Withdrawing your super and paying tax

How tax applies to your super

To work out how your super withdrawal will be taxed you need to know:

your preservation age and the age you will be when you get the payment
whether you will get the payment as an income stream or lump sum.
the type of super income stream you receive
whether the money in your super account is tax-free or taxable
whether you are receiving a death benefit income stream
whether you exceed the following caps
- Defined benefit income cap
- Low rate cap
- Untaxed plan cap amount

These factors determine whether you:

pay tax on the withdrawal (for example, whether it is taxable income)
get tax offsets that reduce the amount of tax you pay.

To find the tax rates for your super payment, choose the link that applies at the time you expect to withdraw the super:

if your age is less than your preservation age
if you are between your preservation age and 60 years old
if you are 60 years or older or you are in receipt of a capped defined benefit income stream
if you are in receipt of a capped defined benefit income stream that is a death benefit

Tax-free and taxable super

To understand how your super payment will be taxed you need to know whether the money in your super account is tax-free or taxable when you withdraw it.

Super that is tax-free when withdrawn is known as the 'tax-free component' of your super. Super that is taxable when withdrawn is known as the 'taxable component' of your super.

The taxable component may consist of a taxed element or an untaxed element, depending on whether the benefit is paid from a taxed or untaxed source. Your super provider can tell you how much of the money in your super account is tax-free or taxable.

A super benefit containing an untaxed element is most commonly paid by a public sector fund for commonwealth, state and territory government departments.

Why some super is tax-free and some taxable

Whether the money in your super account is tax-free or taxable when you withdraw it generally depends on the type of contributions made and whether tax was paid on it.

Non-concessional (after-tax) contributions – those made from income after you paid tax on it – are tax-free when withdrawn from your super account. Tax-free super includes personal contributions you made from your after-tax income, unless you were allowed a tax deduction for them.

Concessional (before-tax) contributions – those made from income before you paid tax on it – are taxable when withdrawn from your super account. The types of contributions include:

the super contributions your employer must make for you
money you salary sacrifice into super
super contributions you were allowed to claim a tax deduction for.

The amount of tax you must pay when you withdraw taxable super depends on your age and whether your provider paid tax on it.

Your provider may have paid tax on the taxable super at the rate of 15%. This super is the 'taxed element' of your taxable super. If your provider has not paid tax on some of the taxable super in your account, this money is the 'untaxed element' of your taxable super.

Generally, your super benefit will include both a tax-free and a taxable component. When you make a withdrawal, your provider calculates the components of the withdrawal based on the proportion of components that make up the total value of your super account.

The amount of each component is calculated at the following times:

each lump sum payment – just before it is paid
income stream – when the income stream starts
income stream commuted to a lump sum – the components are calculated when the income stream started. (However, if the income stream is a deferred super income stream, the components are calculated just before the commutation occurred)
an income stream commuted back into your super – before a new benefit is paid.

You can't choose to withdraw only from the tax-free component of your super account unless the total amount of your account is tax-free.

See also:

If your age is less than your preservation age

This section applies to you if both:

your current age is less than your preservation age
you were not in receipt of a death benefit (reversionary) capped defined benefit income stream where the deceased was 60 years old or older at the time of death.

To work out how your super payment will be taxed you need to know how much of the money in your super account is a:

tax-free component
taxable component the super provider paid tax on (taxed element)
taxable component the super provider has not paid tax on (untaxed element).

Find out about:

Tax-free and taxable super

Tax on withdrawals of tax-free component

You don’t pay tax on the tax-free component of your super where you:

withdraw it as a lump sum
receive an account-based income stream.

Tax maybe payable on the tax-free component of your super income stream where:

you are in receipt of a death benefit capped defined benefit income stream where the deceased was 60 years old or older at the time of death
you exceed your defined benefit income cap.

The exception is where you have illegally gained early access to your super before you have met a condition of release. In these circumstances, the entire amount of your super benefit will be taxable regardless of whether it has a tax-free component.

Tax on withdrawals of taxable component

The taxable component of your payment will be taxed as shown in this table.
Type of super	Type of withdrawal	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Taxable component – taxed element	Income stream	Your marginal tax rate – however, if you receive the income stream as a disability super benefit, you are entitled to a tax offset of 15% on the taxed element
Taxable component – taxed element	Lump sum	Your marginal tax rate or 22%, whichever is lower
Taxable component – untaxed element	Income stream	Your marginal tax rate
Taxable component – untaxed element	Lump sum	Your marginal tax rate or 32%, whichever is lower – unless the sum of the untaxed elements of all super lump sum benefits received under the super plan exceeds the untaxed plan cap. Amounts above the cap will be taxed at the top marginal rate. The untaxed plan cap applies separately to each super provider you receive super lump sums from.

Other tax rates may apply in some special circumstances.

See also:

Filling out your tax return

Your super provider will send you a payment summary showing:

how much of the super you received is taxable and how much is tax-free
how much tax they withheld from the payment to pay on your behalf
any tax offset applicable to the taxed element you receive.

When you fill out your tax return you must include the taxable component of your super payment as assessable income.

Only claim tax offsets for super income streams in the offset section of your tax return – tax offsets for super lump sums are calculated by us.

Example 1: lump sum

Suzi is 50 years old and applies to withdraw some super on compassionate grounds.

Suzi receives a lump sum super benefit of $11,000. Her fund tells her this consists of a $1,000 tax-free component and $10,000 taxable component. The entire taxable super was taxed in the fund.

When Suzi completes her tax return, she includes the $10,000 taxable component as income. This results in her paying the following effective tax rates.

Effective tax rates paid by Suzi
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Tax-free component: $1,000	No tax
Taxable component – taxed element: $10,000	Her marginal tax rate or 22%, whichever is lower

Example 2: multiple lump sum payments in a year

Frankie is 45, and a military veteran who receives multiple, invalidity super lump sums each year. He is not eligible to have his super lump sums treated as disability super benefits and has not exceeded the untaxed plan cap. The total of the multiple lump sums he received during the year is $70,000. At the end of the year his fund gives him a single payment summary showing that $5,000 was the tax free component, $45,000 was the taxable component - taxed element and $20,000 was the taxable component - untaxed element.

This results in him paying the following effective tax rates:

Effective tax rates paid by Frankie
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Tax-free component: $5,000	No tax
Taxable component – taxed element: $45,000	His marginal tax rate or 22%, whichever is lower
Taxable component - untaxed element - $20,000	His marginal tax rate or 32%, whichever is lower as he is under the untaxed plan cap.

Example 3: income stream

George is 53 years old and receives a non-commutable life pension of $18,000 from his super fund. The payments of George's life pension are super income stream benefits.

His fund tells him the entire amount is a taxable component that was taxed in the fund.

When George completes his tax return, he includes the $18,000 taxable component as income. He is not eligible to claim the disability super benefit tax offset, so he pays the following effective rate of tax.

Effective tax rate paid by George
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Taxable component – taxed element: $18,000	His marginal tax rate

End of example

If you are between your preservation age and 60 years old

To work out how your super payment will be taxed, you need to know how much of the money paid to you was attributable to the following components:

tax-free component
taxable component the super provider has paid tax on (taxed element)
taxable component the super provider has not paid tax on (untaxed element).

Find out about:

Tax-free and taxable super

Tax on withdrawals of tax-free component

You don’t pay tax on the tax-free component of your super where you:

withdraw it as a lump sum
receive an account-based income stream
receive a capped defined benefit income stream and you were between your preservation age and less than 60 years old, which was not a death benefit income stream where the deceased was 60 years old or older at the time of death.

Tax on withdrawals of taxable component

The taxable component of your payment will be taxed as shown in this table.
Type of super	Type of withdrawal	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy, up to the low rate cap)	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy, above the low rate cap)
Taxable component – taxed element	Income stream	Your marginal tax rate less 15% tax offset	Your marginal tax rate less 15% tax offset
Taxable component – taxed element	Lump sum	0%	Your marginal tax rate or 17%, whichever is lower
Taxable component – untaxed element	Income stream	Your marginal tax rate	Your marginal tax rate
Taxable component – untaxed element	Lump sum	Your marginal tax rate or 17%, whichever is lower	Your marginal tax rate or 32%, whichever is lower – unless the sum of the untaxed elements of all super lump sum benefits received under the super plan exceeds the untaxed plan cap. Amounts above the cap will be taxed at the top marginal rate. The untaxed plan cap applies separately to each super provider you receive super lump sums from.

Filling out your tax return

Your provider will send you a payment summary which shows:

how much of the super you received is taxable and how much is tax-free
how much tax they withheld from the payment to pay on your behalf
any tax offset applicable to the taxed element you receive.
if you receive a super death benefit capped defined benefit income stream you will need to go to the Defined benefit income cap tool to work out what you need to include in your income tax return.

You must include the taxable component of your super payment as assessable income on your tax return.

Only claim tax offsets for super income streams in the offset section of your tax return – tax offsets for super lump sums are calculated by us.

If you're between your preservation age and 60 years old and receive a lump sum super benefit that includes a taxable component, this is assessable income you must include in your tax return. This is the case even if the amount you receive is below the low-rate cap amount and zero tax has been withheld by your provider.

Example 1: lump sum

Tony is 58 years old and is retired. He receives his first lump sum super payment of $350,000 on 25 July 2021. His fund tells him this amount consists of $100,000 tax-free component and $250,000 taxable component. All the taxable component was taxed in the fund.

Tony includes the $250,000 taxable component as income on his 2021–22 tax return. This results in him paying the following effective rates of tax:

Effective tax rates paid by Tony
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Tax-free component: $100,000	No tax
Taxable component – taxed element (up to the low rate cap): $225,000	0%
Taxable component – taxed element (over the low rate cap): $25,000	17%

End of example

Example 2: multiple lump sum payments in a year

Peta is 59, and a military veteran who receives multiple, invalidity super lump sums each year. She is not eligible to have her super lump sums treated as disability super benefits. She has exceeded both the low rate cap and untaxed plan cap from past year super lump sum payments. The total of these super lump sums during the 2020/21 year is $105,000. At the end of the year her fund gives her a single super lump sum payment summary showing that $ 20,000 was tax free component, $40,000 was taxable component - taxed element and $45,000 was taxable component - untaxed element.

This results in her paying the following effective tax rates

Effective tax rates paid by Peta
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Tax-free component: $20,000	No tax
Taxable component – taxed element: $40,000	Her marginal tax rate or 17%, whichever is lower
Taxable component - untaxed element - $45,000	The top marginal tax rate.

Example 3: income stream

Jenny is 58 years old and has begun a transition to retirement income stream. In addition to her income from employment ($40,000 a year) she gets a transition to retirement income stream from her super as an annual payment.

On 29 August 2021, she receives $28,000. Her fund tells her it is all taxable component that was taxed in the fund. It also tells her she is able to claim a 15% tax offset.

Jenny includes the $28,000 as income on her tax return. She claims a tax offset that results in her paying the following effective rate of tax on the income stream:

Effective tax rate paid by Jenny
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Taxable component – taxed element: $28,000	Her marginal tax rate less 15% tax offset)

End of example

If you are 60 years old or older, or you are in receipt of a reversionary capped defined benefit income stream

This section applies to you if you are:

60 years old or older and have a capped defined benefit income stream
less than 60 years old and in receipt of a death benefit (reversionary) capped defined benefit income stream where the deceased was 60 years old or older at the time of death
60 years old or older and in receipt of a super income stream which is not a capped defined benefit income stream and you have an untaxed element
60 years old or older and in receipt of a super lump sum and you have an untaxed element.

Where you are receiving an account-based pension you do not need to pay tax on the taxed element or tax-free component after you turn 60 years old. To work out how your super payment will be taxed you need to know:

your defined benefit income cap (if applicable)
whether the income stream is a death benefit (reversionary) income stream
the amount of the
- tax-free component
- taxable component that the super provider has paid tax on (taxed element)
- taxable component that the super provider has not paid tax on (untaxed element).

Find out about:

Tax-free and taxable super
Defined benefit income cap

Tax on withdrawals of tax-free component

You don’t pay tax on the tax-free component of your super where you withdraw it as a lump sum.

You may be required to include the tax-free component in your assessable income where you are in receipt of a capped defined benefit income stream and:

you are in receipt of a death benefit income stream where the deceased was aged 60 years or older at the time of death; and
the combined total of your tax-free component and taxed element (taxed source) is in excess of your defined benefit income cap.

Tax on withdrawals of taxable component (including an account-based income stream)
Type of withdrawal	Type of component	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Income stream	Taxable component – taxed element	No tax
Income stream	Tax free component	No tax
Lump sum	Taxable component – taxed element	No tax
Income stream	Taxable Component – untaxed element	Your marginal tax rate
Lump sum	Taxable component – untaxed element	Your marginal tax rate or 17%, whichever is lower – unless the sum of the untaxed element of all super lump sum benefits received under the super plan exceeds the untaxed plan cap. Amounts above the cap will be taxed at the top marginal rate. The untaxed plan cap applies separately to each super provider you receive super lump sums from.

Tax on withdrawals of a capped defined benefit income stream
Type of withdrawal	Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Income stream	Tax-free component and or Taxable component – taxed element is above the defined benefit income cap	50% of the amount above the cap is assessed at your marginal tax rates. This is known as 'assessable amount from your capped defined benefit income stream'
Income stream	Tax-free component and or Taxable component – taxed element is below the defined benefit income cap	No tax
Income stream	Taxable component – untaxed element	Your marginal tax rate

MilitarySuper invalidity benefit payment

If you are the recipient of an invalidity benefit payment from MilitarySuper impacted by the Full Federal Court decision in Commissioner of Taxation v Douglas [2020] FCAFC 220, the tax treatment of your payments may have changed.

See more about the impact of the court decision.

Filling out your tax return

Your provider will send you a payment summary which shows:

how much of the super you received is taxable and how much is tax-free
how much tax they withheld from the payment to pay on your behalf
the tax offset amount which should be blank as you will need to determine how much offset you are entitled to
whether you are in receipt of a capped defined benefit income stream where the deceased was older than 60 years old at the time of death.

If you are in receipt of a super lump sum payment you don't enter the tax-free component or the tax element part of the taxable component of your super lump sum payment on your return.

Tax offsets for super lump sums are calculated by us.

Example: Lump sum

Mei is 60 years old and receives a lump sum of $380,000 from her super on 25 September 2021.

The payment consists of $45,000 tax-free component and $335,000 taxable component. The taxable component includes $130,000 that was taxed in the fund and $205,000 the fund has not paid tax on.

Mei includes the $205,000 as income on her tax return and pays the following effective rates of tax:

Effective tax rates paid by Mei
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Tax-free component: $45,000	No tax
Taxable component – taxed element: $130,000	No tax
Taxable component – untaxed element: $205,000	Her marginal tax rate or 17%, whichever is lower (the untaxed part of the lump sum is less than the untaxed plan cap for 2021–22 of $1.615 million)

Example 2: Multiple lump sum payments in a year

Howard is 72, and a military veteran who receives multiple, invalidity super lump sums each year. He is not eligible to have his super lump sums treated as disability super benefits. He has exceeded the untaxed plan cap. The total of these super lump sums during the year is $105,000. At the end of the year his fund gives him a single super lump sum payment summary showing that $ 20,000 was tax-free component, $40,000 was taxable component - taxed element and $45,000 was taxable component - untaxed element.

This results in him paying the following effective tax rates

Effective tax rates paid by Howard
Type of super	Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy)
Tax-free component: $20,000	No tax
Taxable component – taxed element: $40,000	No tax
Taxable component – untaxed element: $45,000	The top marginal tax rate

End of example

If you are in receipt of a capped defined benefit income stream you must include the:

untaxed element of the taxable component of your super payment as assessable income on your tax return
assessable amount from your capped defined benefit income stream.

Find out more about how to fill in your tax return at 7 Australian annuities and super income streams.

Only claim tax offsets for super income streams in the offset section of your tax return. Find out more about how to work out your tax offset at T2 Australian super income stream.

Example: Capped defined benefit income stream

John is 62 years old and receives an income stream of $117,000 in 2020–21.

The payment was for the full year and made up of $67,000 tax-free component and $50,000 taxable component – taxed element.

John includes the following in his tax return and pays the following effective rates of tax:

The effective tax rate paid by John is as follows.

Type of super:

Tax-free component + taxed element = $117,000
Defined benefit income cap $100,000
$117,000 − 100,000 = 17,000
Assessable amount from a capped defined benefit income stream is 17,000 ÷ 2 (50% of the amount over the cap)
John includes $8,500 at 7M on his tax return.

Effective tax rate (including Medicare levy):

50% of the amount above the cap is assessed at marginal tax rates.
This is John's assessable amount from his capped defined benefit income stream.

End of example

See also:

Untaxed plan cap amount

The untaxed plan cap amount is the maximum amount of the untaxed elements subject to concessional tax rates. Amounts above the untaxed plan cap are taxed at the top marginal rate. The untaxed plan cap is a per plan limit which applies separately to each super provider you receive a super lump sum from. It is reduced by the total amount of each element untaxed in the fund that you have received from that provider.

The untaxed plan cap is $1.615 million in 2021-22, $1.565 million in 2020–21, $1.515 million in 2019–20 and $1.480 million in 2018–19. The top marginal rate is 47% (including Medicare levy).

In the 2015, 2016 and 2017 income years the 2% temporary budget repair levy applies to amounts that exceed the untaxed plan cap amount. The untaxed plan cap is $1.355 million in 2014–15, $1.395 million in 2015–16 and $1.415 million in 2016–17.

See also:

Key superannuation rates and thresholds – untaxed plan cap amount

Example: untaxed plan cap

Anh started receiving lump sums from his super in 2018-19. In 2018-19 the untaxed plan cap was $1.480 million and Anh received $80,000 in untaxed element payments from this provider.

In 2019-20 the untaxed plan cap for the super lump sums he receives for this provider is $1.515 million, but Anh needs to reduce this by $80,000 to $1.435 million. Anh also received another $85,000 in untaxed element super lump sum payments from this provider. In 2020-21 the untaxed plan cap is $1.565 million, but Anh needs to reduce this by $165,000 to $1,400,000. Anh also received another $90,000 in untaxed element super lump sum payments from this provider which will further reduce his untaxed plan cap amount for any untaxed element payments he receives from this provider in the 2021-22 year.

End of example

Low rate cap amount

The low rate cap amount applies if you reach your preservation age but are under 60 years old.

The low rate cap is a limit on the amount of taxable components (taxed and untaxed element) that can be taxed at a concessional (lower) rate of tax.

It's a lifetime cap, which is reduced by any taxable component you receive from any payer after you reach your preservation age (it cannot be reduced below zero).

Once you reach the low rate cap, any further money you withdraw as a lump sum is taxed at a different rate.

The low-rate cap amount is indexed in line with average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE), in increments of $5,000 (rounded down). The new indexed amount is generally available each February.

The low rate cap is $215,000 in 2020–21, $210,000 in 2019–20 and $205,000 in 2018–19.

If you're between your preservation age and 60 years old and receive a lump sum super benefit that includes a taxable component, you must include it in your tax return. This is the case even if the amount you receive is below the low-rate cap amount and zero tax has been withheld by the super provider.

See also:

Key superannuation rates and thresholds – low rate cap amount

Example

In 2018-19 Talise was 58 and received super lump sum payments with taxable components totalling $150,000.

In 2019-20 the low rate cap was $210,000, however Talise needs to reduce this by $150,000 to $60,000. Talise also receives super lump sum payments with taxable components totalling $90,000. $30,000 of this will be in excess of the low rate cap and will be taxed at:

the lower of her marginal tax rate or 17% on any taxed element, or
the lower of her marginal tax rate or 32% on any untaxed element.

End of example

Temporary budget repair levy

2015, 2016 and 2017 income years only

The temporary budget repair levy is payable at a rate of 2% for taxable incomes over $180,000. It applies from 1 July 2014 to 30 June 2017, for both resident and non-resident individuals.

The levy will impact some super benefit payments; however, tax offsets continue to have effect to ensure the relevant maximum rate of tax is applied. This means your provider is generally not required to withhold the 2% levy when paying a super benefit, unless the benefit is:

a lump sum containing an untaxed element in excess of the untaxed plan cap amount
an income stream payment above $180,000.

You may still have to pay the levy when you lodge your tax return if your taxable income (including the taxable component of your super payment) is above $180,000.

See also:

Temporary budget repair levy

Last modified: 02 Feb 2023QC 37785