"Isn't super tax free after 60?"
It is, while you are alive and drawing on it. Death is a different set of rules entirely, and the concession you have spent thirty years earning does not survive you unless the money is going to a spouse.
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Welcome back
Every calculation is unlocked. Change one figure and run it again as often as you like. Nothing is deducted, nothing counts down, and none of it expires.
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This year's tax rates and caps
All guidesYour account and settings
Access and ordersOnly you can cut this tax, and only while you are here.
Don't lose over $200,000. Our super death benefits tax calculator shows what your kids would pay, and how much of it you can still cut, so you can see your choices before a bad decision costs you.
Leave your super to an adult child and the tax office takes - of the taxable part before they see a cent. With life insurance in the fund, some of it can be taxed at -. Nobody sends a warning letter. The good news: a lot of it can often be removed while you are still here. None of it can be removed after.
An adviser charges $3,300 to $6,600 to work it out, over several weeks and two or three appointments. This calculator does the maths in about three minutes. Every lawful option, priced on your own balance and put in order, so you can see what your family keeps.
- Free estimate. No card, no sign up
- Full report $19, paid once. Advisers charge $3,300 or more
- Optional plain English assistant. It never sees your name
- Built on the 1 July 2026 caps and rates
Free 30 second estimate
Three answers. The tax on your super today.
$
-
Tax if it were paid out today
$-
taken before your family gets it
More your family could keep
$-
-
A rough guide. It assumes you are 62, can already take money out of super, and have it all in retirement phase. The free calculator uses your real details.
Sound familiar?
Never heard of this tax?
You're not alone, and it's not your fault.
No letter, no notice and no line on any statement warns you it is coming. Your fund runs the account. Your accountant sees your tax return, not your nomination form. So the bill only shows up on the one day nothing can be done about it. If any of these sound like you, you are in the right place.
"What even is a taxable component?"
It is on your member statement, beside a second figure called the tax free component, and it is the only number that decides the size of this. Almost nobody has ever looked at it, because until now there was no reason to.
"Surely my kids count as my dependants."
Under one Act they are, which is why the fund may pay them directly. Under the tax Act an adult child who is not financially dependent is not, so the money is taxed on the way. Two definitions, one word.
"I've got life insurance in my super too."
Then a fraction of the whole payout, the balance as well as the cover, is taxed at the higher of the two rates rather than the lower one, under a formula almost nobody outside the industry has heard of. It disappears at 65, and it is largest against the youngest.
"Can't my executor sort it out later?"
No. The components are fixed on the date of death, and no executor, beneficiary or fund can change them. If you are here because someone has already died, we are sorry. This cannot change their tax, but it can help you check your own super in time.
So we built the tool that was missing.
You type in what you have. We apply the actual published rules, work out every lawful way of reducing the tax, and put them in order by what reaches your beneficiaries. No jargon, no appointment, no sales call, and no personal recommendation.
Your super fund won't warn you
A superannuation fund works out the components and pays the benefit. It has no duty
to tell you what the tax on it would be, or that you could change it.
The tax office won't warn you
It publishes the rates and collects the tax. Nothing in the system flags a member
whose balance is about to be taxed on the way to a non-dependant.
An adviser will, for $3,300 to $6,600
A one-off Statement of Advice, over several weeks. That is the right call for a lot
of people, and it comes with a personal recommendation this service is not licensed
to make. Most people first just need the number.
In about three minutes you will see the tax on your super today, and how much more your family could keep. It costs nothing.
What it really costs
Two example families. The same $920,000 in super.
One lost $218,720 more to tax.
Both leave everything to two adult children. Same balance, same return, same twenty years. One family checked their super in time. The other never knew there was anything to check.
Never checked
The Fairbairns
- Left the balance exactly where it was for twenty years
- 92% of it taxable component, and rising every year
- Nominated the two sons directly, so the Medicare levy applied
- Never asked the fund for the component split
Reaches the two sons
$2,461,481
Checked in time
The Okonkwos
- Ran a bring-forward re-contribution every three years
- Converted $1,074,539 out of the taxable component
- Nominated the estate, so no Medicare levy on what was left
- Re-checked the split with the fund after every cycle
Reaches the two children
$2,680,201
Same balance. Same children. One family paid this much more tax.
$218,720
The Fairbairns handed $489,084 to the tax office and the Okonkwos handed
$270,364, on identical money. Neither family did anything wrong and
neither did anything clever. There are seven lawful arrangements
here. The Fairbairns were never shown any of them, so they got the one that happens by
default.
See which family you are. The report that prices every arrangement on your own
balance costs $19.
Both households are invented. What is real is everything else: the rates in Division 302 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the contribution caps for 2026-27, and the arithmetic, all of which this calculator applies to whatever figures you give it. See how the re-contribution strategy alone moves it.
Your options for finding out
Guess, pay an adviser, or check in 3 minutes.
Two of them cost you.
| Guess What most people do |
Pay an adviser A licensed financial adviser |
Super Death Benefits Tax Calculator This calculator |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| What you pay | Nothing now, six figures later |
$3,300 to $6,600 | $19 |
| How long it takes | An afternoon of worry | Four to eight weeks | Under 3 minutes |
| Every option priced in dollars | |||
| Maths shown line by line | Usually not | ||
| Tells you what to do (personal advice) |
Key dates
3 dates that can make this bill bigger
None of them is a sale and none of them is made up. Two are set by law. The third is your own birthday, and once it passes the re-contribution route is closed for good.
Miss this date and lose a whole year
A contribution counts in the year the fund receives it, not the year it is sent. A transfer made on 30 June that clears on 2 July belongs to the next year, and a whole year of conversion capacity is gone. The cap is - a year, or - using the bring-forward rule. How the bring-forward rule works.
The limits reset every year
The non-concessional cap is indexed to average weekly ordinary time earnings and the transfer balance cap to the consumer price index, so the whole scale shifts. Above a total superannuation balance of - no contribution can be accepted at all. These figures are the - ones.
After this birthday, the re-contribution route closes
A fund cannot accept a non-concessional contribution more than 28 days after the end of the month in which the member turns that age. Every other limit here can reopen if a balance falls or a cap is indexed. This one never does. What a condition of release is.
Free vs full report
The Death Benefits Tax Report: what's free and what you pay for
The free estimate shows the tax as things stand and names every option. The full report puts a dollar figure on each one, on your own figures, with all the maths shown so you can check it or question it.
Free: shows you there is a choice to make
- The tax on your balance as it stands today, exactly
- Which rules switch on for you, and which do not
- Every lawful option named, with what each one would involve
- How much more your family could keep, to the dollar, on your figures
- Whether a contribution cap, the age limit or not yet being able to take money out is stopping you
Full report, $19: what each choice is worth
- What each option leaves your beneficiaries, to the dollar
- Every option ranked, on one stated measure
- The re-contribution ladder cycle by cycle, and where it stops paying
- What sending it through your estate would save in Medicare levy
- With insurance in the fund: your untaxed element, worked out on your own service period
- The year by year projection of both components
- The point at which holding it outside super stops being worth it
- The assistant, on your own figures, with no limit
- The whole thing as a PDF you can print, charts included
See a full sample report, free. It is an invented household run all the way through, with the open half exactly as a customer sees it, and the assistant live on it for two questions.
How it works
Work out your super death benefits tax in 3 steps
If you can read your super statement, you can do this. Simple mode takes six short steps. Advanced mode lets you see and change every assumption.
Type in a few numbers
Your balance, the taxable component from your statement, who it would go to, any insurance in the fund and your age. That is all. No name, no tax file number, no member number, no bank details. Nothing you would not say out loud in a queue.
See today's tax bill, free
The exact tax as things stand today, which rules apply to you, every legal option named with what it would involve, and how much more your family could keep. No card and no sign up.
Unlock what each option keeps for your family
$19 opens the full report: every option priced and put in order, the ladder cycle by cycle, and the working behind all of it. PDF included, ready to hand to an adviser or a solicitor.
Built on the actual tax law (Division 302, ITAA 1997)
Section 302-145 for the rates, section 302-195 for who counts as a dependant, section 307-290 for the untaxed element, and the ATO's published caps and thresholds for 2026-27.
All the maths shown, nothing hidden
Nothing is a black box. Every figure in the report carries the arithmetic that produced it, including the formula behind the untaxed element.
Facts and numbers, not advice
We are not licensed to tell you what to do with your superannuation, and the arithmetic is the part almost everybody is missing anyway. The components of your interest are worked out by your fund, and its figures govern.
Can't model your situation? Your money back
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Included with the report
Confused by a number?
Just ask your report.
Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report: your balance, your components, your options and your numbers. It answers questions about it in plain English. Not a search box and not a help page. It knows what your report says because it has been given it.
Ask Agent
Why is $489,084 coming out of this? I thought super was tax free.
It is tax free to you, and to a spouse. Your two sons are not death benefits dependants for tax purposes, so the taxable component of the benefit ($2,876,965 by year 20 on these figures) is taxed at 15% plus the 2% Medicare levy on the way to them. The tax free component of $73,600 passes untouched, and it is still exactly $73,600 in twenty years because it never grows.
What does "proportioning rule" mean in section 07?
It means a withdrawal has to come out of both components in the same proportions as the balance. You cannot take out only the taxable part. So $390,000 out of a balance that is 92% taxable takes $358,800 of taxable component with it, and that $358,800 is what the re-contribution converts.
An example of the kind of answer it gives, on the sample report's figures.
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It answers from your own numbers Why is this taxed at all? What would happen if I died next year instead? Why does cycle four convert so much less than cycle one? It answers from your own figures and quotes them back.
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Plain English, no jargon It is built for this one subject and told to explain rather than impress: no abbreviation without the meaning attached, short answers, and no lecture.
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Optional. Use it or ignore it. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back from somebody who never opens it, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you ask it something.
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It is never told who you are What it receives is the figures on your report: amounts and categories. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never a member number, tax file number or bank detail, because we do not hold those. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given.
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What you ask is not kept The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it. We record that a question was asked so we know the feature is used, never what it said. Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel.
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It explains. It doesn't tell you what to do. It will tell you what the rules say, what each option is worth and where the figures come from, and it will not tell you what to do. That is the same line the report itself holds. Nothing here is personal financial advice.
Pricing
One payment of $19. Against a tax that can run to six figures.
One payment, no expiry, nothing to renew, and we never keep your card. It opens the whole report and lets you redo the sums as often as you like. That matters here, because the caps are indexed every July and a re-contribution ladder can run for a decade.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Prices in Australian dollars. Paid securely through PayPal: card or PayPal balance, no account needed. See a sample report before you decide.
Super death benefits tax FAQ
Tax on inherited super: your questions, answered
Yes, if they are adult children who are not financially dependent on you. They are not death benefits dependants for tax purposes, so the taxable component of your super is taxed at up to 15% plus the 2% Medicare levy, or 17% in all. Any untaxed element, which usually comes from life insurance inside the fund, is taxed at up to 32%. The tax free component reaches them untouched.
On a $1 million balance that is 90% taxable component, adult children pay $153,000 in tax. That is $900,000 exposed at 17%. The split between the tax free and taxable components decides the bill, not the balance, which is why the calculator asks for it. The same $1 million with a $390,000 tax free component leaves $610,000 exposed and a bill of $103,700.
No. Australia abolished estate duties in 1979 and has no inheritance tax. The tax on super death benefits is income tax under Division 302 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. It is charged only on the taxable component, and only when the person receiving it is not a death benefits dependant. For the families it lands on, it works a lot like a death duty, which is why so few see it coming.
Most of it usually can, but only while you are alive and have met a condition of release. Taking money out and putting it back in as a non-concessional contribution turns taxable component into tax free component: $130,000 a year, or $390,000 using the bring-forward rule. Sending the benefit to your estate instead of straight to the beneficiary also removes the Medicare levy. Nothing can be done after death.
Because the fund has never paid tax on it. When a fund deducts the insurance premiums, section 307-290 turns a fraction of the whole lump sum into an untaxed element. That part is taxed at 30% plus the levy instead of 15% plus the levy. The fraction is largest for the youngest members, disappears entirely at 65, and reaches the balance as well as the cover.
Yes, it saves the 2% Medicare levy on the taxable component going to non-dependants. The levy is charged when a death benefit is paid to a person, but it is not imposed on the trustee of a deceased estate. So the same money reaching the same people through a will is taxed 15% instead of 17%. The catch: estate money can face a family provision claim and the estate's creditors, and waits for probate.
A spouse or former spouse (including a de facto partner), a child under 18, a person in an interdependency relationship with you, and anyone who was financially dependent on you. They pay no tax on a super lump sum, at any age and on any amount. An adult child who is not financially dependent does not count for tax, even though super law lets a fund pay them directly. That gap between two Acts is where this tax comes from.
You take money out of super tax free after 60, with a condition of release, and put it straight back in as a non-concessional contribution. The money going back in lands entirely in the tax free component, so the taxed part shrinks. The cap is $130,000 a year, or $390,000 using the bring-forward rule, and it can be repeated every three years until age 75.
No. The components of your super are fixed as at the date of death, and no executor, beneficiary or fund can restructure them. A fund also has to pay a death benefit out as soon as practicable. Every lawful way of reducing the tax, from a re-contribution to changing who the benefit is paid to, has to be done while you are still alive.
Because the tax free component is a fixed number of dollars and never grows. Every dollar your fund earns, from interest, dividends, rent or capital growth, lands in the taxable component. So even if you do nothing, the taxed share of your balance keeps rising. A $920,000 balance that is 92% taxable today would be about 98% taxable in twenty years at 6% a year.
It puts a dollar figure on every lawful option using your own balance, instead of just naming them. It ranks them on one stated measure: what actually reaches your beneficiaries. It also shows how much each further re-contribution cycle converts, which is the figure that tells you whether waiting another year costs you anything.
After death, this can't be fixed. Today, it still can.
A withdrawal, a re-contribution, a new nomination and a will can all be started now, and every one of them stops being possible on the same day. The components of your superannuation are fixed as at the date of death, a fund has to pay the benefit out as soon as practicable, and no executor, beneficiary or fund can change any of it. Three minutes now is the cheapest three minutes in the whole process.
No card. No sign up. Your answer on the next screen.
Your balance and one figure off your super statement is all it takes.
Super Death Benefits Tax Calculator: see what your kids would pay
Prices every lawful way to cut this tax on one measure: what actually reaches your beneficiaries. That includes the re-contribution ladder, the estate nomination and the 2% Medicare levy nobody mentions.
Six quick questions. At the end you'll know the tax on your own super, and how much of it you can still remove.
Step 1
Just started
Caps and rates as at -.
Your free estimate
The tax on your super, and how much more your family could keep
The tax rules that apply to you
How much more your family could keep
Leave it as it is and your family could get $0 less
How much more could reach your family if things change while you are alive.
A financial adviser's Statement of Advice
$3,300 to $6,600
Finding out too late
-
This report, right now
$19
See what each option keeps for your family. Unlock my full report
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And you can ask it questions. Your report comes with an assistant that has read it and explains any figure in plain English, if you want it. It is given the amounts on your report, never your name or your email, and the conversation stays in your browser.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes
wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Not deciding today?
Email this estimate to yourself (free)
The tax on your own balance, the arrangements that reduce it, and a link back to your figures so you do not have to type them again. It is also the version to forward to whoever else needs to see it.
Your estimate now, then three short follow-ups over the next week, and we stop. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your address.
While there is still time to change it
See what your children would pay, and how much more they could keep
Super left to an adult child is taxed at up to 17%, and up to 32% where there is life cover in the fund. On a large balance that can mean six figures of tax. A lot of it can often be cut, but only while you are alive. This report works out every legal option on your own figures, so you can see what each one leaves your family.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us
within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
See a sample report before you buy.
Questions people ask before they buy
Yes, it is included, and using it is entirely your choice. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back from somebody who never opens it.
When you do ask it something, what it receives is the figures on your report: amounts and categories. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never a Medicare number, tax file number or bank detail. We do not hold those in the first place. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given. The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it, and we record that a question was asked without recording what it said.
Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel, including who processes it.
No. You pay once and the access is yours. There is no subscription and nothing renews. PayPal handles the payment, so we never even see your card number.
Yes, and it will tell you why that one figure matters more than anything else on the form. Most balances built from employer contributions and salary sacrifice are 90% to 100% taxable component, so a report run on that assumption is close. Your fund will confirm the exact split in writing, and your access never expires, so you can run it again with the real number at no further cost.
No, and it never calls one option the best. It applies the published rules to the figures you enter, prices every lawful arrangement, and ranks them on one stated measure: what reaches your beneficiaries. Which one to take is your decision, and a licensed adviser is the person who can recommend one. The report is built to be handed to them.
Yes. Put in their age and their balance rather than yours. Every question on the form is about the person whose super it is. Your access covers as many scenarios as you want to run, so you can run one for each parent.
Super Death Benefits Tax Calculator provides information, not financial product advice. We are not licensed to give personal financial advice and we never tell you which option to pick. What we do is apply the published rules to the figures you enter and show you what they produce, with every working visible. Your real position is set by the components your superannuation fund works out under the legislation, by the nomination you have lodged with that fund, and by your will. Those three govern, and every one of them is worth confirming in writing before acting on anything here.
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The full report opens the moment the payment clears, on the figures you have already entered. Nothing to install, nothing to renew, and your access never expires.
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Super death tax examples
11 example families. 11 worked super death tax bills.
Every figure on this page is worked out live, by the same engine that builds the paid report, against the caps and rates in force on -. Nothing here is typed in and nothing here is invented except the people. If a cap is indexed tomorrow, this page changes tomorrow.
First, 3 simple facts that decide every bill below
1
Your super has two halves, and only one of them is taxed
The tax free component is money you have already paid tax on. The taxable component is everything else: employer contributions, salary sacrifice and every dollar the fund has ever earned. Your member statement shows both.
2
An adult child is not a dependant for tax
They are under the superannuation law, which is why a fund can pay them directly. They are not under the tax law, so the taxable component is taxed on the way to them. A spouse is, and pays nothing.
3
The exposed half grows and the safe half does not
The tax free component is a fixed number of dollars for good. Every dollar the fund earns goes on the other side of the line, so the share exposed to the tax rises every year whether anybody does anything or not.
Everything below is those three facts in real dollars, for eleven different households. Worked out on the current caps and rates.
None of these families is yours. Check your own numbers.
Your own figure turns on four things none of these households can tell you: the split between your two components, who your nomination actually names, whether there is insurance inside your fund, and how many years there are before the contribution age limit. Three minutes and you will have all four.
Death Benefits Tax
The Death Benefits
Tax Report
Prepared for Margaret Hollis
Your options, side by side
Every legal option for Margaret's $920,000 of super, and what each one leaves her two sons in 20 years. Same balance, same people, same return. The only differences are how much of it is still taxable when it is paid, and who it is paid to. Open Show Details on any option: those panels work on this page.
Your three key figures
The rest of the report explains where they come from.
Tax if it were paid out today
$143,888
on a $920,000 death benefit
Tax in 20 years if nothing changes
$489,084
her balance grows, and the taxable part grows with it
More her family could keep
$218,720
take out and put back in every three years, and pay it through her estate, compared with leaving it as it is
Why the second figure is bigger than the first. The tax free part of super never grows. Every dollar the fund earns is taxable, so the taxable share rises on its own: 92% of the benefit today, 98% in 20 years. Section 06 shows it.
What your super is made of
Her super has a tax free part and a taxable part. The $73,600 tax free part is never taxed, whoever gets it. The $846,400 taxable part is 92.0% of the benefit today, and it is what this report is about.
Where to check this. A super statement shows the tax free and taxable parts side by side, usually next to the balance. The fund works them out, and its figures are the ones that count. Every number in this report starts from the $846,400 Margaret entered.
Only two things create a tax free part. Contributions from money already taxed, and an amount for super built up before 1 July 1983. Employer contributions, salary sacrifice and all earnings are taxable.
The tax if nothing changes
Line by line, the tax taken in 20 years before her family gets anything, on the 1 July 2026 caps and rates.
| Part of the benefit | Amount | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tax free part | $73,600 | Nil | $0 |
| Taxable part going to a dependant (such as a spouse) | $0 | Nil | $0 |
| Taxable part going to everyone else, at the normal rate | $2,876,965 | 15% | $431,545 |
| Taxable part going to everyone else, at the higher "untaxed" rate | $0 | 30% | $0 |
| Medicare levy | $2,876,965 | 2% | $57,539 |
| Total | $2,950,565 | - | $489,084 |
Nobody is doing anything wrong here. The tax is required by law, her sons cannot refuse it, and no executor can change it after death. Only Margaret can change this figure, while she is alive.
Every option compared
In order of what reaches Margaret's family in 20 years. The top row leaves the most on these figures. That is maths, not a recommendation. What each option costs in other ways is in its panel in section 01.
| # | Option | Turned tax free | Death benefits tax | Reaches your family | Less than the top option |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Take out and put back in every three years, and pay it through your estate | $1,074,539 | $270,364 | $2,680,201 | - |
| 2 | Take out and put back in, every three years | $1,074,539 | $306,412 | $2,644,152 | −$36,049 |
| 3 | Take out and put back in: three years' cap at once | $358,800 | $428,088 | $2,522,477 | −$157,724 |
| 4 | Pay it through your estate instead | $0 | $431,545 | $2,519,020 | −$161,181 |
| 5 | Take out and put back in: one year's cap | $119,600 | $468,752 | $2,481,813 | −$198,388 |
| 6 | Leave it as it is | $0 | $489,084 | $2,461,481 | −$218,720 |
| 7 | Take it all out of super and invest it yourself | $846,400 | $0 | $2,047,074 | −$633,127 |
Look at the last row. Taking all the money out of super removes the death benefits tax completely ($0 instead of $489,084) and still comes last. Twenty years of earnings taxed at 32% outside super, instead of nothing inside, costs more than the tax it avoids. A rule of thumb gets this backwards, and the answer is different for every household.
Why the tax grows if you do nothing
Margaret's tax free part is $73,600, and it will still be $73,600 in 20 years. Everything the fund earns is taxable, so the taxable share rises from 92% to 98% on its own.
This is why waiting costs money. A taxable dollar turned tax free this year stops adding taxable earnings on top of itself. Over 20 years at 6.0% a year, acting sooner rather than later makes a growing difference.
The tax in each year from now
Nobody knows which year it will happen, so the report works out every year. The upper line is the tax if nothing changes. The lower line is the tax under the option that leaves the most.
The gap between the two lines is what acting is worth in that year. It starts small, because early on only one round has been done, and it widens with each round the caps allow.
6 more sections and their charts unlock in the full report
- 08Taking money out and putting it back in, round by round
- 09The contribution limit, and the $2,100,000 cut-off
- 10Paying it through your estate: the Medicare levy saving
- 11Taking the money out of super altogether
- 12What changes the answer
- 13Key dates
Everything above is real maths on a made-up household. Run yours and this half opens on your own figures. A report with life cover in the fund also gets an extra section on the higher tax rate it can cause.
And you can ask it questions. Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report and explains any figure in it in plain English. Using it is entirely your choice, it does nothing until you press the button, and it is given the amounts on your report and never your name, your email or your account.
That is somebody else's answer. Yours takes about three minutes and costs nothing.
We could not find that link
The link may have been used already. If you still get emails, contact us and we will stop them.
Free guides
Super death benefits tax, explained in plain English
Twenty-three guides on the tax your superannuation attracts on the way to whoever you leave it to. Written for somebody who has never seen the words "taxable component" before, in plain English, on the 1 July 2026 caps and rates, with the section of the Act named every time so you can check any of it. Every figure in them comes from the same file the calculator runs on.
Reading is useful. Knowing what this is about to cost your family is better.
The tax
Medicare levy on super death benefits: the extra 2% and how it can be avoided
A superannuation death benefit paid to a person is included in their assessable income, so the Medicare levy of 2% is charged on the taxable component along with the tax. That is why 15% in the Act becomes 17% in practice. Where the benefit is instead paid to the trustee of a deceased estate, the levy is not imposed at all.
Why is Medicare levy charged on a death benefit?
The Medicare levy is charged on the taxable income of Australian residents. A superannuation death benefit paid to somebody who is not a death benefits dependant is included in their assessable income, and although section 302-145 caps the tax on the taxable component at 15% or 30%, the levy is a separate imposition under its own Act and the cap does not touch it.
So the arithmetic goes: taxable component in, tax capped at 15%, levy of 2% on top, effective rate 17%. On an untaxed element, 30% and 2% make 32%. Almost every published figure quotes the combined rates because those are what people actually pay, and almost every explanation of where the extra 2% came from is missing.
The levy is not reduced by the low income thresholds in the way it is for somebody living on a small income, because a death benefit of any size takes the recipient's taxable income well past them. It is 2% of the taxable component and there is no shading on any benefit worth reading this page about.
The one exception: benefits paid to the estate
Where a superannuation death benefit is paid to the trustee of a deceased estate, section 302-10 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 applies the same rules as if the benefit had been paid directly to the beneficiary who benefits from it - so a benefit destined for an adult child is still taxed at 15% on the taxed element and 30% on any untaxed element.
What changes is who is assessed. The trustee is assessed under section 99 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, and the Medicare levy is imposed on individuals rather than on trustees assessed that way. It is not part of the assessment, so it is not paid.
This is not a loophole and it is not aggressive. It is a consequence of how the two Acts fit together, it is described in the Australian Taxation Office's own published guidance on death benefits, and it is one of the most widely used pieces of ordinary estate planning in the country.
How much does skipping the levy save?
| Taxable component to non-dependants | Paid direct | Through the estate | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $300,000 | $51,000 | $45,000 | $6,000 |
| $600,000 | $102,000 | $90,000 | $12,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $170,000 | $150,000 | $20,000 |
| $2,500,000 | $425,000 | $375,000 | $50,000 |
It scales exactly with the taxable component, because it is a flat two per cent of it. That makes it the one lever in this subject that is worth the same proportion to everybody, and the one that is still available to a household for whom every other option is closed - somebody over 75, or with a total superannuation balance above $2.1 million, cannot re-contribute a dollar and can still do this.
What does the estate route cost you in return?
Three things, and none of them is a number.
Family provision exposure. Money that passes through an estate can be the subject of a family provision claim by somebody who believes they should have received more. A superannuation benefit paid directly to a nominated beneficiary generally sits outside the estate and outside that risk. In a blended family, or where a child has been deliberately left out, this can matter far more than 2%.
Creditors. An estate pays the deceased's debts before it distributes. A directly paid death benefit does not go into that pool.
Time. Nothing comes out of an estate until probate is granted, which usually takes some months. A directly nominated benefit can be paid as soon as the fund has what it needs.
There is also a fourth consideration that is not a cost so much as a condition: the estate route only works if the will sends the money to the same people the fund would have paid. A nomination to a legal personal representative governed by an out of date will is worse than no nomination at all, and the two documents have to be read together.
How to nominate your estate
The general process is the same across most funds. The trust deed is checked for whether a binding nomination in favour of the legal personal representative is permitted, which almost all funds allow. The fund's own form is completed naming the legal personal representative rather than a person, signed and witnessed in the way the fund requires, and lodged with the fund rather than kept with the will.
Whether it lapses is then established. Outside a self-managed fund most binding nominations expire after three years unless the fund offers a non-lapsing form, and a lapsed nomination puts the decision back with the trustee. A reminder set for the expiry date is the difference between a plan and a document.
The executor is usually told, because the estate has to lodge a return reporting the benefit and pay the assessment, and an executor who is not expecting a superannuation death benefit to arrive is an executor who distributes too early.
Check who your current nomination names
Somebody who already has a binding nomination should check what it names. Very many of them name "my children" or an individual by name, because that is what the form invites and what feels careful. Naming a person is a decision worth 2% of the taxable component in one direction and a great deal of protection in the other, and it deserves to be a decision rather than a default.
What is the levy costing on your balance?
The calculator prices the same benefit both ways - paid direct and paid through the estate - with the levy as its own line, so the saving and the trade-off are both in front of you.
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About us
Why we built a super death benefits tax calculator
Many Australians over fifty-five have a large amount of money in super and no idea what happens to it when they die. There is no letter, no notice and no line on any statement warning that a balance left to an adult child is taxed at up to 17% on the taxable component, and up to 32% where there is insurance in the fund. The fund administers, the accountant sees the tax return rather than the nomination form, and the whole thing becomes visible for the first time on the one day nothing can be done about it. Families find out from a payment summary.
None of it is secret. The rates are in section 302-145 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, who counts as a death benefits dependant is section 302-195, the untaxed element is section 307-290, the rule that stops you withdrawing only the taxable part is section 307-125, and the contribution caps that decide how fast any of it can be fixed are section 292-85 and the Australian Taxation Office's published rates and thresholds. It is public, it is checkable, and hardly anybody ever sees their own figures, because it is spread across four instruments, written for administrators, and reindexed every July on a cycle nobody outside the industry follows.
Super Death Benefits Tax Calculator does one thing: it applies those published rules to your figures and shows you, in full, what they produce. Every lawful arrangement priced, every one ranked on a single stated measure (what actually reaches the people you are leaving it to), and every working visible so you can check it, argue with it, or take it to somebody who can. The figures come from one file, that file names its source for every number in it, and the calculator is re-run rather than rewritten when a cap moves.
We do not tell you what to do. We are not licensed to, we never call one option the best, and the components of your own superannuation interest are worked out by your fund rather than by us, and its figures govern. What is missing for most people is the arithmetic rather than the opinion, and the arithmetic is what this is. Here is what the advice costs if you decide you want that as well, and for anything involving a will or a nomination it is a solicitor rather than an adviser.
Privacy Policy
Short version: we hold as little as we can, we never ask for the identifiers that matter most, and the calculation runs on your own device. The long version is below, because you are entitled to it.
1. About this policy
This policy explains how XTO Pty. Ltd. (we, us, our) collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information, and how you can access, correct or complain about it. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
It applies to calculatedchoices.com.au and to every email we send you. It does not apply to any third party site we link to.
2. What we never collect
We do not ask for, and you should never send us, your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file numbers, member numbers, bank account numbers, or any government identifier, bank account details or card number. The calculator does not need them. If you send one to us anyway we will delete it rather than store it.
We do not collect sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act - health information, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. Where the calculator asks about care needs it asks about funding categories, never about a medical condition.
3. What we collect, and why
Information you give us
- Account details - first and last name, email address, and optionally phone, suburb, state, postcode and your relationship to the person entering care. Used to create and secure your account and to deliver what you bought.
- Saved reports - the figures you entered and the results produced, stored against your account only if you choose to save one. Used so you can return to and compare them.
- Purchases - the order, amount, currency, access period and the PayPal transaction reference. Used to grant access, issue receipts and meet our tax and record keeping obligations.
- Correspondence - what you write to us and our reply. Used to answer you and to resolve disputes.
- Email estimates and reviews - the email address you give us to receive a free estimate, and any review you submit for publication.
Information collected automatically
- Technical data - IP address, browser user agent, device type, screen and viewport size, and the referring page.
- Activity data - the pages you open, the order you open them in, time spent on each, how far you scroll, which calculator steps you complete, and which buttons you press. Used to understand where the site is confusing and to improve it.
- Advertising identifiers - where you arrive from an advertisement, the click identifier appended to the link (for example Google's gclid) and any campaign parameters, so we can measure which advertising works.
4. Where the calculation happens
In your browser, on your device. The figures you type into the calculator are processed locally to produce your result. They are transmitted to us only if you choose to save a scenario to your account. If you never save one, we never receive them.
Two exceptions, and both are things you have to choose to do:
- If you ask us to email your free estimate, the headline figure that estimate produced is stored with your email address so the estimate we send you is the one you saw.
- If you use the optional report assistant, the figures in the report you have open are sent to us and on to the service that answers it. That is the only part of this site that sends anything to a third party, and section 5 sets out exactly what does and does not travel.
5. The report assistant
A paid report comes with an optional assistant you can ask questions about your own figures. It is the one part of this site that sends anything to a third party, so it is set out here in full.
It is entirely your choice, and it does nothing until you use it. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you open the assistant and ask a question. If you never open it, this section does not apply to you at all, and the rest of the report works exactly the same.
What is sent when you do ask
- A plain-text summary of the figures in the report you have open - the amounts, categories and comparisons the report already shows you on screen.
- The question you typed, and the questions and answers already in that conversation, so a follow-up makes sense.
What is not sent
- Your name. The name field on the calculator is optional and is used only on your own report cover. It is not part of what the assistant is given.
- Your email address, your account, your phone number or your street address. The assistant is not told who you are, and is given no way to find out.
- Your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file numbers, member numbers, bank account numbers, or any government identifier, bank account or card details - we never hold these in the first place. See section 2.
What travels is a set of amounts and categories. On its own it does not identify anybody, and we do not send anything alongside it that would.
Who processes it
The request is answered by Google's Gemini API, which processes it outside Australia - see sections 10 and 11. We do not train any model on your figures and we have no arrangement permitting anyone to do so; what Google does with data sent to its API is governed by its own terms, which we do not control.
How long it is kept
- The summary of your figures is held in our server's memory for one hour so a conversation does not have to re-send it with every question, and is then discarded. It is never written to our database.
- The conversation itself is stored in your own browser tab and is gone when you close that tab. We do not keep a copy.
- We record that a question was asked, and how long it was, so we know whether the feature is used. We do not record what it said.
Because the assistant is optional, you can have the entire paid report without any of the above ever happening. Nothing in the report is withheld from somebody who never opens it.
6. Cookies and browser storage
We use the following, and nothing else:
- An authentication cookie - set only when you sign in, so you stay signed in. Strictly necessary.
- A guest identifier - so a scenario saved before you register can be attached to your account when you do.
- A session key (browser session storage) - identifies one visit for the activity data described above. It is a random value and is discarded when you close the tab.
- A visitor key (browser local storage) - a random value kept for up to twelve months so we can tell a returning visitor from a new one. It contains no personal information and is not shared with anyone.
- Preferences - your light or dark theme choice.
You can clear or block these through your browser at any time. Clearing them will sign you out and reset your preferences; the site will otherwise work normally.
7. Analytics and advertising
We use Google Analytics and Google Ads to measure how people find and use the site and whether our advertising is worth running. Where these are enabled, Google receives your IP address, device and browser information, the pages you viewed, and - when you complete a purchase - the order reference and the amount paid. Google may set its own cookies and may combine this with data it holds from other sources. Google's handling of that data is governed by its own privacy policy, not ours.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not disclose it to data brokers, advertising networks other than as described above, your superannuation fund, your beneficiaries or the Australian Taxation Office, or anyone who might try to sell you something.
You can opt out of Google Analytics using Google's browser add-on, and you can adjust personalised advertising in your Google account settings.
8. Payments
Payments are processed by PayPal. Your card or account details are entered on PayPal's systems and are never transmitted to, seen by, or stored on our servers. We receive only the transaction reference, the amount, the status and the email address associated with the payment.
9. Who we disclose information to
- Service providers who host the site, send our email and process payments, and only so they can perform that function.
- Google, as described in sections 5 and 7.
- Professional advisers - our accountants and lawyers, under obligations of confidence.
- A purchaser of our business, if it is ever sold, on terms that require them to honour this policy.
- Law enforcement, courts or regulators, where we are required or authorised by law.
10. Overseas disclosure
Some of these providers store or process data outside Australia, principally in the United States (Google, PayPal) and, depending on our email provider, in other countries. By using the site you acknowledge that we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle your information consistently with the APPs, but that we cannot control and are not accountable for how an overseas recipient handles it once disclosed, and that you may not be able to seek redress in that jurisdiction.
11. Security
The site runs entirely over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as salted PBKDF2 hashes, not as text anyone here can read. Access to the database is restricted to those who need it. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted over the internet, but we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
12. How long we keep it
- Account and saved reports - until you delete them or ask us to.
- Order and payment records - seven years, as required by Australian tax law. We cannot delete these earlier, even on request.
- Activity data - up to twenty‑six months, then deleted or aggregated so it no longer identifies anyone.
- Email leads - until you unsubscribe, then only the record needed to honour that unsubscribe.
13. Direct marketing
If you give us your email address for a free estimate we may follow up about the full report. Every commercial email we send identifies us and carries a functional unsubscribe link, as required by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We action unsubscribes immediately. You will still receive transactional email - receipts, access details and password resets - because those are not marketing.
14. Accessing, correcting and deleting your information
Write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au. We will:
- give you access to the personal information we hold about you, or explain why we cannot;
- correct anything inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading;
- delete your account and every scenario attached to it, subject to the retention periods in section 12.
We will respond within 30 days and will not charge you for making a request. We may need to verify your identity first.
15. Complaints
If you think we have breached the APPs, write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au with "Privacy complaint" in the subject line. We will acknowledge within 5 business days and respond substantively within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992, or GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
16. Children
The site is intended for anyone over 55 with superannuation they expect to leave to adult children, and the families who have to deal with it afterwards. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
17. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. The effective date at the top changes when we do. Where a change is material we will tell you by email or by notice on the site before it takes effect. Continuing to use the site after that means you accept the updated policy.
18. Contact
Privacy Officer
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
support@calculatedchoices.com.au
Terms of Service
Plain English, because the whole point is that you understand it. Section 6 is the one that matters most - please read it before you rely on anything here.
1. Agreement
By using calculatedchoices.com.au (the site) or buying a pass you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the site. In these terms we, us and our mean XTO Pty. Ltd.; you means the person using the site or, where you use it on behalf of another person or an entity, both you and that person or entity.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 and legally able to enter a contract. The site is intended for use in Australia and applies Australian law and the superannuation death benefit rules in Division 302 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 only. If you use it from outside Australia you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for local compliance.
3. What this service is
Super Death Benefits Tax Calculator is an information and calculation service. It applies the superannuation death benefit rules in Division 302 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to figures you supply and reports what those rules produce, showing its workings and naming the fee schedule used.
4. What it is not
It is not financial product advice, personal advice, legal advice, tax advice, accounting advice or personal financial product advice, and it is not a recommendation to acquire, dispose of or deal in any financial product.
- We do not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and are not authorised representatives of any licensee.
- We do not know your full circumstances, objectives, financial situation or needs, and nothing produced by the site takes them into account.
- Where the report ranks options it does so on a single arithmetic measure that deliberately ignores everything a number cannot capture - health, family circumstances, tax position, estate planning, the split between the tax free and taxable components of your superannuation, and who the benefit is paid to, and what actually matters to you.
- We receive no commission and have no relationship with any your superannuation fund trustee, the executor of your estate, and the Australian Taxation Office.
You should obtain independent, licensed advice before acting. Any decision you make is yours.
5. Accuracy and estimates
We take considerable care to keep the rates current and the formulas right, and every report prints the schedule it was built on. Even so:
- All output is an estimate based on the figures you entered. If those figures are wrong, incomplete or out of date, the output will be too.
- your superannuation fund trustee, who works out the components of your interest and is the only party who can confirm what they actually are Those prevail over anything the site produces.
- Rates, thresholds and caps change by legislation and indexation, and legislation can change without notice or retrospectively.
- Projections rely on assumptions about the future - investment returns, indexation, home values, length of stay - which are inherently uncertain and will not be accurate.
Always confirm before you act.
6. Your responsibility for decisions
You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for evaluating the output, for verifying it against official sources, for obtaining independent professional advice, and for every decision you make or do not make. We are not your adviser and no fiduciary or advisory relationship arises from your use of the site.
7. Accounts
You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for everything done under your account. Tell us immediately at support@calculatedchoices.com.au if you suspect unauthorised use. We may suspend or close an account we reasonably believe is being used in breach of these terms.
8. Passes, price and payment
- A pass grants access to the full report from the moment payment is confirmed, and it does not expire. It does not renew and nothing is charged automatically. There is no subscription and no card is kept on file.
- Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST where applicable. We may change prices at any time; the price shown when you buy is the price you pay.
- Payment is processed by PayPal under its own terms. We do not receive your card details.
- A pass is for personal or single household use. It is not transferable and may not be shared, resold or used to provide a service to others.
9. Reports you export
A report you export as a PDF or otherwise save remains yours to keep and to show to family, an adviser or superannuation fund. That licence is personal and non‑commercial. It does not permit republication, resale, or use as part of a product or service you provide to others.
10. Refunds
Our promise: if the calculator cannot properly model your circumstances, or something has gone wrong, write to us within 14 days of purchase and we will refund the pass. No form and no argument. We would rather refund you than have you rely on a number that does not fit.
This is a voluntary commercial guarantee offered in addition to, and it does not limit, your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Refunds are made to the original payment method within five business days of us accepting the request.
11. Acceptable use
You must not:
- scrape, crawl, harvest, mirror or systematically extract the site or its content;
- attempt to access the paid report engine, any account, or any data without authorisation;
- reverse engineer, decompile or attempt to derive the source of any part of the service;
- interfere with the site's operation or security, or impose an unreasonable load on it;
- resell, sublicense or commercially exploit the service or its output;
- use the site to provide financial, legal or placement advice to third parties; or
- use it unlawfully, or to infringe anyone's rights.
12. Intellectual property
All content, code, calculation methodology, report design, text and branding on the site is owned by us or licensed to us and is protected by copyright and other laws. Legislated rates and government data are not owned by anyone; our expression, arrangement and implementation of them is. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership to you.
13. Availability
We aim to keep the site available but do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free. We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of it, and may perform maintenance, at any time. If we permanently discontinue the service while your pass is running, we will refund the unused portion.
14. Third parties
The site relies on third party services including PayPal, Google and our hosting and email providers, and links to third party sites and government resources. We are not responsible for those services or sites, their availability, their content or their terms.
15. Australian Consumer Law
Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled to cancel your service contract with us and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. If the failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract.
Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy conferred by the Australian Consumer Law or any other law which cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified. If any part of these terms would do so, that part does not apply.
16. Limitation of liability
Subject always to section 15, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:
- the site and its output are provided "as is" and "as available", and we exclude all warranties, conditions, guarantees and representations not expressly set out in these terms, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, including as to accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability and non‑infringement;
- we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, or for any loss of profit, revenue, savings, opportunity, goodwill, data, anticipated benefit, or for any loss arising from a decision made or not made in reliance on the site, however arising and whether in contract, tort (including negligence), statute or otherwise, even if we were advised of the possibility;
- our total aggregate liability to you for all claims connected with the site or these terms is limited, at our election, to resupplying the service or to refunding the amount you actually paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose; and
- where liability cannot be excluded but can be limited, it is limited as set out above.
You agree that this allocation of risk is reasonable given the price of the service and that the service is information rather than advice.
Our liability is reduced to the extent your loss is caused or contributed to by you, including by entering incorrect figures, by failing to verify output against official sources, or by failing to obtain independent advice.
17. Indemnity
To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify us against any claim, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your breach of these terms, your misuse of the site, or your provision of the site's output to a third party who relies on it. This does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach, negligence or wilful misconduct.
18. Termination
You may stop using the site at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you breach these terms. Sections 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 survive termination.
19. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms and explains how we handle personal information.
20. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and we submit to the non‑exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts entitled to hear appeals from them.
21. General
- Changes. We may amend these terms. The effective date changes when we do, and material changes will be notified by email or on the site before they take effect. The terms in force when you bought a pass govern that purchase.
- Severability. If a provision is unenforceable it is read down to the minimum extent necessary, or severed, without affecting the rest.
- Waiver. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
- Assignment. You may not assign these terms without our consent. We may assign them on a sale of the business.
- Entire agreement. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the site.
22. Contact
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
support@calculatedchoices.com.au