Making personal super contributions

Personal super contributions are the amounts you contribute to your super fund from your after-tax income (that is, from your take-home pay). These contributions:

• are in addition to any compulsory super contributions your employer makes on your behalf
• do not include super contributions made through a salary-sacrifice arrangement.

To be eligible for the super co-contribution, your personal contributions need to be paid to a complying super fund. However, personal contribution amounts claimed (and allowed) as an income tax deduction will not be eligible for the co-contribution.

How to make personal super contributions

You do not need to make your personal contributions as a single lump sum – you can make payments throughout the financial year. We use the total amount you have contributed for the year to calculate the co-contribution.

Your super fund can tell you how to make personal contributions. Most funds offer you a number of options including:

• BPAY®
• direct debit
• through your bank account.

In some cases, you can make regular super contributions into your super account directly from your after-tax pay. If the contributions come from your before-tax pay, they are generally referred to as salary-sacrificed contributions and will not qualify for the super co-contribution.

Your super fund needs your TFN before it can accept your personal contributions.

Your personal contributions must reach your super fund by 30 June each year for you to receive a government co-contribution for that financial year.

Super co-contribution amounts

The table below shows examples of what your co-contribution amount would be in 2020–21, depending on your income level and your personal super contribution for the year.