Making a personal voluntary contribution to superannuation before 30 June may allow you to claim a tax deduction, reducing your taxable income for the 2025-26 financial year. There are specific rules around eligibility, contribution caps, and an often-missed form requirement that affects whether the deduction can be claimed at all.
This article covers what personal super contributions are, how the tax deduction works, what the Notice of Intent to Claim form is and when it must be submitted, and a few other strategies worth considering before the financial year closes.
This content is general in nature. What is appropriate will depend on your personal circumstances, income, super balance, and tax position.
A personal deductible contribution is a voluntary contribution you make to your superannuation fund from your own after-tax income, which you then intend to claim as a tax deduction.
When claimed, the contribution is treated as a concessional contribution. It is taxed at 15% inside your super fund, rather than at your marginal income tax rate. For most working Australians, the gap between their marginal rate and 15% is where the potential tax saving sits.
The actual outcome will depend on your full income, deductions, and personal circumstances.
The concessional contributions cap for 2025-26 is $30,000. This cap covers all before-tax contributions, including employer super guarantee payments, any salary sacrifice contributions, and personal contributions you intend to claim as a deduction. All count toward the same cap.
This means your available space for a personal deductible contribution is generally less than $30,000, once employer contributions are accounted for.
If your total super balance was under $500,000 at 30 June 2025, you may be able to access unused concessional cap amounts from the previous five financial years. This could allow a significantly larger contribution than the standard $30,000 cap.
One important point: unused cap amounts from the 2020-21 financial year expire permanently on 30 June 2026. They cannot be carried forward into future years. If you have unused cap space from that year, this is the last year to use it.
Your available carry-forward amounts can be checked through your myGov account under the ATO section.
Making the contribution before 30 June is only part of the process. To claim the tax deduction, you must also submit a Notice of Intent to Claim or Vary a Deduction for Personal Super Contributions form to your super fund.
This is an official ATO form. Without it, the deduction cannot be claimed, even if the contribution was made on time.
The Notice of Intent must be submitted:
Once your fund receives the form, they must acknowledge receipt in writing. Keep that acknowledgement, as you will need it when lodging your tax return.
The order of steps matters: make the contribution before 30 June, submit the NOI before lodging your tax return, then claim the deduction.
Super contributions do not sit in isolation from the rest of your tax position. The timing and size of a contribution may interact with other income events in ways that are worth understanding before acting.
A personal deductible contribution may be particularly relevant if you have had a higher-income year, including income events such as a capital gain from an investment property sale. In some cases, a contribution may reduce taxable income back into a lower bracket, with the difference between the marginal tax rate and the 15% contributions tax inside super representing a potential saving.
Whether this applies to your situation depends on your income, available cap space, super balance, and whether any capital gain qualifies for the 50% CGT discount, which generally applies where the asset was held for more than 12 months.
These decisions can have tax, superannuation, cash flow, and investment implications. Speaking with an adviser before acting is worthwhile.
If you have already maximised concessional contributions, or if a tax deduction is not your primary objective, after-tax, or non-concessional contributions, may be worth considering.
The non-concessional contributions cap for 2025-26 is $120,000 per year, provided your total super balance is under $2 million. If you are eligible for the bring-forward rule, it may be possible to contribute up to $360,000 across a three-year window in a single year.
After-tax contributions do not reduce taxable income, but they do move money into an environment where investment earnings are generally taxed at a maximum of 15%, which may support long-term wealth accumulation.
Unused concessional contributions let you top up your super if you didn’t use the full cap in any of the past five financial years. You can carry forward the unused amounts, and this is known as the Carry-Forward Rule. (2025-2026 financial year, the concessional cap is $30,000)
To be eligible, your total super balance must be under $500,000 at the end of the previous financial year to access the unused concessional contribution.
Before making additional super contributions, it may be helpful to check:
For many people, the financial picture around EOFY is more involved than it first appears. A salary that changed during the year. A carried-forward cap that has not been checked. An investment sale with a capital gain that could interact with a super contribution. Insurance held inside super that has not been reviewed.
None of this is unusual. These are the kinds of things that accumulate quietly over time, and that tend to become clearer when you look at everything together before 30 June rather than after.
If you would like to review your contribution strategy, check your available cap space, or make sure the Notice of Intent process is handled correctly, our team can help.
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Yes, provided you meet the eligibility conditions. You need to make the contribution before 30 June 2026 and submit a Notice of Intent to Claim form to your super fund before you lodge your tax return. Once your fund acknowledges the form in writing, you can claim the contribution as a deduction on your personal income tax return. The contribution is then treated as a concessional contribution and taxed at 15% inside super.
The carry-forward rule allows you to use unused concessional contribution cap amounts from the previous five financial years, provided your total super balance was under $500,000 at 30 June of the prior year. This can increase your available cap above the standard $30,000 for 2025-26. Any unused cap from the 2020-21 financial year expires permanently on 30 June 2026 and cannot be accessed in future years.
If the Notice of Intent is not submitted before lodging your tax return, or before one of the other triggering conditions applies, you lose the ability to claim the tax deduction on that contribution. Getting the steps in the right order is important.
Is there a limit on after-tax super contributions in Australia?
Yes. The non-concessional contributions cap for 2025-26 is $120,000 per year if your total super balance is under $2 million. If you are eligible for the bring-forward rule, it may be possible to contribute up to $360,000 across a three-year period in a single year. Eligibility depends on your balance and age. Consider seeking advice before making a large non-concessional contribution.