While many of us receive regular superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions from our employer into our super account, making your own additional contributions now will give your super balance an extra boost and may save you tax.
One way to do this is to make personal contributions and claim a tax deduction in your tax return. Eligibility conditions apply, including a work test for people aged between 67 and 75 (more precisely, until 28 days after the month in which they turned 75).
We recommend speaking to your financial adviser before making additional contributions to your superannuation.
Why make personal deductible contributions?
Personal deductible contributions allow you to claim a tax deduction to reduce your taxable income, which may save you tax.
The contributions are taxed at 15% in the super fund, instead of at your personal marginal income tax rate.
Most people’s personal income tax rate is higher than 15%, so they may benefit from a net tax saving as a result of this difference.
Example – Tax treatment of a personal deductible contribution Marnie’s taxable income is $150,000. This means her marginal income tax rate is 37% plus 2% Medicare levy. If she makes a personal contribution of $10,000 and claims a tax deduction for the full amount, her super fund will pay $1,500 of contributions tax (15%) instead of her paying $3,900 of personal income tax (39%). She’ll forgo $6,100 of after-tax money ($10,000 minus $3,900 personal income tax) but her super balance will be boosted by $8,500 (contribution net of contributions tax) resulting in a net benefit of $2,400. |
Concessional contributions
Making personal deductible contributions is one way you can make concessional contributions.
Concessional contributions also include contributions your employer makes, for example, Superannuation Guarantee contributions.
You can also make concessional contributions under a salary sacrifice arrangement. This is an agreement between you and your employer for you to receive less income in return for extra superannuation contributions.
These contributions are called ‘concessional’ because they’re taxed in the super fund at 15% instead of being taxed at your marginal rate.
Low-income earners (those with adjusted taxable income1 of $37,000 or less) may be eligible for a Low-Income Superannuation Tax Offset which compensates them for this tax.
High income earners (those with income2 plus concessional contributions of more than $250,000) may have to pay additional tax of up to 15% on their concessional contributions, known as Division 293 tax.
Claiming tax deductions for your contributions
To be eligible to claim a tax deduction for your personal contributions, you (or your adviser on your behalf) must give a notice of intent to claim a tax deduction to your super fund within certain timeframes. Eligibility may also be affected by various factors including your age, whether you meet the work test and level of taxable income.
To claim a tax deduction, you or your adviser must submit a deduction notice before:
- you lodge your income tax return (for the year in which the contribution was made), and
- the end of the financial year following that in which the contribution was made.
In addition, a deduction notice for personal contributions will be invalid and can’t be accepted by your super fund if:
- all or part of the contribution has been covered by an earlier valid notice
- at the time you submit the notice, you’re no longer a member of the fund
- at the time you submit the notice, we no longer hold the contributions (for example because you’ve withdrawn some or all of the money from your account)
- at the time you submit the notice, you’ve started a pension with some or all of the money you’d contributed, or
- you've applied to split the contributions with your spouse (and your super fund has accepted your application)
A deduction notice can be changed but only to reduce the amount you’re claiming as a tax deduction (including to $0). It’s important to note that a variation must generally be lodged within the same timeframes as a deduction notice itself and will be invalid under the same circumstances listed above.
Concessional contributions cap
Contribution caps help to keep the superannuation tax arrangements affordable for the government. The concessional contributions cap is an annual limit on the total amount of concessional contributions that you can make. In the 2025/26 financial year, this cap is $30,000. This cap is increasing to $32,500 for the 2026/27 financial year.
Making extra concessional contributions – carry forward rule
If you haven’t been contributing up to the annual cap in the past five financial years, you may be able to make extra concessional contributions in the current or a future financial year. To be eligible for this special carry forward rule, your total superannuation balance3 must be less than $500,000 at 30 June of the previous financial year (ie 30 June 2025 for the 2025/26 financial year). To learn more about how the carry forward rule works, visit the ATO website or speak with your adviser. You can check your available carry forward concessional contribution amounts by logging into ATO online services through your myGov account.
How to make concessional contributions
You can make personal contributions into your Macquarie Wrap superannuation account via:
- BPAY®
- electronic funds transfer (EFT), or
- direct debit.
To read more about these options, you can visit Contributions and deposits on the Help Centre.
More information
To learn more about personal deductible contributions, visit the ATO website or speak with your adviser.
Other ways of contributing
If you work as an employee, ask your employer how to put in place a salary sacrifice arrangement. This may benefit people who like the convenience of having regular contributions deducted from employment income before receiving it. If you haven’t already set up a salary sacrifice arrangement, putting one in place by 1 July means you’ll reap the benefits over the full upcoming financial year. To learn more about salary sacrifice, visit the ATO website or speak with your adviser.