Get your super ready for tax time

Important: Ensure you make your contributions by Monday 23 June 2025 if you want them to count towards your contribution caps for the 2025 financial year.

Contributions to your super made from your after-tax income are called non-concessional contributions. This year’s cap for these contributions is $120,000.

You can keep track of your non-concessional contributions through your ATO account. Simply log in to your myGov account, select your linked ATO account, then Super, then Information, then Non-concessional contributions.

Under the non-concessional contribution cap rules, you can also bring forward the cap from the next two years if you are under 75 and your super balance is less than $1.66 million at the end of the previous financial year.

If you go over the concessional contributions cap, your excess concessional contributions will count towards your non-concessional contributions cap unless you have the funds released.

Before the end of the financial year rolls around, it’s a great time to consider whether you want to take advantage of any remaining part of the concessional contribution cap by making additional before-tax contributions.*

The concessional contribution cap for this financial year is $30,000.

You can check where you’re up to with concessional contributions through your ATO account. Simply log in to your myGov account, select your linked ATO account, then Super, then Information, then Concessional contributions.

Concessional contributions are taxed in your super fund at 15% and avoid income tax.

They work out as a tax effective way to save because if you earn over $45,000 a year your income tax rate is 30% or more.

If you plan to make concessional contributions this year, don’t get caught out by missing your payroll cut-off or by contributing too close to the end of the financial year.

*If your before tax income is above $260,869.56 this financial year, and your employer contributes the full 11.5% superannuation guarantee, this will use up all of this year’s concessional contribution cap. This means you can only make additional concessional contributions this year if you meet the rules to use unused cap amounts from prior years.

You can claim a tax deduction for your personal super contributions if they fall under the concessional contribution cap.

All you need to do is give your super fund notice and get an acknowledgement from the fund.

You can give us notice through your online account. Simply log in, click on ‘Contributions’, and then select ‘Notice of intent to claim a tax deduction’ and follow the prompts. You can also notify us using the approved ATO form.

There are some other eligibility criteria you must meet to claim a tax deduction on super contributions, all the information can be found on the ATO website.

You can also carry forward any unused concessional contribution cap amounts from the past 5 years, and add them to your contribution cap, depending on your super balance.

You’re eligible to carry forward unused concessional contributions cap amounts from previous years if your super balance was below $500,000 at 30 June 2024.

If you are 55 or older, you may be able to contribute up to $300,000 from the proceeds of the sale (or part sale) of your home into your super fund.

Downsizer contributions work like non-concessional contributions in terms of tax, but they don’t count towards the non-concessional contribution cap.

Criteria to be eligible to make a downsizer contribution include that you or your spouse must have owned your home for at least 10 years prior to the sale and it must have been a main residence. You also need to make the contribution within 90 days of receiving the proceeds from the sale.

This government scheme allows you to save money for your first home in your super fund.

Those eligible for the First Home Super Saver scheme can make voluntary contributions, both before-tax concessional and after-tax non-concessional, into their super fund to save for their first home.

If you meet the eligibility requirements, you can have these voluntary contributions released from your super fund. Your savings are released up to a limit, along with associated earnings, to help you purchase your first home.

In total, your super fund can release up to $50,000 worth of voluntary contributions to help you buy a home if you are eligible for the First Home Super Saver scheme.

You can make voluntary contributions towards this scheme of up to $15,000 each financial year until you reach a total of $50,000.

Read more about the First Home Super Saver Scheme

The government’s co-contribution scheme helps give the super balances of low and middle income earners a little boost.

If you earn less than $60,400 this financial year and make personal non-concessional (after-tax) contributions to your super fund, the government may also make a contribution of up to a maximum of $500.

There are some additional criteria to qualify for the scheme, you can read all about it here.

If you earn up to $37,000 this year, you may be eligible to receive a low income super tax offset (LISTO) payment of up to $500.

You don't need to do anything to receive a LISTO payment. Just make sure your super fund has your tax file number (and complete your tax return).

The LISTO is 15% of the concessional super contributions you or your employer pays into your super fund, that includes the superannuation guarantee, up to $500.

It’s designed to ensure those on lower incomes don't pay more tax on their super contributions than on their take-home pay.

If you’ve got questions about tax time, contributions or anything else don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our smartCoaches!

Phone: 1300 262 241

Email: smartcoach@smartmonday.com.au