Claiming a tax deduction for personal super contributions

Personal super contributions are the amounts you contribute to your super fund from your after-tax income (that is, from your take-home pay).

These contributions:

• are in addition to any compulsory super contributions your employer makes on your behalf
• do not include super contributions made through a salary-sacrifice arrangement.

Personal contributions are non-concessional (after-tax) contributions and will count towards your non-concessional contributions cap unless you have claimed a tax deduction for them. 

 

How to claim the deduction

From 1 July 2017, most people, regardless of their employment arrangement, will be able to claim a full deduction for personal super contributions they make to their super until they turn 75. Individuals who are aged between 65 and 74 will need to meet the work test or work test exemption criteria (which apply from 1 July 2019) to be eligible to claim the deduction.

If you wish to claim a tax deduction for personal contributions, you must have:

• made the personal super contributions to an eligible super fund
• given your super fund a valid Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal super contributions form by the earlier of
  • the day you lodge your tax return for the year in which you made the contributions
  • the end of the income year following the one in which you made the contributions
• received written acknowledgment of the Notice of Intent from the super fund. An annual member statement or payment summary from your employer is not an acknowledgement of the Notice of Intent.

Personal super contributions that you claim as a deduction will count towards your concessional contributions cap. 

 

When do I complete the notice of intent?

Your super fund may request the information in this notice of intent as part of another form. If they don’t request this information, use this notice to advise them of your intent to claim a deduction.

You must give a notice of intent to claim a deduction to your super fund on or before whichever of the following days occurs earliest, either:

• the day you lodge your tax return for the year in which the contributions were made
• the last day of the income year after the income year in which you made the contributions.

You can apply to vary a previous valid notice of intent if:

• you have not yet lodged your tax return and it is on or before 30 June in the financial year following the year you made the contribution
• The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) have disallowed your claim for a deduction and you are applying to reduce the amount claimed as a deduction by the amount that they have disallowed.

 

What happens next

Once you lodge your ‘Notice of Intent’ and receive your acknowledgment, your super fund will report this to the ATO, usually within 10 business days. The ATO will use this information to confirm your eligibility to claim a Personal Superannuation Contributions.

The ATO will match the amount reported by your super fund to the amount you claimed as a deduction. If they detect differences, they may remove or adjust your deduction in your 2019 tax return.

Source: Australian Taxation Office

 

Further help

If you’d like to know more about how this affects you, please speak to our specialist superannuation team.  You can contact us for a chat about your needs on (07) 3023 4800 or at mail@marshpartners.com.au.

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