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Granny flats: Beware of the CGT consequences
March 31, 2026Higher super contribution caps from 1 July 2026: What it means for you
From 1 July 2026, the amount you
can contribute to super will increase, creating new opportunities to boost your
retirement savings.
The annual concessional
contribution cap will rise from $30,000 to $32,500. These are contributions
made from pre-tax money, such as employer contributions, salary sacrifice and
personal deductible contributions.
Non-concessional
contributions
The annual non-concessional
contribution (NCC) cap will also increase from $120,000 to $130,000. These are
contributions made from your after-tax money.
For people who are eligible to
use the bring-forward rule, the higher caps will allow even larger
contributions. From 1 July 2026, the three-year bring-forward cap will increase
from $360,000 to $390,000.
Whether you can use these higher
NCC caps will depend on your total super balance (TSB) at 30 June 2026. Your
TSB is the total amount you have across all of your super accounts at that
date, including money in accumulation and pension phase.
The table below highlights how
the TSB thresholds and NCC caps will change from 2025–26 to 2026–27.
|
Thresholds
and caps in 2025-26 |
Thresholds
and caps in 2026-27 |
||
|
TSB
at 30 June 2025 |
NCC
cap |
TSB
at 30 June 2026 |
NCC
cap |
|
Less
than $1.76 million |
$360,000
(3 years) |
Less
than $1.84 million |
$390,000
(3 years) |
|
At
least $1.76 million but less than $1.88 million |
$240,000
(2 years) |
At
least $1.84 million but less than $1.97 million |
$260,000
(2 years) |
|
At
least $1.88 million but less than $2 million |
$120,000
(1 year) |
At
least $1.97 million but less than $2.1 million |
$130,000
(1 year) |
|
$2
million or more |
Nil |
$2.1
million or more |
Nil |
One important trap to watch is
that if you have already triggered a bring-forward period before
1 July 2026, you do not get access to the new higher caps for that existing
period. For example, if you triggered a three-year bring-forward in 2025–26,
you remain limited to the current maximum of $360,000 across that three-year
period, being until 1 July 2028. You do not get to use the new $390,000 cap.
Concessional
contributions
The higher concessional cap may
also create extra opportunities through catch-up concessional contributions. If
your TSB is less than $500,000 at 30 June of the previous year, you may be able
to use unused concessional cap amounts from the previous five years. In some
cases, this could allow a very large deductible contribution to be made.
This means the lead-up to 30 June
2026 could be an important planning window. In some cases, it may make sense to
delay a contribution until the new financial year to access the higher caps. In
others, if you have already met a condition of release, taking a small amount
out of super before 30 June may help keep your balance below a key threshold
and preserve access to valuable contribution strategies.
The key message is that the
higher caps could create valuable opportunities, but the rules around timing
and TSB are also important. Now is a good time to check how these changes may
apply to you.
