Personal Super (Concessional) Contribution with Intention to Claim Tax Deduction
Personal contributions are subject to the contributions caps that apply to concessional and non-concessional contributions.
If you claim a tax deduction for them, they’re concessional contributions and are effectively from your pre-tax income. They are taxed in the fund at a rate of 15%.
Claiming deductions for personal super contributions
To claim a deduction for your personal super contributions, you must give your super fund a notice in the approved form and get an acknowledgment from the fund. There are other eligibility criteria you must meet.
The personal super contributions you claim as a deduction will count towards your concessional contributions cap.
| Income year | Date | Your age at this date | Your concessional contribution cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026–27 | n/a | All ages | $32,500 |
| 2025–26 | n/a | All ages | $30,000 |
| 2024–25 | n/a | All ages | $30,000 |
| 2023–24 | n/a | All ages | $27,500 |
| 2022–23 | n/a | All ages | $27,500 |
| 2021–22 | n/a | All ages | $27,500 |
| 2020–21 | n/a | All ages | $25,000 |
When deciding whether to claim a deduction for super contributions, you should consider the possible impacts, including whether:
- you will exceed your concessional (before-tax) contributions cap, which limits the amount that can be contributed to your super fund that is taxed at the concessional rate of 15%
- you will have to pay Division 293 tax, which applies when your combined income and concessional super contributions for Division 293 purposes is more than $250,000
- you wish to split your contributions with your spouse
- it will affect your super co-contribution eligibility.
If you exceed your cap, you will have to pay extra tax, and any excess concessional contributions you leave in super will count towards your non-concessional contributions cap.
Carry forward unused contribution cap amounts
If you have unused concessional cap amounts from previous years, you may be able to carry them forward to increase your contribution caps in later years. You’re eligible to do this if you have both:
- a total super balance of less than $500,000 at 30 June of the previous financial year
- unused concessional contributions cap amounts from up to 5 previous years.
The unused cap amounts you can carry forward depends on the amount you have contributed in previous years, starting from 2018–19. You can carry forward unused cap amounts from up to 5 previous financial years, including when you were not a member of a super fund.
Unused cap amounts are available for 5 years and expire after this. For example, a 2020–21 unused cap amount that is not used by the end of 2025–26 will expire.
The oldest available unused cap amounts are carried forward first. For example, unused cap amounts from 2020–21 would be used to increase your cap first before unused cap amounts from 2021–22.
Unused concessional cap amounts are applied automatically once you exceed the cap in any year.
If you still have made excess concessional contributions (ECC) after applying unused cap amounts, you may need to pay extra tax.
For more information, refer to the ATO QC19749