08/06/2026
If your super balance is under $500,000, you may be sitting on years of unused concessional cap space that you can contribute today โ but a quirk of the rules means you could lose access to the oldest year's cap if you don't act before 30 June 2026.
๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐-๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฏ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ
Every Australian can contribute up to $30,000 per year into super as concessional (pre-tax) contributions. Any unused portion carries forward for up to five financial years, and you can "catch up" in a future year when you have the cash โ as long as your total super balance was under $500,000 at the prior 30 June.
That means in FY2025/26, you can potentially access unused cap space going all the way back to FY2020/21. Across five years, that's a significant amount of extra concessional cap on top of this year's $30,000.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐บ๐ถ๐๐
The carry-forward window rolls forward every year โ and to keep the oldest year in play, you need to have maxed out your concessional contributions in the current year.
๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐
This is especially relevant if you had low or no concessional contributions in FY2020/21 โ a year when COVID disrupted employment and income for many people โ or if you're self-employed with irregular super contributions, or took time out of the workforce for parental leave, study, or illness.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
Log into MyGov and check your carry-forward cap balances under the ATO section. If you have unused amounts from FY2020/21 and you're in a position to use the cap space now, a personal deductible contribution before year-end can be a powerful way to reduce your taxable income while boosting your super balance.
๐๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ: ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ค๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ถ๐ฎ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐บ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ญ๐ข๐ธ๐ด. ๐๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต.
