As the financial year ends, some investors are looking for the most effective ways to boost their super balance, especially with the increase in contribution caps from 1 July.
The concessional contributions cap, the maximum in-before-tax contributions you can add to your super each year without paying extra tax, is increasing to $32,500 in 2026-27.
The cap increases in line with average weekly ordinary earnings (AWOTE).
It’s a good idea to track your concessional contributions, including any compulsory contributions made by your employer and salary sacrifice contributions, so you don’t unintentionally exceed the cap. This is particularly important for those with more than one job or super fund, because all contributions are added together and must not exceed the cap.
You can check your current balance at ATO online services. Log in to your myGov account and link to the ATO to see all your details.
It is also useful to be aware of payment and reporting timelines. For example, your employer can make super guarantee contributions until 28 July for the final quarter of the financial year, and salary sacrifice contributions until 30 June.
Any amounts showing on the ATO website for your account are based on when your fund reports to the ATO.
Carry forward unused amounts
If you haven’t made extra contributions in past years, you may have unused concessional cap amounts.
You can carry these forward, allowing you to contribute more as long as your super balance is less than $500,000 at 30 June of the previous financial year.
You can carry forward up to five years of concessional contributions cap amounts.
Getting close to exceeding the cap?
If you’re worried about going over the cap, you may wish to stop any further voluntary contributions based on an assessment of the extra tax you will pay.
If you have two or more employers, you may opt out of receiving the super guarantee from one of them.
Meanwhile, if special circumstances have caused you to exceed your cap, you can apply to the ATO to have some or all of the contributions disregarded or allocated to the next financial year.
If all else fails and you have exceeded the cap, the excess contributions will be included in your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate, less a 15 per cent tax offset. The good news is that you can withdraw up to 85 per cent of the excess contributions from your super fund to pay your tax bill. Any excess contributions left in the fund will be counted towards your non-concessional contributions cap.
Non-concessional Cap
The non-concessional contributions cap is the maximum amount of after-tax contributions you can contribute to your super each year without contributions being subject to extra tax.
From 1 July 2026, the non-concessional contributions cap is $130,000. This is now reviewed annually to remain in line with average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE). If you contribute more, you may have to pay extra tax.
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