Before-tax Super Contributions Cap

• You can generally contribute up to $27,500 each financial year (as of the 2023-24 financial year)
• These contributions are taxed at 15%
• If you earn over $250,000, you may pay an extra 15% tax – so in total, you’ll pay 30% tax on some or all of the contributions

If you go over the before-tax cap

Any contributions you make over the cap will be taxed at your marginal rate, less a 15% tax rebate. You may also be charged interest.

At the end of the financial year, the ATO will give you the option to:

• withdraw up to 85% of your excess contributions for the financial year. (Note: This doesn’t apply to Death Benefit Division members)
• Leave your excess contributions in your super. These will then count towards your after-tax contributions cap

Carry forward unused cap amounts

You may also be able to carry forward unused portions of your before-tax contribution cap over a rolling five-year period. If eligible, you’ll need to have:

• A total super balance of less than $500,000 across all your super accounts at 30 June of the previous financial year
• Contributed less than the before-tax contributions cap from up to five previous years (but not before the 2018-19 financial year).

After-tax Super Contributions Cap

• You can generally contribution up to $110,000 in after-tax contributions each financial year (as of the 2023-24 financial year) without having to pay extra tax
• Your total super balance, as at 30 June of the previous financial year, must be less than your personal total super balance (currently between $1.6 and $1.9 million depending on your circumstances)
• If there are excess before-tax contributions in your super, they count towards your after-tax contributions cap as well

If you go over the after-tax cap

Any contributions you make over this limit will be tax at 47% (as of the 2023-24 financial year).

If you go over the cap, at the end of the financial year, the ATO will give you the option to:

• Withdraw the amounts over the limit along with 85% of any associated earnings
• Leave your excess contributions in your super. These will be taxed at the highest marginal rate

Note: Some types of after-tax contributions, like downsizer contributions, Covid-19 early release of super re-contributions, aren’t included in the cap.

Bring forward unused cap amounts

If you’re under 75 and you go over the cap, you may be able to bring forward up to three years of after-tax contributions. The amount you can bring forward depends on your total super balance at 30 June of the previous financial year. The following table represents the bring forward arrangement for a total super balance of $1.9 million.