectual property and the use of equipment owned by the performer can be excluded from the super calculation where they are genuinely incurred and properly apportioned.

Photo © Chris Murray/Unsplash

The ATO gives the example of a filmmaker invoicing $6,950, comprising a $5,000 filming fee, $1,000 equipment hire, $500 in contractor wages and $450 in travel and accommodation. Super is payable on the $5,000 performance component rather than the full invoice.

The ATO has also clarified the treatment of genuine revenue-share arrangements. Where a venue and performer are operating a commercial venture together, with ticket income collected by the venue, costs and the venue’s percentage deducted before the artist receives their share, the payment is not considered a payment for the performance and does not attract super.

The distinction is particularly significant for grassroots music, where door deals and percentage splits are common.

The guidance also draws a clearer line between booking agents acting on behalf of artists and agencies contracting in their own right. Where an agent represents a named artist, the venue or festival retains the super obligation. Where an agency contracts in its own name and subsequently engages the performer, the agency is responsible.

Photo © Chris Bair/UnSplash

For bandleaders, however, the position remains more complicated. A bandleader acting as an agent for a band is not responsible for the other members’ superannuation. But where a sole trader is contracted for a performance and subsequently engages session musicians, separate super obligations can arise for both the venue’s payment to the sole trader and the sole trader’s payments to the musicians.

For a festival presenting 70 four-piece acts operating as sole traders, ALMBC estimates this could mean 280 individual super payments rather than 70, adding significant administrative and accounting costs.

The new guidance follows the introduction of payday super on 1 July, under which eligible super contributions must be paid within seven business days of the performer being paid. While performers have been entitled to super under the extended definition of employee since 1992, the new payment regime has exposed significant practical difficulties for the live music sector.

The Newcastle Hunter Jazz Festival and Inverloch Jazz Festival both cancelled their 2026 events amid concerns about the financial consequences of the new requirements.

The ALMBC subsequently surveyed its members, receiving more than 100 responses from musicians, venues, festival organisers and other industry participants seeking clarification and documenting the impact of the changes.

Adams said the ATO’s clarification did not address what the ALMBC considered the most serious problem: the absence of an exemption for genuine hobby musicians and not-for-profit organisers.

The revised guidance explicitly states that super obligations can apply regardless of whether a performer is a professional, has an ABN, issues invoices, is engaged for a one-off performance, considers themselves an independent contractor, is a hobbyist or is retired. A Statement by a Supplier, sometimes known as a “hobby form”, does not remove the super obligation.

“The impact will continue to be felt most at the bottom end of the market,” the ALMBC said, arguing that venues, agents and festivals were already reducing their engagement of sole traders.

The organisation is calling for the federal government to introduce a legislated exemption for genuine hobby engagements and not-for-profit organisers, as well as a $5,000 per-engagement de minimis threshold.

The ALMBC argues that the administrative burden of processing superannuation on a $150 support slot can outweigh the value of the contribution itself and is encouraging operators to reduce live programming.

Its proposed $5,000 threshold would recognise the economics of grassroots music, where a $5,000 fee for a four-piece band can represent just $1,250 per musician before expenses.

The ALMBC also argues that existing government incentives, including the superannuation co-contribution and Low Income Super Tax Offset, provide mechanisms for lower-income musicians to build retirement savings without imposing the same administrative burden on small venues and festivals.

For now, the organisation is urging performers to itemise invoices carefully, separating performance fees from legitimate expenses, and for venues and promoters to document genuine door deals and revenue-sharing arrangements.

It is also urging artists and organisers to establish clearly who is contracting whom, particularly where agents, bandleaders or agencies are involved.

The revised ATO guidance provides greater certainty for an industry already struggling with rising costs and fragile margins. But for the ALMBC, the changes represent clarification rather than resolution, with the organisation continuing to press the federal government for legislative exemptions and a de minimis threshold.

Read/download the revised ATO guidance on superannuation at this link.