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Contribution caps

Limits apply to the amount you and your employer can contribute to your super each financial year. Exceed the limits and you could pay more tax.

What are contribution caps?

Contribution caps are limits the Australian Government puts on amounts you can contribute to your super without paying extra tax. There are different caps for your concessional (before tax) and non-concessional (after tax) contributions.

All contributions you make to any super fund during the financial year count towards your caps.

The simplest way to track concessional contributions to your Brighter Super Accumulation account  is by logging into Member Online, where your account dashboard will display your contribution totals for the financial year.

To view contributions across multiple funds, you will need to log in to your MyGov account.

Concessional contributions cap

A concessional contributions cap of $30,000 per annum applies to all individuals regardless of age (2025/26). All concessional contributions are taxed at 15% when they are paid into your super account.

The cap includes all employer super payments (including Superannuation Guarantee amounts), salary sacrificed payments and personal contributions for which you claim a tax deduction.

Each financial year, you may be able to ‘carry forward’ any unused amounts under your cap into the next financial year – as long as your total super balance was less than $500,000 at the end of the previous financial year. These carried forward amounts will expire after five years.

Carry-forward concessional contributions

It is possible to carry forward unused concessional contributions cap amounts. What this means is that your concessional contribution cap may be higher than the annual rate, depending on the amount of concessional contributions you have made in previous years and provided you have a total superannuation balance of less than $500,000 at the end of 30 June in the previous year.

Unused cap amounts are available for a maximum of five years, and will expire after this. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) also provides an example of how you can work out what is available to you as a carry-forward concessional contribution.

Non-concessional contributions cap

Non-concessional contributions are capped at $120,000 per annum (2025/26).

Individuals with a super balance of $2 million and more are not eligible to make non-concessional contributions.

Non-concessional contributions include:

  • Contributions made from after-tax money.
  • Includes any spouse contributions you receive.
  • Any personal contributions not claimed as a tax deduction.

Bring forward arrangements

If you are under age 75 at any point in a financial year, you may be able to ‘bring forward’ the next 2 years’ non-concessional contributions caps. This means you can contribute up to $360,000. Eligibility criteria may apply so please contact us for more information.

It is important to note that if you entered into a bring forward arrangement in a year where the non-concessional contributions cap was different to the current amount (e.g. if you entered into an arrangement before 1 July 2021 where the cap was $100,000 instead of the current $120,000), then the previous bring forward limit will apply.

Upper threshold for non-concessional contributions

If you are under age 74 at any time during the financial year, you can bring forward up to two years of non-concessional contributions, providing your Total Superannuation Balance at 30 June of the previous year was less than $1.76 million.

Total Super Balance 30 June of previous year Maximum non-concessional cap for the first year * Bring-forward period
Less than $1.76m $360,000 3 years
$1.76m to less than $1.88m $240,000 2 years
$1.88m to less than $2m $120,000 No bring forward period
 $2m Nil Nil

*This is based on the current non-concessional contributions cap of $120,000 for the 2025/26 financial year.

Where the bring forward rule is used, total non-concessional contributions made in the three-year period (starting on 1 July of the first financial year in which non-concessional contributions exceeded the cap) cannot exceed the bring forward cap for the year in which the bring forward is triggered. This means the bring forward cap available for the three-year period is not indexed if the non-concessional contributions cap is indexed in that period.

Before making a contribution, read more on the ATO website or contact us for financial advice on how this may impact your personal circumstances.

Exceeding the caps

Concessional caps

If you exceed the concessional cap the excess concessional contributions amount is included in your assessable income and taxed at the marginal tax rate, less the 15% tax offset already paid.

Non-concessional caps

If you exceed the cap you will be informed of this by the ATO directly via a determination letter. The letter will provide two options for you, if you choose to leave the excess non-concessional contributions in your super account, you will need pay extra tax of 47%.

You may be able to withdraw the excess non-concessional funds, together with 85% of earnings that have resulted from the contribution, without penalty. The earnings will be included in your taxable income.

If you think you are likely to breach either of the caps, talk to us about your options. For more information on caps, limits and how they are taxed visit the ATO website.

  • Defined benefits

    If you have a defined benefit, a specific formula is used to work out the value of concessional contributions that have been made and these are referred to as your notional taxed contributions (NTC).

    If your NTC exceeds the concessional contributions cap, your contributions are still considered to be within the cap and will not be subject to additional tax. However, any additional concessional contributions on top of the NTC (in excess of the concessional contributions cap) will be subject to the additional tax. Read the relevant defined benefit guide to find out more about NTC calculations.

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