Overview
You can access your super early in very limited circumstances, including to pay certain expenses on compassionate grounds, as well as terminal illness, incapacity and severe financial hardship.
For information on how to save money for your first home inside your super fund, see First home super saver scheme.
It's important to understand how tax applies to your super withdrawals.
Access on compassionate grounds
You may be allowed to withdraw your super early on compassionate grounds to pay for:
- medical treatment for you or your dependant
- medical transport for you or your dependant
- modifications to your home or vehicle to accommodate your or your dependant's special needs arising from a severe disability
- palliative care for you or your dependant
- death, funeral or burial expenses of your dependant
- preventing foreclosure or forced sale of your home.
You will need to:
- meet all eligibility conditions
- provide the relevant documents to support your application. Applications that don't include these documents may be delayed or not approved.
Applications can be made:
- via ATO online services
- on our paper form, if you don't have access to our online services.
Super that is withdrawn on compassionate grounds is paid and taxed as a normal super lump sum. You need to include any taxable amounts in your tax return.
For more information, including how to apply, see Access on compassionate grounds.
Access due to a terminal medical condition
You can ask your super fund to release your super benefits if you have a terminal medical condition and all these conditions are met:
- Two registered medical practitioners have certified, jointly or separately, that you suffer from an illness or injury that is likely to result in death within 24 months of the date of signing the certificate.
- At least one of the registered medical practitioners is a specialist practising in an area related to your illness or injury.
- The 24-month certification period from the date of the certification(s) has not ended.
If approved, a payment from your super fund will be made as a tax-free super lump sum payment as long as your super is in a complying super plan or annuity scheme.
If you meet the terminal medical condition and you have ATO-held super, you can claim it either through your super fund or directly from us.
For more information on eligibility and how to apply, see Access due to a terminal medical condition.
Access due to severe financial hardship
You may be able to withdraw some of your super if you are experiencing severe financial hardship.
Access on grounds of severe financial hardship is not administered by the ATO. You need to contact your super provider to request access due to severe financial hardship.
There are no special tax rates for a super withdrawal because of severe financial hardship. Withdrawals are paid and taxed as a normal super lump sum. If you're:
- under 60 years old, this is generally taxed at between 17% and 22%
- 60 years or older, you won't be taxed unless the lump sum includes an untaxed element.
You need to include any taxable amounts in your tax return.
For more information, including how to apply, see Access due to severe financial hardship.
Access due to temporary incapacity
You may be able to access your super if you are temporarily unable to work or you need to work fewer hours because of a physical or mental medical condition.
This condition of release is generally used to access insurance benefits linked to your super account.
Contact your super provider to:
- ask about insurance attached to your super
- request access to your super due to temporary incapacity.
If you are granted access, you'll receive the super in regular payments (an income stream) over the time you are unable to work. You need to include any taxable amounts in your tax return.
There are no special tax rates for a super withdrawal due to temporary incapacity. Withdrawals are paid and taxed as a super income stream. For more information, see Tax on super benefits.
Access due to permanent incapacity
You may be able to access your super if you are permanently incapacitated. This type of super withdrawal is sometimes called a 'disability super benefit'.
Your fund must be satisfied that you have a permanent physical or mental medical condition that is likely to stop you from ever working again in a job you were qualified to do by education, training or experience. You may still be eligible to withdraw your super if you are undertaking other work, such as light duties in a different position or casual work in a different field.
Contact your super fund to request access to your super because of permanent incapacity.
You can receive the super as either a lump sum or as regular payments (income stream).
To receive reduced tax rates (concessional tax treatment) on super that is withdrawn due to permanent incapacity you must be certified by at least 2 medical practitioners.
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 has already paid tax on (taxed element)
- taxable component the super provider has not paid tax on (untaxed element).
If you're under your preservation age and receive a disability benefit as an income stream, you'll get the super income stream tax offset that reduces the tax rate on the taxed element of your taxable component by 15%.
If you've reached your preservation age or if you get a lump sum, your disability benefit will be taxed at the rates described in Tax on super benefits.
You need to include any taxable amounts in your tax return.
Super balance less than $200
You may be able to access your super if:
- your employment is terminated and the balance of your super account is less than $200
- you have found a 'lost super' account with a balance less than $200.
Check the eligibility criteria for withdrawing super from ATO-held accounts.
Contact your super provider to request access.
You do not have to pay tax when accessing super accounts with a balance less than $200.
Illegal early release schemes
Some promoters claim to offer early access to your super by transferring it into a self-managed super fund (SMSF). These schemes are illegal, and heavy penalties apply if you get involved. For more information, see Illegal early release of super.
Be aware of scams and schemes
Be alert to scams or schemes where people:
- impersonate the ATO or your super fund to try and steal your money or personal identifying information
- contact you and charge for services that are free, like gaining early access to your superannuation.
If you receive a phone call, text message or email offering to help you release your super early, do not:
- provide your personal information
- click on any links.
You can contact us to confirm if an interaction is genuine.
Stolen or misused identity
If you're concerned that someone has accessed your super without your permission, you should check the account contact details and recent transactions in both your:
- myGov and ATO Online account
- superannuation account, through your super fund.
If you receive a text message or email stating that your myGov details have been changed, or that you have applied for early release of super when you know that you have not done these things, do not click on any links. Consider whether your identity may have been stolen or misused (compromised).
If you think that someone has stolen or misused your identity, immediately contact:
- your super fund, if you identify unauthorised transactions or updates to your account
- our Client Identity Support Centre on 1800 467 033 (between 8.00 am and 6.00 pm, Monday to Friday) to help you secure your tax identity.
If you have the ATO App you also have the option of locking your account. If you do lock your account due to fraud concerns, you must still contact us as soon as possible.