From the 2019-20 year, the ATO has brought in ‘carry-forward’ rules which allow you to make extra concessional contributions, above that year’s general contributions cap, without having to pay the excess contributions tax.
This arrangement involves using concessional cap amounts from previous years that were not used to their full extent.
What are Concessional Contributions?
Concessional Contributions are contributions made into your super fund before tax. They are taxed at 15% in your super fund and are made up of your employer paid Super Guarantee (9.5% for the 2021 year) and any Salary Sacrifice arrangement amounts.
Normally these amounts are capped at a certain threshold, and if you go over that amount, you are charged excess contributions tax. From 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2021, the concessional contribution cap for each year is $25,000. From 1 July 2021, the concessional contributions cap is $27,500.
Eligibility
- Your total super balance at the end of 30 June of the previous financial year is less than $500,000.
- You made concessional contributions in the financial year that exceeded your general concessional contributions cap.
How to view the Carry Forward
You can view and manage your concessional contributions and carry forward amounts using the ATO myGov website.
Log in to ATO online services, select Super, then navigate to Carry-forward concessional contributions. From here you can view your contributions made, amounts remaining to be used and other important information.
From here you can view your contributions made, amounts remaining to be used and other important information.
Traps
- Contributions are counted in the year in which the super fund receives the amount. This can take anywhere up to 5 business days to process from your bank account into the fund.
- Unused cap amounts are available for a maximum of five years and will expire after this. For example, a 2018–19 unused cap amount which is not used by the end of 2023–24 will expire.
- If you go over the amount of the Unused cap for your concessional contributions, you will be charged excess contributions tax
- The amount of a Salary Sacrifice contribution to your super fund also includes Super Guarantee on top.
E.g. If you wanted to contribute a total of $10,000 to your super fund, it would be split as $9,132 Salary Sacrifice and $868 Super Guarantee (Using the 9.5% rate for 2021)
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