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As we head toward the end of financial year, people will be considering making extra contributions to superannuation.
Aside from boosting retirement savings these contributions can be a valuable tax deduction.
Contributions that are claimed as a tax deduction are known as concessional contributions, they reduce your personal taxable income, and they are taxed at 15% inside your superannuation. Super guarantee (SG) from an employer are also concessional contributions.
The usual cap on concessional contributions sits at $27,500 for the current financial year. 
For the 2018-19 financial year, the government introduced Catch-up Concessional Contributions. Individuals with superannuation balances below $500,000, could make use of un-used cap space up to 5 years. However, the change was not back dated and so in the first year there was effectively no change.
Fast forward to this financial year (2022/2023) and we have reached the first time that an individual will have the full 5 years available to them.
Here’s how that might look for an individual who’s only super contributions have been SG from their employer:
Financial Year | 2018/2019 | 2019/2020 | 2020/2021 | 2021/2022 | 2022/2023 |
Concessional Cap | $25,000 | $25,000 | $25,000 | $27,500 | $27,500 |
Concessional Contributions | $9,500 | $9,500 | $10,000 | $11,500 | $12,400 |
Unused Cap | $15,500 | $15,500 | $15,000 | $16,000 | $15,100 |
Cumulative unused cap | $15,500 | 31,000 | $46,000 | $62,000 | $77,100 |
Provided this individual had a superannuation balance of less than $500,000 on 1 July 2022, they would be eligible to make a concessional contribution of up to $77,100.
In what circumstances might an individual want to utilise the catch-ups? Typically, these will be useful in years where assessable income might be higher, this could be due to an asset sale such as an investment property or business.
It is important to consider that now we have reached the full five years, each subsequent year will mean the earliest of the 5 years will not be counted when considering your unused caps. This means from 1 July 2023, the unused caps from 2018-19 are unavailable and the 5 financial years available will be from 2019-20 through to 2023-24.
If you would like to consider whether catch-up concessional contributions may be of benefit to you, please speak with your local RSM adviser.
Note: past performance is not an indicator of future results.
This article has been prepared by RSM Financial Services Australia Pty Ltd ABN 22 009 176 354, AFS Licence No. 238282.
As everyone's circumstances are different and this article doesn't take into account your personal situation, it is important that you consider the above in light of your financial situation, needs and objectives, and seek financial advice before implementing a strategy.
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