Claiming a tax deduction for your personal super contributions*

You may be able to claim a tax deduction for personal super contributions that you make from your after-tax income, for example from your bank account directly to your super fund.

Before you can claim a deduction for your personal super contributions, you must have given your super fund a Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal super contributions form (NAT 71121) and received an acknowledgement from your fund.

There are also eligibility criteria that you must meet.

People eligible to claim a deduction for personal contributions include people who get their income from:

• salary and wages
• a personal business (eg people who are self-employed contractors)
• investments
• government pensions or allowances
• super
• partnership or trust distributions
• a foreign source.

The personal super contributions that you claim as a deduction will count towards your concessional contributions cap. When deciding whether to claim a deduction for super contributions, you should consider the super impacts that may arise from this, including whether:

• you will exceed your contribution cap
• Division 293 tax applies to you
• you wish to split your contributions with your spouse
• it will affect your Government super co-contribution eligibility.

If you exceed your cap, you will have to pay extra tax and any excess concessional contributions will count towards your non-concessional contributions cap.

For more information talk to your accountant or tax adviser.

_{*Source ATO Website 28/05/2019. https://www.ato.gov.au/forms/notice-of-intent-to-claim-or-vary-a-deduction-for-personal-super-contributions/}