Tax and your super

The concessional contributions cap determines the amount of concessional contributions you can make into super each year. Concessional contributions are paid from a before-tax source and will usually have 15% contributions tax withheld on receipt. They include*:

• Employer contributions such as Superannuation Guarantee (SG) payments and productivity contributions
• Notional contributions such as defined benefit contributions (DBC)^
• Salary sacrifice contributions
• Personal contributions that are claimed as a tax deduction
• Any employer-share of insurance premiums

*Not all contributions will apply to your scheme

^DBC is a notional amount that represents your employer benefit accrual for the purpose of this cap. It is determined by a formula – it’s not the same as the employer component of your benefit shown on your annual statement. DBC includes any productivity contributions paid by your employer.

If your DBC exceeds the concessional contributions cap, you usually* won’t incur a penalty, but any other concessional contributions in addition to you DBC will be taxed at your marginal rate, and count towards your non-concessional contributions cap.

*You may incur a penalty in this scenario if your membership commenced after 12 May 2009.

The concessional contributions cap remains at $27,500 for the 2023–24 financial year.

If you have a Total Super Balance of less than $500,000, carry-forward rules allow you to make extra concessional contributions above the general concessional contributions cap, without incurring additional tax. You can do this by accessing unused concessional contribution cap amounts from previous years. Unused cap amounts are available for a maximum of five years and will expire after that time. You should note that your scheme may not accept contributions above those required by the scheme, so you may need to pay them into an ancillary account or to another fund.

If you’re eligible, the amount you can contribute will depend on how much of your prior years’ caps you have used.

The non-concessional contributions cap determines the amount of non-concessional contributions you can make into super each year. Non-concessional contributions are those paid from an after-tax source as long as you haven’t claimed a tax deduction. Tax is not withheld when these contributions are received by your super fund. Non-concessional contributions include*:

• Member contributions
• Employee share of any insurance premiums
• Other after-tax / personal contributions

*Not all contribution types will apply to your scheme

Depending on your scheme, if you exceed your non-concessional contributions cap, you may be able to choose how your excess contributions are treated. If you’re a member of a defined benefit scheme, you’ll be required to leave your excess contributions in the fund, but you may have a tax debt. Otherwise, you’ll generally have the option to release the excess contributions from super (you may still pay additional tax on the associated earnings), or leave the contributions in the fund and pay excess contributions tax.

The non-concessional contributions cap remains at $110,000 for the 2023–24 financial year.

If you’re under age 75 on 1 July in any year, you may be able to make non-concessional contributions up to three times the applicable cap in a single year. This will give you access to future years’ caps. The amount you can bring forward depends on your Total Super Balance on the day before you make the contributions that trigger the bring-forward rule. Please refer to the ATO website for a detailed breakdown of how the bring-forward arrangement works. You should note that your scheme may not accept contributions above those required by the scheme, so you may need to pay them into an ancillary account or to another fund.

If you’re eligible, you may be able to contribute up to $330,000^ in the 2023–24 financial year.

^The maximum amount you can contribute will depend on your age and when the bring-forward arrangements begin to apply.

This cap limits the taxable taxed and taxable untaxed components of a super lump sum that can be taxed at a concessional rate. This cap applies to members who have reached their preservation age, but are not yet 60.

The low rate cap is increased to $235,000 for the 2023–24 financial year.

This cap limits the taxable untaxed component of a super lump sum that can be taxed at a reduced rate. This cap applies to all members who are claiming a lump sum that includes a taxable untaxed component.

The untaxed plan cap amount increased to $1,705,000 for the 2023–24 financial year.

The general transfer balance cap is a lifetime limit on the amount of super that you can transfer into retirement phase income streams. Usually, if you exceed this cap, you’ll be required to commute any excess to a lump sum benefit. However, capped defined benefit income streams are excluded from this commutation requirement. Instead, the concessional tax treatment applied to your pension will be restricted from age 60.

Indexation of the general transfer balance cap also means that your personal transfer balance cap may change. This applies to members who have already transferred some of their super into a retirement phase income stream. Find out more about the general or personal transfer balance cap.

The general transfer balance cap remains as $1.9 million for the 2023–24 financial year.

The defined benefit income cap restricts the concessional tax treatment applied to capped defined benefit income streams that exceed the cap. This cap won’t affect the gross amount of your pension entitlement. However, your concessional tax treatment will be restricted from age 60. For more information about the defined benefit income cap, visit our Transfer Balance Cap page.

The defined benefit income cap remains as $118,750 for the 2023–24 financial year.

Your total super balance is a way to value all of your super interests on a given day (usually 30 June each year). It may not be the same as your super fund account balances, as it includes figures that don’t form part of your account balance. It includes the accumulation phase value and retirement phase value of your super interests, and any rollovers that are in transit on 30 June.

Your total super balance is used to determine whether you are eligible for several super-related measures in the following financial year such as the carry-forward rules and bring forward arrangements.

Please note: your benefit accrual isn’t impacted if your total super balance exceeds the general transfer balance cap. However you should consider the effect on your benefit before changing your contribution rate.