Blog

Michelle Bromley CFP®, Director – Strategy and Advice

Key Points

• Concessional Contributions Cap $27,500 
• Catch-Up on unused Carry-Forward Concessional Contributions 
• Eligibility to contribute now extends to those up to age 66 
• Work Test or Work Test Exemption may allow those age 67 to age 74 to contribute
•  Lodge a Deduction Notice when making personal concessional contributions 
• Make your contributions in advance of 30 June with time to spare 

As the end of the Financial Year approaches, it is time to start thinking about making the most of your superannuation contribution caps. These are the annual limits on the amount of money you can put aside in the tax-advantaged superannuation environment, to build wealth to support you in retirement. 

In this article, we discuss making superannuation Concessional Contributions using ‘before tax’ money, that may provide you with tax advantages now as well as into the future. 

Concessional Contributions 

Concessional contributions are a great way to save for your retirement and potentially reduce your taxable income, saving personal income tax. Whatever is contributed by way of employer contributions, including superannuation guarantee (SG) and salary sacrifice contributions, or a personal contribution for which you claim a tax deduction, adds to what is known as the “Concessional Contribution Cap”. 

For the current Financial Year 2022 the Concessional Contribution Cap is $27,500 and you can potentially make a larger ‘catch up’ Carry-Forward Concessional Contribution if you have accrued any unused Concessional Contribution Cap amounts since 1 July 2018 and your total superannuation balance at the prior 30 June was less than $500,000.   

Those who wish to make personal contributions under the concessional contributions cap, must have sufficient taxable income to offset with a tax deduction for at least part of the contribution.  If you don’t have any taxable income, you effectively can’t use your concessional contributions cap in that financial year, although you are still entitled to carry forward your unused concessional contributions cap for a further five years. 

You can find out your prior 30 June Total Superannuation Balance and your unused Carry-Forward Concessional Contribution amount by logging into your my.gov.au account and accessing your ‘Super’ information from your linked ATO record. 

Reducing your personal taxable income and saving income tax  

The amount of personal income tax you can save is easily calculated by subtracting the contributions tax rate of 15% from your personal marginal tax rate.   

However, don’t use a tax deduction for personal super contributions to reduce your taxable income below the tax-free threshold because you’ll pay 15% contributions tax on otherwise tax-free money!   

The table below shows that if you earn over $18,200 a year you may benefit from increasing your Concessional Contributions to superannuation. 

*Tax rates for financial year 2021-2022 excluding Medicare levy and personal tax offsets that may apply. 

While the base tax-free threshold is $18,200 a higher effective tax-free threshold applies when considering personal tax offsets.  For a single person, the 2021-2022 effective tax-free threshold is $23,226 applying the Lower- and Middle-Income Earner Tax Offsets, and if you are Age Pension Age you may also be eligible for the Senior and Pensioner Tax Offset bringing your effective tax-free threshold to around $34,962. Medicare levy may still apply. 

Who can make concessional contributions? 

Generally, anyone can receive mandated employer superannuation contributions.  However, eligibility to make personal superannuation contributions is subject to certain rules and requirements:  

• Minors under 18 on 30 June 2022 must have derived income as an employee or business operator to claim a tax deduction for personal contributions. 

• You can make personal superannuation contributions up to age 74 (and up to 28 days after the end of the month in which you turned 75) subject to meeting the Work Test from age 67 onwards. To meet the work test, you must have been gainfully employed for at least 40 hours during a 30 consecutive day period. This ‘work test’ must be met before you make the contribution. 

• There is a once-only Work Text Exemption allowing those aged 67 to 74 to make personal contributions if they had met the Work Test in the prior financial year and their total super balance at the previous 30 June was less than $300,000. 

• Over 75 only mandated employer contributions such as Superannuation Guarantee (SG), certified agreement contributions or award contributions are allowed. 

• To make personal contributions from your after-tax income and elect for this to be counted towards your Concessional Contribution Cap, you must submit a ‘Notice of Intent to claim a Tax Deduction’ form to your superannuation fund and receive a letter of acknowledgement from the fund before you complete your individual tax return for that financial year. 

Your ‘Notice of Intent to claim a Tax Deduction’ form must be lodged with your superannuation fund and acknowledged as received before the earlier of the day on which you lodge your personal income tax return for the financial year in which the contribution was made OR 30 June of the following financial year, otherwise your tax deduction will be denied, and your personal contributions will not be counted under the Concessional Contribution Cap.  

What to do? 

A contribution counts towards the financial year in which your superannuation fund physically receives the payment, so it’s important to make sure your year-end contributions are made in advance of 30 June with some time to spare. 

Talk to your adviser well in advance of 30 June about whether making additional superannuation Concessional Contributions is the right strategy for you. 

To speak to our client services team, please call 1800 064 959 or click here to contact us.

The information in this article contains general advice and is provided by Primestock Securities Ltd AFSL 239180. That advice has been prepared without taking your personal objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Before acting on this general advice, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You should obtain and read the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision to acquire any financial product referred to in this article. Please refer to the FSG (www.primefinancial.com.au/fsg) for contact information and information about remuneration and associations with product issuers. This information should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice, and we encourage you to seek specific advice from your professional adviser before making a decision on the matters discussed in this article. Information in this article is current at the date of this article, and we have no obligation to update or revise it as a result of any change in events, circumstances or conditions upon which it is based.