Personal deductible super contributions
If you make a personal super contribution, you may be able to claim the contribution as a tax deduction and reduce your taxable income.
The contribution will generally be taxed in the fund at the concessional rate of up to 15%, instead of your marginal tax rate which could be up to 47%. Depending on your circumstances, this strategy could result in a tax saving of up to 32% and enable you to increase your super.
Concessional contributions caps
Personal deductible super contributions like super guarantee and salary sacrifice contributions count towards your concessional contribution cap. An annual cap on concessional contributions applies each financial year. The concessional contributions cap for the 2021/2022 financial year is $27,500 but if your total super balance last 30 June 2021 was less than $500,000 your concessional cap may be higher In fact, your concessional cap might be over $100,000 if your fund has not received a concessional contribution in the last few years.
Carry forward concessional contributions
Your unused concessional contributions cap can be carried forward for up to five years allowing a concessional contribution greater than $27,500. Unused concessional contributions from the 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years can be used in the current financial year if your total super balance at 30 June 2021 is less than $500,000.
Opportunity
Now may be a good opportunity to use any available carry forward concessional contributions to reduce your tax and build super for retirement. For example, you may have realised a large capital gain, received a large bonus or simply received a pay rise and would like to make a larger deductible super contribution.
How can you claim the deduction?
To be eligible to claim the super contribution as a tax deduction, you need to submit a valid ‘Notice of Intent’ form to your super fund.
You will also need to receive an acknowledgement from the super fund before you complete your tax return, start a pension, withdraw or rollover money from the fund to which you made your personal contribution.
Make sure you can utilise the deduction – as it is generally not tax effective to claim a tax deduction
for an amount that reduces your assessable income to a point where you are not paying any tax. This is because you would end up paying more tax on the super contribution than you would save from claiming the deduction.
If you have any questions please contact your financial adviser