You will be entitled to a tax offset of up to $540 per year if:
- the sum of your spouse's assessable income, total reportable fringe benefits amounts and reportable employer superannuation contributions was less than $40,000
- the contributions were not deductible to you
- the person was your spouse when you made the contribution
- both you and your spouse were Australian residents when the contributions were made
- when making the contributions you and your spouse were not living separately and apart on a permanent basis, and
- your spouse did not have:
- non-concessional contributions totalling more than their non-concessional contributions cap, or
- at 30 June 2017, a total superannuation balance of $1.6 million or more.
If the contributions were made to a superannuation fund, then it must have been a complying superannuation fund for the income year in which you made the contribution.
If you had more than one spouse during the income year and you satisfy the conditions for the tax offset for more than one spouse, the tax offset is the lesser of the sum of the tax offset entitlements for each spouse, or $540.
The tax offset is calculated as 18% of the lesser of:
- $3,000, reduced by $1 for every $1 that the sum of your spouse's assessable income, total reportable fringe benefits amounts and reportable employer superannuation contributions for the year was more than $37,000
- the total of your contributions for your spouse for the year.
The tax offset for eligible spouse contributions cannot be claimed for superannuation contributions that you made to satisfy your spouse's entitlements under a family law obligation to split superannuation with your spouse.