The concessional contributions cap: your 2026 numbers and next steps

From 1 July 2026, the general concessional contributions cap is $32,500 a year, up from $30,000. That figure covers everything paid into your super before tax, including your employer’s Super Guarantee, any salary sacrifice, and personal contributions you claim as a deduction.

The essentials: $32,500 cap from 1 July 2026. Contributions inside the cap are taxed at 15% in your fund, well below most marginal tax rates.

Three things to do this week:

Log into myGov and check your year-to-date concessional contributions against the cap.
If you’re close to the limit, pause or reduce any voluntary salary sacrifice arrangement now, not in June.
If you think you’re going to go over, talk to your financial adviser before the financial year ends, not after.

Key Takeaways

Managing your concessional contributions cap correctly protects your super’s tax advantages and avoids unnecessary excess contributions tax at year end.

Point	Details
Know the 2026 cap	The general concessional contributions cap is $32,500 from 1 July 2026.
Track across all funds	Contributions to every super fund you hold are aggregated for cap purposes.
Use carry-forward if eligible	TSB under $500,000 unlocks up to five years of unused concessional cap.
Watch the $250,000 threshold	Combined income and contributions above this trigger Division 293 tax at an extra 15%.
Get tailored advice	Amber Wealth’s superannuation advisers can model your specific contribution strategy before you commit to large pre-tax contributions.

What counts as a concessional contribution
How has the concessional cap changed, and why does it keep moving?
Carry-forward: using unused concessional cap from previous years
What happens if you exceed the concessional contributions cap
Division 293 tax: the extra hit for high income earners
Claiming a personal super contribution as a tax deduction
Keeping track of your contributions without the guesswork
Two scenarios that show the cap in action
How Amber Wealth can help you make the most of your concessional cap
Sources

What counts as a concessional contribution

Concessional contributions are any super payments made before tax, and the list is broader than most people expect. It includes:

Employer Super Guarantee (SG) contributions
Salary sacrifice amounts you’ve arranged with your employer
Personal contributions you claim as a tax deduction
Paid parental leave super contributions
Notional taxed contributions for some defined benefit members

If you hold more than one super fund, every concessional contribution across all your funds gets added together for cap purposes. Switching jobs mid year and forgetting an old fund is a common way people accidentally overshoot.

Pro Tip: Employer-paid insurance premiums and administration fees deducted from your super account also count toward the cap in some arrangements, even though they never touch your bank account. Check your fund’s annual statement, not just your payslip, to see the full picture.

Hands calculating superannuation fees on kitchen table

How has the concessional cap changed, and why does it keep moving?

The cap has increased gradually over time; it was around $27,500 for several years, increased to about $30,000 from 1 July 2024, and is set to rise again to approximately $32,500 from 1 July 2026.

Financial year	Concessional contributions cap
—	Around $27,500
—	About $30,000
From 2026–27	Approximately $32,500

Timeline chart of concessional contributions cap changes

That movement isn’t arbitrary. The cap is indexed to average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE), and it only steps up once AWOTE growth is enough to trigger a full $2,500 increment. The number to remember: $32,500. Miss an indexation year and the cap simply holds at its previous level until wages growth catches up.

Carry-forward: using unused concessional cap from previous years

If your total superannuation balance (TSB) was under $500,000 at 30 June of the previous financial year, you’re eligible to carry forward unused concessional cap amounts from the past five years. This is the single most underused lever in super planning, particularly for anyone with lumpy or irregular income.

Here’s how it works in practice:

Each year you contribute less than the cap, the ATO banks the unused amount.
Unused amounts roll forward for five financial years, starting from 2018–19.
Once you exceed the current year’s general cap, the ATO automatically draws on your oldest unused amounts first.
Anything older than five years simply expires.

Worked example: Say a small business owner contributed only $10,000 in 2022–23 (cap was $27,500, leaving $17,500 unused) and $15,000 in 2023–24 (cap $27,500, leaving $12,500 unused). By 2026–27, with a $32,500 cap plus $30,000 of carried-forward room from those two years, they could contribute up to $62,500 before triggering excess contributions tax, assuming their TSB stays under $500,000.

Carry-forward is genuinely “use it or lose it” once the five-year window closes.
It suits business owners, contractors, and anyone who’s had a career break or a low-income year.

Pro Tip: Check your available carry-forward amount through ATO online services before making a large lump-sum contribution near year end. It’s the only way to know your real ceiling for that financial year.

What happens if you exceed the concessional contributions cap

Going over isn’t the end of the world, but it does trigger extra tax and paperwork.

The ATO lets you elect to release a majority portion of your excess concessional contributions from your super fund to help cover the resulting tax bill, with a maximum allowed release rate commonly recognized as 85%. Leave the excess sitting in your fund instead, and it counts towards your non-concessional cap too, which can snowball into a much larger tax problem if that cap is also breached.

If you suspect you’ve gone over:

Contact your super fund and confirm exactly what’s been reported for the financial year.
Wait for the ATO’s excess concessional contributions determination before acting.
Weigh up releasing the excess versus leaving it in the fund, ideally with an adviser’s input.

One number worth remembering here: 85% is the maximum proportion of excess concessional contributions you can elect to release.

Division 293 tax: the extra hit for high income earners

If your income plus concessional contributions combined top $250,000 in a financial year, you may owe Division 293 tax, an additional 15% on top of the standard 15% contributions tax.

Take someone earning $260,000 who salary sacrifices $20,000 into super. Their combined income and contributions clear the $250,000 threshold, so a portion of that $20,000 attracts the extra 15%, on top of what the fund already withheld.

The ATO calculates Division 293 liability automatically using your tax return and contribution data, then issues a separate assessment.
You can pay Division 293 tax personally or elect to release funds from super to cover it.
Check your income projections before locking in large salary sacrifice arrangements if you’re near the threshold.

Claiming a personal super contribution as a tax deduction

Making a personal (non-employer) contribution and claiming it as a deduction turns it into a concessional contribution, but only if you follow the paperwork correctly.

Make the contribution to your fund before 30 June.
Complete a “notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction” and lodge it with your fund.
Wait for written acknowledgement from your fund before you lodge your tax return.
Claim the deduction in your return for that financial year.

Miss step three and the ATO won’t accept the deduction, even if the contribution itself was made on time. Acknowledgement delays around EOFY are common, so don’t leave this until the last week of June.

Keep the fund’s acknowledgement letter, your contribution receipt, and a copy of the lodged notice.
Retain these records for at least five years in case the ATO reviews your contribution history.

Pro Tip: Lodge your notice of intent as soon as the contribution clears, not at tax time. Funds can take weeks to process during peak EOFY periods.

Keeping track of your contributions without the guesswork

The simplest habit that prevents most cap breaches: check ATO online services through myGov every quarter, not just at tax time. It shows your contribution history and total super balance in one place.

Ask your payroll team how SG timing works, particularly if you’ve changed jobs mid year.
Confirm salary sacrifice deductions are actually landing in your fund, not just being deducted from pay.
Cross-check your fund’s contribution statement against your payslips at least twice a year.

Pro Tip: Set a calendar reminder for April each year to review contributions against the cap. It leaves enough runway to adjust salary sacrifice before 30 June without rushing a decision.

Two scenarios that show the cap in action

Scenario A: Sarah earns $110,000, has $12,650 in employer SG, and salary sacrifices $15,000. That’s $27,650 total, comfortably under the $32,500 cap for 2026–27, with $4,850 of room left if she wants to top up before June.

Scenario B: Tom runs a small business and made no concessional contributions in 2023–24 or 2024–25 due to cash flow pressure. With a TSB under $500,000, he can carry forward both years’ unused caps and make a much larger deductible contribution in 2026–27, subject to that year’s total available cap.

Planner checklist:

Check your TSB as at 30 June each year.
Confirm any unused carry-forward cap via myGov before contributing.
Plan voluntary contributions in April or May, not the last week of June.

Pro Tip: If you have a defined benefit interest, an SMSF, or your TSB is hovering near $500,000, get tailored advice rather than relying on general rules of thumb. Those situations change the maths.

Why the cap deserves more attention than most people give it

Most people treat the concessional cap as a compliance detail, something to check once a year if at all. That’s backwards. The gap between contributing right up to your cap every year and contributing inconsistently can be the difference between a comfortable retirement balance and a shortfall you notice too late to fix.

The carry-forward rules exist precisely because incomes aren’t linear, yet plenty of eligible people never use them simply because nobody flagged it. Before increasing pre-tax contributions significantly, particularly if you’re near the Division 293 threshold or the $500,000 TSB test, talk to a licensed adviser who can model your specific numbers. Amber Wealth’s superannuation advice service exists for exactly this kind of decision.

How Amber Wealth can help you make the most of your concessional cap

Working out your exact cap, carry-forward entitlement, and Division 293 exposure gets complicated fast, especially once you factor in multiple funds, irregular income, or an SMSF. Amber Wealth’s advisers build personalised superannuation strategies for pre-retirees and retirees across Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania, matching your contribution plan to your actual retirement timeline rather than a generic rule of thumb.

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If you want to see how different contribution levels play out over time, try the Superannuation Calculator to model your own numbers before deciding how much to salary sacrifice this year. For anything more complex, book a conversation about retirement planning advice with our team, and get a plan built around your actual TSB, income, and goals rather than a generic online calculator.

Sources

Amber Wealth Pty Ltd (ABN 16 653 279 013) is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 1310815) of Lifespan Financial Planning Pty Ltd (ABN 23 065 921 735), holder of Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) No. 229892. Financial advice is provided by Adam Sobczak, ASIC Authorised Representative No. 1234769.

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