You have some different options for contributing extra to your super. Which one you’ll choose really depends on your income and situation. You might even find that you’re better off with a combination of contributions over time, and you can change how you contribute as your situation changes.
You can ask your employer to pay some of your salary, before tax is taken out, straight into your super. This is separate from your employer’s normal contribution (that’s the ‘compulsory super’, that employers must pay). Salary sacrifice is your own extra contribution, your employer is just paying out of your pre-tax salary.
Why choose salary sacrifice?
Firstly, once you’ve set this up, you don’t need to think about it again – it will happen automatically each time you’re paid.
Salary sacrifice could also reduce your income for tax purposes, meaning you’ll pay less tax. That’s because the money your employer takes out of your salary and puts into your super is taxed at a maximum rate of 15%. Compare that to the marginal tax rate, which can be anything up to 47% (including the Medicare levy), depending on how much you earn.
Is it for you?
The salary sacrifice option will work for you if your income is high enough that you’re paying more than 15% tax on your overall income, and you won’t miss the money out of your pay. If you’re a low-income earner, you might find that after-tax contributions are the better option.
Most employers do offer salary sacrifice, but not all. So do check with your employer to see whether it’s available to you. You may also consider getting tax advice.
All you need to do is fill out a payroll deduction form, print it out and give it to your payroll person or HR department. They’ll make the arrangements for you.
Fill in your details using our online form or download the form and fill it out by hand.
After-tax contributions are also sometimes called non-concessional contributions or personal contributions. You can pay an amount into your super from your after-tax income or savings. You can do this at any time as a regular transfer or a one-off payment from your bank account.
Why choose after-tax contributions?
Adding to your super fund when you have some extra cash on hand means when you reach retirement, you could have more savings to retire with. Even small amounts added now can make a big difference to your super in the future, because of investment earnings on your super over that period (note that investment earnings can sometimes be negative in the short term).
And, because you’ve already paid tax on your income, after-tax contributions are not usually taxed again when you deposit them into your super account. You might also be able to claim a tax deduction on these contributions, to reduce the amount of income tax you pay in a financial year.
Is it for you?
Those tax deductions and extra contributions sound great, but please know that if you claim a tax deduction for your personal contributions at tax time, your contributions will change from after-tax to concessional (before-tax) and that means they are subject to contributions tax, at a maximum rate of 15%, and will count towards your yearly $27,500 cap on before-tax contributions.
This is a great way to support your spouse who may be on a low income without much super being saved or may have lost a job or taken a break from work, for example to look after kids. It’s an investment in a loved one’s future and will ease both your lives in retirement. A spouse is the person you’re legally married to, or in a de facto relationship with (including same sex relationships).
Is it for you?
If you make a contribution to your spouse’s super, you can benefit at tax time. If your partner is earning less than $40,000 a year, you may be able to claim a tax offset.
Under the ATO’s 2023-24 tax rules, you can claim a tax offset of up to 18% on the first $3,000 you pay into your spouse’s superannuation account as an after-tax contribution. This means you can receive a maximum of $540 as a tax offset. The amount you’ll receive depends on how much your spouse earned in the financial year. Anything above $3,000 is ineligible for any further offset.
In some circumstances, the government can make additional contributions to your super.
You don’t need to apply for these government super contributions. If you’re eligible, and Vision Super has your tax file number (TFN), the ATO will pay it to your account automatically.
You may be eligible for a government co-contribution or low-income super tax offset (LISTO). The low-income super tax offset (LISTO) is an Australian government initiative where they contribute up to $500 a year into low income earners’ super accounts to help boost their retirement savings.
For some, $500 might not sound like much, but over time with the magic of compound earnings, a $500 tax offset today could be worth much more by the time you retire. The longer you have between today and retirement, the more your savings will benefit (subject to market activity).
To estimate the impact this may have on your retirement savings try the Retirement income calculator.
The Government co-contribution is another government initiative that helps eligible people boost their retirement savings.
If you are a low or middle-income earner and make personal (after-tax) super contributions to your super fund, the government also makes a contribution (called a co-contribution) up to a maximum amount of $500.
“I’m 45, and I’m a child care worker earning $32,000 a year. I make a $1,000 after-tax contribution to my Vision Super account. After I put in my tax return, the ATO make an additional co-contribution of $500 to my Vision Super account. I didn’t need to do anything except make the contribution and lodge my tax return – simple! The ATO and Vision Super took care of the rest.”
Are you eligible for the co-contribution?
You may be eligible for the government co-contribution payment if you:
If you’re not sure about any of this, call our Member Services team on 1300 300 820, and we’ll help you. You can also find more by visiting the ATO’s website.
Understand your super better and discover ways you can improve your super savings with these calculators.
You can set up a regular BPAY payment through your internet banking, or make a one-off contribution at any time from your bank account.
Find out more
Learn more
Read more
Member Hotline 1300 300 820
Employer Hotline 1300 304 947
Retirement Hotline 1300 017 589
Download our mobile app
