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June 13, 2026 — 5:01am
The end of financial year is just two weeks away. But for everyone in a major Australian super fund, you don’t actually have the full two weeks – it’s actually closer to one week before the big super funds close off their contributions for the end of this financial year.
So snap to it! It’s time to take advantage of all the little incentives available to get ahead. Here are the things I think anyone looking into the second half of life should consider doing before the doors of this financial year close, especially if you can see retirement in your future.
1. Look for co-contribution opportunities
My first suggestion is for those who don’t have a lot of money coming in, who can take advantage of the government co-contribution that’s designed to boost the super of those who need it. Yes – you heard me right – free money from the government!
If you’re eligible, all you need to do is make a voluntary contribution to your super of $1000 and the government will top it up with up to $500, depending on your eligibility.
If you or your partner or adult children earn less than $47,488 and the account holder contributes $1000 as a personal contribution, that person will receive the full $500 bonus. It’s an amount that gradually phases out up to the top income threshold of $62,488.
If all this baffles you, and you want some help, call your super fund’s help lines.
There are some conditions, of course, to qualify. Ten per cent or more of your total income must be from working or running a business, and you must be under 71 years of age at the end of the financial year. Also, you can’t claim a tax deduction for the personal contribution.
However, in the case of adult kids, they can make the voluntary contribution, get the top-up, then draw it out as a part of the First Home Super Saver scheme, leaving the government’s funds inside their super to grow for the long term.
2. Top up your concessional contributions
Now, for those who have a little money sitting around, the first thing to consider is topping up your concessional contributions and getting a tax deduction.
Your employer puts 12 per cent of your salary into super each year. Quite a few people elect to make a salary sacrifice on top. But most people still have room to contribute more to super at these concessional tax rates, which are just 15 per cent on the way in.
The concessional contribution cap for superannuation is $30,000 a year – and if you have some cash lying around as you head towards the end of the financial year, you can make a personal contribution using those funds and claim the tax you’ve already paid back from the government.
This is valuable for two reasons – first, if you’re earning more than $45,000 a year, you’re paying over 30 per cent tax on some of your income, and if you deposit those funds into super, you can end up out of pocket only 15 per cent.
Moreover, once those funds are inside super, they grow at a much lower income tax rate of 15 per cent and a much lower capital gains tax rate of up to 10 per cent, instead of the marginal tax rate, with the new CGT floor of 30 per cent the government has proposed to commence in July 2027. Then, when you retire or turn 65, you can draw these funds out tax-free.
You make a personal contribution simply by contributing funds into your superannuation account, usually by BPAY or direct deposit – just check your member portal for details. Then, don’t forget to take the next step, or you won’t get the tax deduction.
3. Submit your Notice of Intent to Claim form
Putting money into your super account does not automatically get you a tax deduction. You need to complete and lodge a form, and if you don’t do it, you’ll find the contribution will default into a non-concessional contribution and if you don’t notice, you might find at tax return time that you’ve missed the opportunity for a deduction completely.
To get the deduction, and make the contribution concessional, you need to complete and lodge a Notice of Intent to Claim a Tax Deduction form, often called an NOITC form or form NAT71121 from the ATO, with your super fund. You can find it in your member portal for most funds and fill it out online.
This form tells your fund and the ATO that you want this contribution treated as a concessional contribution, and you want to claim a deduction on the tax that has already been paid on the money being contributed in your tax return.
Your fund will acknowledge the contribution in writing, and then you use that acknowledgment when you submit your tax return.
No form, no deduction, even if you go crying to your super fund or the Tax Office later. It’s an administrative process that is completely unforgiving.
4. Check your carry-forward concessional contributions
Many people are unaware that if you have not used the full concessional contribution cap available to you in the past five years, that these amounts are stored up, and that you can carry them forward and use them, on one condition.
You can only use them if your super balance was below $500,000 at the end of last financial year. Once you trip this line, you can no longer use carry-forward contributions at all.
You can see how much is available to you in your MyGov account – simply log in and look for the carry forward concessional contributions. And make sure to confirm whether you’re eligible based on last year’s closing super balance.
I do want you to be aware that the unused cap amounts expire after five years, and they roll off the oldest available year, each year. So, on June 30, any unused amounts from 2020-21 will expire, so it’s worth seeing how much these are worth to you if you have some savings that would be better inside super than out.
It’s important to note that if you plan to use your carry-forward concessional contributions, the NOITC form is critical. The ATO will draw your contributions from the earliest year’s available cap, so the year rolling off will be used first.
5. Check your minimum pension drawdown if you’re retired
The government requires anyone with a super fund in the retirement phase to draw down a minimum percentage of their retirement phase super fund balance each year based on their age.
The mandatory drawdown starts at 4 per cent, from 60-65, goes up to 5 per cent from 65-74, and increases at five-year intervals after that. So make sure you’ve met your 2025-26 drawdown requirements before June 30, and work out what your minimum drawdown will be for 2026-27. Then consider adjusting your regular pension payments to drip it out to you like a pay cheque.
6. Consider putting excess savings into super
If you have even more cash lying around, perhaps you received an inheritance or sold a property this year, you might want to contribute more to super, knowing that the capital gains tax rules outside super are changing to be less advantageous.
You can contribute up to $120,000 this financial year into your super as a non-concessional super contribution. These go in with the tax already paid on the money contributed, and you don’t get a tax deduction, but what you do get is the 15 per cent income tax and up to 10 per cent capital gains tax on the money once it’s invested inside super. And that’s juicy.
You can bring forward up to three years of non-concessional contributions, but this year is a little tricky because the non-concessional contribution rates are changing on July 1 to $130,000.
The challenge is if you bring forward this year, all three of the years are capped at this year’s concessional contribution rate, limiting you to $360,000. But if you were to bring forward after July 1, you’d be able to contribute at the new rates, allowing you up to $390,000.
7. Understand the cap changes that are coming
On July 1, quite a few of the superannuation caps are changing, and this might affect your strategy, not just on contributions, but also on when you retire.
The concessional contribution caps will rise from $30,000 to $32,500. The non-concessional contribution caps will rise from $120,000 to $130,000. The Total Super Balance Cap will rise from $2 million to $2.1 million.
Once your super sits at or above this level, you lose the ability to make after-tax (non-concessional) contributions, but you can contribute downsizer contributions regardless. And the Transfer Balance Cap rises to $2.1 million as well, limiting the amount you can move into the retirement phase of super in your lifetime.
It’s also worth noting the Division 296 tax kicks off – from July 1, 2026, individuals with super balances above $3 million will face an additional tax on earnings linked to that portion of their balance. This affects a few people, but if you’re approaching that threshold, it’s worth getting advice before the new financial year begins.
Lastly, if all this baffles you, and you want some help, call your super fund’s help lines. They’re there to help you navigate this stuff, and you already pay for their prompt and diligent services in your fees.
But please note, the window closes the week before the end of June in most super funds. So don’t mess about.
Bec Wilson is author of the bestseller How to Have an Epic Retirement and the newly released Prime Time: 27 Lessons for the New Midlife. She writes a weekly newsletter at epicretirement.net and hosts the Prime Time podcast.
- Advice given in this article is general in nature and is not intended to influence readers’ decisions about investing or financial products. They should always seek their own professional advice that takes into account their own personal circumstances before making any financial decisions.
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