Australia personal super contribution deductions
This explanation covers personal super contribution deductions in Australia, using the published government rules and their stated scope.
On this page
- Contribution treatment
- Personal contributions are amounts paid directly to a super fund, in addition to compulsory employer contributions. They do not include salary-sacrifice contributions.ATO personal super contributions
- Notice and acknowledgment
- A deduction requires a valid notice of intent in the approved form and a written acknowledgment from the fund before the deduction is claimed in the tax return.ATO personal super contributions
Contribution treatment
Personal contributions are amounts paid directly to a super fund, in addition to compulsory employer contributions. They do not include salary-sacrifice contributions. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
Personal contributions claimed as a deduction are concessional contributions and count towards the concessional contributions cap. Contributions not claimed as a deduction are non-concessional. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
Notice and acknowledgment
A deduction requires a valid notice of intent in the approved form and a written acknowledgment from the fund before the deduction is claimed in the tax return. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
The notice is due by the earlier of the day the return for the contribution year is lodged and the end of the following income year. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
Notice validity
The member must still belong to the fund and the fund must still hold the contribution. A notice is not valid after the entire super interest has been rolled over or withdrawn. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
A notice cannot cover contributions already used for a super income stream, covered by a previous notice, included in a contributions-splitting application or released under the first home super saver scheme. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
Age and work restrictions
A person under 18 at the end of the contribution income year can claim only if they also earned income as an employee or business operator during that year. People aged 67 to 74 must meet the work test or its exemption to claim a deduction. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
The work test requires at least 40 hours of work during a consecutive 30-day period in the income year. Its one-off exemption requires meeting the test in the previous income year, a previous year-end total super balance below A$300,000 and no previous use of the exemption. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
For a person aged 75 or older, a deduction is available only for contributions made before the 28th day of the month following the month in which they turned 75. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
Excluded contributions and claim amount
Employer contributions, salary-sacrifice contributions, rolled-over benefits, downsizer contributions and recontributed first home super saver amounts cannot be claimed as personal contribution deductions. Certain untaxed and defined benefit funds are also excluded. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
A deduction can only be claimed in whole dollars. Residual cents remain non-concessional contributions and count towards that cap. ATO personal super contributions (opens in a new tab).
This general explanation provides no personal eligibility decision, contribution estimate, tax calculation or recommendation. No numerical worked example is provided.