You could reduce your income tax by making personal contributions from your take home pay to your super. You can then claim a tax deduction when you submit your tax return with the ATO.
Key points
- Personal contributions are after-tax payments to your super account.
- You can claim these as a tax deduction if you meet certain conditions.
- The tax deduction reduces your taxable income, and your contributions are taxed at the concessional rate of 15 %
- Before you claim your after-tax contribution, you need to complete a Notice of Intent
- You claim your tax deduction when you complete your tax return. You can do this through MyGov or your accountant.
When you can claim your tax deduction
You can claim your tax deduction when submitting your tax return with the ATO. You’ll need to let us know in writing that you plan to claim a deduction with your tax return. We will send you a letter confirming we’ve received your notice. You’ll need this letter for your tax return:
- before you lodge your tax return for that year, or
- before 30 June of the following year.
Contribution caps
When you claim a tax deduction, your after-tax contribution is converted to a before-tax contribution. This counts towards your annual concessional contributions cap.
When you decide how much you want to add to your super, keep your contribution caps in mind. Concessional contributions are made before-tax.
You can contribute up to $27,500 each financial year. These contributions include:
- Employer contributions, including the super guarantee,
- salary sacrifice, and
- personal concessional contributions.
If you have multiple super accounts, the total of all your concessional contributions across your super accounts together is included in your concessional contribution cap of $27,500.
The government also allows you to use catch up concessional contributions. These contributions let you add more to your super if you haven’t reached the cap in previous years.
All your contributions are added up and count towards your caps.
If you go over the cap, you might pay extra tax.
Are you eligible to claim a tax deduction?
You’ll need to meet the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requirements to claim a deduction.
You can claim a tax deduction if you:
- made personal contributions to your super
- meet the age-related conditions
- have given us a valid notice of intent on time
- have received a confirmation letter from us about your Notice of Intent
Find out if you meet the conditions to claim a tax deduction
How to claim a tax deduction on your contributions
Once you have checked you meet the criteria you can claim your deduction in a few steps online. Contact us if you need help.
- Complete the Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal contributions via your Member Online account.
- Receive your letter of acknowledgement. We will send you a letter telling you we have received your valid notice. You’ll need this letter before claiming the tax return deduction.
- You can then claim this deduction when you complete your tax return.
- On your tax return, make sure you claim the amount of money you stated on your Notice of Intent.
Changing your claim amount
The ATO will let you change the amount you want to claim. You can change your amount by sending us a new Notice of Intent. We’ll send you a letter to confirm the new amount.
- To reduce the claim amount, fill out the variation section of the form. If you don’t want to claim any deductions, reduce your amount to nil.
- To increase the claim amount, you need to complete the form and specify the additional amount to increase the claim amount. This will be added to the amount in your original Notice of Intent.
- You can change the amount on your claim up until the due date of submitting your claim.
Where to next?
Need guidance or advice?
We offer a range of advice options to suit your needs. Our experienced planners can help improve the way you manage your money and plan for the future.
Contribution caps
There are limits, or ‘caps’, on how much you can contribute to your super each year. If you go over the cap, you could end up paying more in tax.
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