Tax and super
Big tax bill this year? Your unused super cap can cut it
Unused concessional cap builds up for five years and then expires, oldest year first. Most people who could use it have never checked it. And it is worth the most in the one year your income jumps, which is usually the year nobody is thinking about super.
Your unused super cap is still there. But only for five years.
Since 1 July 2018, any concessional cap you did not use (the yearly limit on before-tax super contributions) carries forward for five years. In 2026-27 the oldest year you can still use is 2021-22. Somebody with nothing going into super in any of those years could have room for up to $175,000 in one year, this year's $32,500 cap included.
Two conditions come with it, and both are easy to miss. Your total super balance at the previous 30 June has to be under $500,000: $499,999 qualifies, $500,000 does not, and there is nothing in between. And each year's unused cap expires after five years. Cap from 2021-22 is gone after 30 June 2027, whether or not anybody told you it was there.
What you save is the gap between your tax rate and the fund's 15%: 32 cents in every dollar at the top rate of 47%, and 24 cents at 39% (both including the Medicare levy).
That is why it matters most in the one year your income jumps. Sold a rental, shares or a business? Had a big bonus or a redundancy? Then this is the year, and the window shuts on 30 June.
What the carry-forward calculator works out for you
- Your unused cap, year by year. What built up in each of the five years, at $30,000 and then $32,500, and which year expires next.
- Whether you can use it at all. The $500,000 total super balance test, applied at the right date: the previous 30 June, not today.
- How much tax you could save. Your tax rate against the fund's 15%, on your own income, in the year the money goes in.
- Where Division 293 takes some of it back. When income plus super contributions is over $250,000, some of what goes in is taxed at 30% instead of 15%, which can roughly halve the saving.
- Every amount you could put in, named. This year's cap, the unused cap that expires, everything you can put in, and waiting until next year, each explained in plain English.
What the paid report adds
- Every amount worked out, to the dollar. The exact tax each amount saves after the fund's 15% and any Division 293 tax, from the one that saves the most to the one that saves the least. The biggest amount does not always save the most, and this is where you see why.
- When each part expires. Your unused cap split year by year, with the 30 June each part expires, and what waiting until next year would save instead.
- Next year's balance test. The $500,000 test run again with this year's contribution counted in, because a big contribution can close the door on next year.
- Access and the work test. Preservation at 60 and the work test from 67. The money goes somewhere you cannot reach for a while, and the report says how long.
What this calculator will not do
It is not financial or tax advice, and it does not recommend a contribution. Whether money should go into super at all depends on what else it would have to come out of, when you need it and what your whole position looks like. None of that is arithmetic. It does not price after-tax (non-concessional) contributions. Your actual unused cap is held by the Australian Taxation Office and shown in myGov, and that record is the authority. Everything here runs on the 1 July 2026 caps and rates, for the 2026-27 income year.
What people ask before they run it
What are carry-forward concessional contributions?
They let you use super cap you did not use in earlier years. Everyone has a yearly limit on before-tax super contributions, called the concessional cap: $32,500 in 2026-27. Since 1 July 2018, any part you do not use is carried forward for five years, so in 2026-27 the unused amounts from 2021-22 onwards still count. If only employer super has gone in, your cap can be up to $175,000 in one year.
Who can use unused concessional cap?
Only people whose total super balance was under $500,000 on the 30 June just before the year they contribute in. It is a hard line, not a sliding scale: at $499,999 the whole carried forward amount is available, and at $500,000 none of it is. Your balance on any other date makes no difference, and the test is run again every 30 June.
How much tax does a catch-up super contribution save?
You save the gap between your top tax rate and the 15% your fund pays on the way in. At the 47% rate that is 32 cents in every dollar you contribute, and at the 39% rate it is 24 cents. Once your income plus contributions passes $250,000, Division 293 doubles the fund's rate to 30% and the saving roughly halves.
Does unused concessional cap expire?
Yes, and silently. Each year's unused amount lasts five years and is then gone for good. The 2021-22 amount is the oldest one you can still use, and it expires on 30 June 2027. Nothing warns you, nothing rolls it over, and the ATO does not write to tell you. The figure in myGov simply reads lower the following July.
What is the concessional contributions cap for 2026-27?
The concessional cap is $32,500 a year in 2026-27. It covers your employer's compulsory super, any salary sacrifice, and any personal contribution you claim a tax deduction for. So if your employer puts in $14,000 this year, you have $18,500 of cap left, not $32,500. The cap is indexed in $2,500 steps, which is why it sits still for years and then jumps.
How do I check my unused concessional cap in myGov?
Sign in to myGov, open the ATO service, then choose Super, then Information, then Carry forward concessional contributions. The screen shows each year's cap, what was reported and the unused amount. The latest year is often incomplete, because funds report after the year ends. It also does not tell you whether you pass the $500,000 balance test, which part expires first, or what it is worth.
Do I need a notice of intent to claim a super deduction?
Yes. A personal contribution is only deductible once your fund has acknowledged your notice of intent in writing. You must give it by the earlier of the day you lodge your tax return and the end of the following income year. A notice can be reduced but not increased, and rolling over, withdrawing or starting a pension before you give it destroys the deduction.
What happens if I go over my concessional cap?
The extra is added to your taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate, with a 15% tax offset for the tax your fund already paid. The old excess contributions charge was removed from 1 July 2021. You can choose to release up to 85% of the excess from super to help pay the bill, and any excess left in super counts towards your non-concessional cap.
Can I make catch-up super contributions after 67?
Yes, but from 67 to 74 you must pass the work test to claim the deduction. That means at least 40 hours of paid work within 30 days in a row, in the same financial year. There is a one-off exemption for some people who met the test the year before. After the month you turn 75 ends, your fund has 28 days left to receive a personal contribution.
Can a super contribution reduce capital gains tax?
Yes. Once any discount is applied, a capital gain is taxed as ordinary income in the year you sell, so a deductible super contribution comes straight off it. The gain falls in the year the contract is signed, not the year it settles, and the fund must receive the money by 30 June of that year. The saving is your tax rate less the fund's 15%.
Can I get the money back out of super if I need it?
No, not until you meet a condition of release, and no tax figure can change that. Super is preserved: preservation age is now 60 for everyone, and before then the money cannot be reached without a condition of release. From 65 it is available whether you have retired or not. The report shows your own position on the page, because for many people it decides the question on its own.
Is this calculator financial advice?
No. This is an information service. It applies the published rules to the figures you enter and shows what they produce, with every working visible. It ranks contribution amounts on one stated measure, the tax kept after the fund's 15%, and does not recommend any of them. Whether you can afford to lock the money away, and whether your fund will accept it, are not part of that measure.
Everything on Catch-Up Super
Your estimate is free, and it is a real answer.
Works out how much unused concessional contributions cap an Australian has built up over the rolling five year window, whether their total superannuation balance at the previous 30 June was under $500,000, and what a catch-up contribution is worth in tax in a specific year - then prices every contribution amount side by side and ranks them on the tax saved after the fund's own 15%.
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