Important Year-End Super Considerations for 2025-26
Personal Contributions
If you wish to maximise your personal contributions in 2025/26, please carefully review the limits and information provided below.
Please note there is an increase in the contribution limits taking effect from 1 July 2026 AND there will be an increase in the Total Superannuation Balance threshold from $2.m to $2.1m. This threshold is relevant when considering non-concessional contributions and also affects how much can be transferred into the tax-free retirement phase.
| Financial Year | Concessional Cap (pre-tax) | Non-concessional Cap (after tax) |
| (Employer / Salary Sacrifice / Personal Deductible) | (Personal After Tax ) | |
| 2025/26 | $30,000 | $120,000 |
| 2026/27 | $32,500 | $130,000 |
Concessional Contributions
Your contributions must be received in your super fund before 30 June 2026 to ensure that:
- you are eligible to claim a deduction in 2025/26 for your contributions;
- the contributions are counted against your limit in the correct financial year.
Please remember that 30 June 2026 falls on a Tuesday so please do not leave your contributions until the last minute. They need to be cleared in the fund’s bank account on 30 June. Please allow at least three days for any interbank transfer to occur. If making contributions to a retail or industry super fund please ensure your contributions are made by 19 June to ensure they are allocated to your member account by 30 June.
Be sure to double check the amount of actual employer or personal contributions already received / due to be received in your super fund before making any top up contributions.
‘Catch Up’ Concessional Contributions
The ‘Catch Up’ contributions rules allow a person with a super balance of less than $500,000 as at 30 June 2025 to make a personal concessional contribution in 2025/26 equal to the unused amount of the concessional contribution limits applicable from 2020/21 to 2024/25. Please note that 2025/26 is the last year in which any unused contributions from 2020/21 can be claimed as they drop off after five years.
| Financial Year | Applicable limit |
| 2020/21 | $25,000 |
| 2021/22 | $27,500 |
| 2022/23 | $27,500 |
| 2023/24 | $27,500 |
| 2024/25 | $30,000 |
For example, Sam had employer contributions of $15,000 for 2020/21, $17,500 p.a for 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 and $20,000 for 2024/25 . This means Sam has a total of $50,000 in unused or ‘catch up’ contributions. His total superannuation balance at 30 June 2025 was $420,000. If Sam has higher than normal taxable income in 2025/26, due to say, a capital gain then, in addition to his current year 2025/26 contributions he can contribute an extra $50,000 as a personal concessional contribution before 30 June 2026 and claim a deduction for it to reduce his taxable income. Please contact us if you want to check your unused catch up contribution amount.
Work Test
Any person aged 67-74 must meet the work test before they can claim a tax deduction for a personal contribution. To satisfy the work test, you must work at least 40 hours in a consecutive 30 day period at some time during 2025/26.
Any person aged 75 or older is unable to make personal contributions, their super fund can only accept mandated employer contributions (i.e. superannuation guarantee amounts) on their behalf.
Non-Concessional Contributions
It is possible to ‘bring forward’ up to 3 years of contributions in 2025/26 if you were under age 75 on 1 July 2025 and your total superannuation balance at 30 June 2025 was within the thresholds noted below:
| Total Super Balance as at 30 June 2025 | Age <75 on 1 July 2025 |
| Your Total Super Balance is the combined total of all balances in super funds of which you are a member | |
| Less than $1,760,000 | $360,000 |
| Greater than $1,760,000 but less than $1,880,000 | $240,000 |
| Greater than $1,880,000 but less than $2,000,000 | $120,000 |
| Greater than $2,000,000 | $0 |
Please note for planning purposes that the contribution limits and the bring forward thresholds will change on 1 July 2026 with effect for 2026/27.
Related reading
Strategy Tip
- If looking to maximise super contributions, consider contributing no more than $120,000 in 2025/26 to enable a contribution of up to $390,000 in 2026/27, provided all eligibility criteria are met.
- If wanting to equalise super balances between spouses, consider a withdrawal from the high balance and a contribution into the low balance. This is useful for optimising the member balances to take full advantage of the pension cap and various eligibility provisions associated with a person’s total superannuation balance. It also has the effect of lowering the ‘taxable’ portion of that member’s benefit which reduces any future tax payable on death benefits received by the beneficiaries. Please talk to us if you are keen to learn more about these rules.
Minimum Pension 2025/26
If you are in pension phase, please check to ensure you have withdrawn your minimum pension for this financial year before 30 June 2026. Where these requirements are not met your fund will be subject to 15% tax on its pension asset investment earnings, rather than being tax-free.
For our SMSF clients, the amount would have been notified to you in the completion letter in the FY25 financials package. We are actively checking to see if you have withdrawn your pension but please contact us if you are unsure of your minimum pension payment for 2025/26.
CONTACT US if you would like to discuss any of the above strategies in more detail.