Two kinds of money going in
The ATO sets a separate cap for each of two kinds of contribution.
- Concessional contributions are the before-tax kind. Moneysmart says the cap on them includes the employer’s super guarantee and any salary sacrificed contributions, and the ATO classes super guarantee payments as employer contributions that count towards this cap. The super guarantee therefore uses up part of the concessional cap before a worker adds anything of their own.
- Non-concessional contributions, in the ATO’s words, “include personal contributions for which you don’t claim or haven’t been allowed to claim as an ‘income tax deduction’”.
Where someone has more than one fund, the ATO adds together the contributions made to all of them and counts the total against each cap.
The figures, each with its year
Caps change over time, so a figure means little without its year. These are the figures the sources gave when this page was checked on 8 October 2026.
| Cap or limit | Figure | Applies | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| General concessional cap | $32,500 | From 1 July 2026, after indexation in line with average weekly ordinary time earnings | ATO |
| General concessional cap | $30,000 | 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026 | ATO |
| Non-concessional cap | $130,000 | Each financial year, as Moneysmart stated it on 8 October 2026 | Moneysmart |
| Bring-forward | up to $390,000 | Up to 3 years’ worth of non-concessional contributions in one financial year, within the total super balance rules, as Moneysmart stated it on 8 October 2026 | Moneysmart |
| Carry-forward balance test | under $500,000 | Total super balance on 30 June of the previous financial year, from 1 July 2018 | ATO |
Since the 2017–18 financial year, the ATO says, the general concessional cap is not worked out by age.
Unused concessional cap: carrying it forward
A year in which less goes in than the concessional cap allows is not always lost. The ATO says that from 1 July 2018, a person whose total superannuation balance was less than $500,000 on 30 June of the previous financial year may be entitled to contribute more than the general concessional cap, using amounts left unused in earlier years.
The first year anyone could carry unused amounts forward was 2019–20, and each unused amount is available for at most 5 years before it expires. Moneysmart describes the same rule in plainer terms: unused amounts can be carried forward for up to 5 years where the balance test is met.
Non-concessional cap: nil, or brought forward
The non-concessional cap moves with a person’s total super balance. From 1 July 2017, the ATO says, a person whose total superannuation balance had reached the general transfer balance cap or more when the previous financial year closed has a nil cap for the year that follows. Any non-concessional contributions made in that year are then excess contributions.
In the other direction, the bring-forward rule allows more than one year’s cap at once. From the 2022–23 financial year, a person under 75 may be able to contribute as much as three times the annual non-concessional cap within one year. The ATO adds that the age limit was 67 for 2020–21 and 2021–22, and 65 before that. Since 1 July 2017, the amount that can be brought forward, and over what period, depends on the person’s total superannuation balance on the day before the financial year of the contributions that trigger it.
When a contribution goes over a cap
The ATO puts the consequence plainly: “Contributing more than the caps to your super may mean having to pay extra tax.”
Over the concessional cap
Excess concessional contributions are the amount contributed over the cap in a financial year. From 2013–14 onwards, the ATO says, they are included in the person’s taxable income and taxed at their marginal tax rate. A separate charge used to apply on top, the excess concessional contributions charge; for contributions made on or after 1 July 2021 that go over the cap, people are no longer liable to pay it.
Over the non-concessional cap
For non-concessional contributions made from 1 July 2013 that go over the cap, for 2013–14 and later years, a person can elect to have the excess released. An associated earnings amount, worked out to approximate what the excess earned while it sat in the fund, is then included in the person’s assessable income. The tax side of this is set out in the guide to tax on super.
Downsizer contributions
Moneysmart says that someone who has owned their home for more than 10 years and sells it may be able to put some of the proceeds into super: up to $300,000 per person, or $600,000 per couple, for people aged 55 or older who meet the eligibility rules.
Once inside, the money stays there under the preservation rules until a condition of release is met.