Superannuation contributions explained

The types of contributions

Superannuation contributions are divided into two main types, concessional and non-concessional, depending on how they get taxed.

The information below outlines the main types of concessional and non-concessional contributions.

Concessional contributions

These are contributions made from your pay before income tax has been calculated and deducted. They're taxed in your super fund at a concessional rate of 15% (up to the concessional contributions cap, which is described in more detail later).

Superannuation Guarantee (SG)

If you are an employee and meet the Australian Government's eligibility criteria, you are entitled to receive regular superannuation contributions, made on your behalf by your employer. The minimum amount your employer is required to contribute to your superannuation is set by legislation and is known as the Superannuation Guarantee. Superannuation Guarantee percentages by financial year are available on the ATO’s website.

If you would like to have your SG contributions paid into your Living Super account, all you need to do is complete a 'Super Choice form’ available here and submit this to your employer.

Salary Sacrifice

Salary sacrifice is an arrangement with your employer, whereby you ask them to pay part of your pre-tax salary or wages directly into your super fund instead of to you.

Salary sacrifice contributions are taxed in the super fund at a maximum rate of 15%. For most people, this tax rate is lower than the marginal tax rate they pay on their take-home salary.

Talk to your employer if you'd like to set up a salary sacrifice arrangement.

Personal contributions for which you claim a tax deduction

You can make personal contributions (made from your after-tax income) to your super account and may then be able to claim a tax deduction in your tax return.

You must have provided us with your Tax File Number (TFN) when making the contribution. If your TFN is not provided before or at the time of making the contribution, your contribution may attract additional tax.

To make personal contributions, you can set up a Direct Debit, make a payment via BPAY® or send us a cheque. Find the details by logging into ING, then clicking on your superannuation account and selecting ‘Employer and Personal Contributions' from the menu on the left.

To claim these contributions as a tax deduction, you need to provide us with a Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal contributions or equivalent form.

You can do this online:

1. Log into ING online banking, using your client number and access code

2. Select your super account

3. Select ‘My Super Finances’, then ‘Notice of Intent’.

Alternatively, you can send us a completed ‘Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal contributions’ or equivalent form via email livingsuper@onesuper.com.au or mailing address:

Living Super
Reply Paid 93910
Melbourne VIC 3001

(Handy hint: be sure to complete all fields on your form and physically sign the form in ink pen so there’s no processing hiccups.)

You need to do this before you complete your tax return or before 30 June of the financial year following the year you made the contributions (whichever occurs earlier) and we need to accept and acknowledge it before you can claim your tax deduction. If you’re planning to close your account, start a TTR or pension account, or split contributions with your spouse, make sure we have acknowledged and accepted your Notice of Intent before you make these changes.

Non-concessional contributions:

These are after-tax contributions. No tax is payable when you make these contributions into your super account (subject to the non-concessional contributions cap) because you've already paid income tax on them.

Personal contributions for which you don't claim a tax deduction

You can contribute from your after-tax income to your Living Super account and count towards your non-concessional contributions cap unless you have claimed a tax deduction for them.

To make personal contributions, you can set up a Direct Debit, make a payment via BPAY® or send us a cheque. Find the details by logging into ING, then clicking on your superannuation account and selecting ‘Employer and Personal Contributions' from the menu on the left.

Government co-contributions

If you earn less than a set threshold in a financial year and make after-tax contributions (i.e. from your take-home pay) for which you don't claim a tax deduction, you may be eligible to receive a co-contribution from the Government. For more information, see the ATO’s website.

Spouse contributions

Your spouse may make contributions to your super account. The contribution must be paid from an account in your spouse's name or a joint account where your spouse is an account holder.

To make spouse contributions, both you and your spouse must be Australian residents when the contributions are made, you must be living together and a personal tax deduction is not being claimed on the contribution.

If you earn below a set threshold and your spouse makes an after-tax contribution to your account, they may be eligible for a tax offset.

For more information, see the ATO's website.

Annual contribution caps

The Australian government sets caps on the amount of contributions you can make to your super account each year.

If the total amount of contributions made during the financial year exceeds the annual caps, you may have to pay excess contributions tax.

Concessional contributions cap

The concessional contribution cap for each year is shown on the ATO's website.

This cap may be higher if you did not use the full amount of your cap in earlier years because you can carry forward unused concessional contributions to the next year.

You can check your available concessional contributions cap using the ATO's online services accessed via myGov.

Carry-forward arrangement for unused concessional contributions

From 1 July 2018, you can catch up on concessional contributions going back five financial years if you haven't fully utilised the caps.

To qualify, your total superannuation balance at the end of the previous financial year mustn’t exceed the threshold as described on the ATO’s website.

To find out what happens if you exceed your concessional contributions cap, refer to the section ‘If you exceed your concessional contributions cap' on the ATO website.

Non-concessional contributions cap

See the ATO’s website for more information on the non-concessional contributions cap.

Your cap might be different depending on your circumstances. It can be:

Bring-forward arrangement for non-concessional contributions

You may be able to make non-concessional contributions of up to three times the annual non-concessional contributions cap in that financial year.

Eligibility for the bring-forward arrangement depends on your total super balance on 30 June of the previous financial year.

For more detail, refer to the ‘Bring forward arrangements' section on the ATO website.

To find out what happens if you exceed your non-concessional contributions cap, refer to the section ‘If you exceed your non-concessional contributions cap' on the ATO website.

Age restrictions on contribution types

Your eligibility to make superannuation contributions is based on your age and the type of contribution that you, your employer or spouse wishes to make.

Please refer to the section ‘Age restrictions on contributions' on the ATO website.

Other Contributions

The ATO also allows for the below contributions to be made into superannuation:

These contributions are subject to their own criteria. Please refer to the ATO's website for more information on how to make these contributions.

Re-contributing

You may have withdrawn money from your super under the 'COVID-19 early release' arrangement and want to re-contribute some or all of this money. If that's the case, you should read the relevant information about re-contributions on the ATO website.

If you're unsure about the different contribution options and whether these are right for you, we suggest talking to a financial planner.