Concessional super contribution planner

The concessional cap is the annual limit on pre-tax or tax-deductible super contributions. It sits at $30,000 for 2025/26 and 2026/27, up from $27,500 in 2023/24. The cap covers employer SG, salary sacrifice, and personal deductible contributions combined. Contributions above the cap are taxed at your marginal rate with an excess contributions interest charge.

If you did not use your full concessional cap in the previous 5 financial years, the ATO lets you carry the unused portion forward. You can then make a larger contribution in a later year and still get the deduction. The catch: you can only use carry-forward if your total super balance on 30 June of the previous FY was under $500,000. Once your balance crosses $500k the carry-forward is frozen until the balance drops back below. Find your carry-forward figure on myGov under Super > Information > Carry forward concessional contributions.

Division 293 is an extra 15% tax on concessional contributions for high-income earners. It applies when your "income for surcharge purposes" plus your low-tax concessional contributions exceed $250,000. The extra 15% is charged only on the portion above the threshold, not the whole contribution. You can pay Div 293 personally or release the amount from your super fund. At a 45% marginal rate plus 2% Medicare levy, a concessional contribution still leaves you ahead even after Div 293 because 30% (15% fund + 15% Div 293) is less than 47%.

Super Guarantee (SG) is paid by your employer or labour-hire agency under s12(3) SGAA at 12% of ordinary-time earnings. Personal deductible contributions are voluntary, paid by you from after-tax money, and then claimed as a deduction on your tax return. Both count against the same concessional cap. A sole-trader locum running their own practice pays themselves neither, so their whole cap is available for personal deductible contributions.

A Notice of Intent to Claim or Vary a Deduction (ATO form NAT 71121, usually filed via your super fund's online portal) tells the fund that you want to treat a personal contribution as concessional so you can claim a deduction. Without the notice, the contribution stays non-concessional and you cannot deduct it. You must lodge the notice before you lodge your tax return for the FY, and the fund must acknowledge it in writing. If you started a pension or rolled over the contribution you cannot lodge the notice.

Before 30 June of the relevant FY, and allow five business days for the clearing house to settle the payment into your fund. A contribution dated 29 June that arrives at the fund on 2 July is a next-year contribution, not a current-year one. If you are running a BPAY from a personal account, assume two to three business days. If you are using a super clearing house (SBSCH or similar) allow five. Check with your fund on their cut-off policy.

The concessional cap is a whole-of-person limit, not per-fund. Contributions to any of your funds all count towards the same $30,000 cap. If you want to claim a deduction you still lodge a Notice of Intent with the specific fund that received the contribution. If SG is going to one fund (say, your old employer default) and you want to make a personal deductible contribution to another fund, do not assume the fund gets a combined view: check your ATO running total on myGov mid-year and again before 30 June.