Deductions for Personal Super

You can generally claim up to 100% of any personal member contributions you’ve made throughout the year as a deduction on your tax return, which could reduce the tax you pay – deductible super contributions are only taxed at 15% compared to your marginal tax rate.

Check out our Fact Sheet for details on Salary Sacrifice vs After-tax Contributions

Is there a limit?

Provided you meet the eligibility criteria, there is no limit on the amount you can claim as a tax deduction; however there are caps on the amount of contributions you can make to super before you pay extra tax.

Check out our Fact Sheet on Contribution Limits

How to claim the tax deduction

If you wish to claim a tax deduction for your personal super contributions, you must first provide a completed Deduction for Personal Contributions form to us and wait until you receive a written acknowledgement back from us, prior to submitting your Income Tax Return for the relevant financial year. This form must be submitted before 30 June after the financial year in which you made the contributions.

You cannot lodge or vary your notice of intent to claim a deduction if:

• You are no longer a member of Nationwide Super; or
• We no longer hold the contributions (i.e. you have made a withdrawal or transferred your super benefits elsewhere)

Is the contribution taxed?

Any contribution amount that you claim as a tax deduction will be treated as a concessional contribution, which means the contribution effectively comes from your ‘before-tax’ income and 15% contributions tax will be deducted from your account. This means that where a person’s marginal tax rate is greater than 15% (i.e. taxable income is greater than $18,200 in 2018/19) tax savings can be achieved by making deductible personal super contributions.

What are the other impacts?

Please note that deductible personal super contributions will also affect the income tests for some tax offsets, deductions, concessions, the Medicare levy surcharge and certain government benefits and obligations.

You are not eligible for a super co-contribution on any amount for which you claim a tax deduction. Check out our Fact Sheet for details on the government’s Super Co-Contribution initiative