Superannuation Strategies for 2025–26: A Private Wealth Management Guide
- May 28
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 1
A guide to some of the most popular superannuation contribution strategies, from maximising your own balance to building wealth across generations.
The recent Federal Budget confirmed what we have long maintained: despite ongoing debate, superannuation remains one of the most tax-effective structures available to Australian investors. Contributions are taxed at just 15%, investment earnings are sheltered from income tax, and in retirement the benefits can be entirely tax-free. For clients with complex financial positions, understanding how super fits within a broader private wealth management strategy alongside investment portfolios, estate structures, and tax planning, is where the real value is found.
With 30 June approaching, now is the time to act. Below is a comprehensive guide here to every contribution strategy worth considering, both for this financial year and the years ahead.
A Note On The Changing Landscape Of Superannuation.
Superannuation is one of the most frequently legislated areas of Australian financial law. Contribution caps, income thresholds, eligibility rules, and tax treatments are reviewed and updated regularly, and what applied last year may not apply today. The figures in this article reflect the 2025–26 financial year and have been verified against current ATO guidance, but we are aware that these will change for the 2026-27 financial year.
This complexity is precisely why superannuation decisions should never be made in isolation. The strategies outlined here can be effective, but their suitability depends entirely on your individual circumstances: age, income, total super balance, fund type, and broader financial position. We strongly encourage you to reach out before acting on any of the information below. Getting it right is worth a conversation.
Want to keep this handy?
Download the 2025–26 Super Contribution Checklist A one-page reference covering every strategy below: caps, thresholds, deadlines, and intergenerational strategies, formatted for quick use before 30 June. As part of a personal wealth management plan, these strategies work differently depending on your age, balance, and income, the checklist is a starting point, not a prescription
Contribution Strategies
Strategy 01. Concessional Contributions.
Concessional contributions are pre-tax contributions made into superannuation — including your employer's Superannuation Guarantee (SG) payments, any salary sacrifice arrangement, and personal contributions for which you claim a tax deduction. These contributions are taxed at just 15% inside the fund, rather than at your marginal income tax rate. In 2025-26–26, Australia's marginal rates are:
Taxable Income | Marginal Rate | Super Rate | Potential Saving |
$18,201 – $45,000 | 16% + 2% Medicare | 15% | 3% |
$45,001 – $135,000 | 30% + 2% Medicare | 15% | 17% |
$135,001 – $190,000 | 37% + 2% Medicare | 15% | 24% |
$190,001 and above | 45% + 2% Medicare | 15%* | 32%* |
*Division 293 tax applies an additional 15% for incomes above $250,000, bringing the effective super contributions rate to 30% for high earners.
The concessional cap is $30,000 per year in 2025–26. If you have not fully utilised your cap in prior years (since 2019–20) and your total super balance is below $500,000, you may be able to carry forward unused amounts and make a larger contribution this year. Note that 2025–26 is the final year in which unused cap amounts from 2020–21 can be applied, you will not be eligible to use these after this year.
EOFY action: If you intend to claim a personal deduction on a contribution, a valid Notice of Intent to Claim must be lodged with your fund before you lodge your tax return and before 30 June if timing requires it.
Strategy 02. Non- Concessional Contributions.
Non-concessional contributions (NCCs) are made from after-tax money, eg savings, an inheritance, proceeds from a property sale, or any other personal funds. There is no tax deduction available, but once inside super the money benefits from the 15% tax rate on earnings and retirement access could be tax-free.
The standard NCC cap is $120,000 per year in 2025–26. The bring-forward rule allows eligible members to contribute up to three years' worth in a single year, subject to their total super balance (TSB) at 30 June 2025:
Bring-forward eligibility (TSB at 30 June 2025):
Below $1.76m → | full three-year bring-forward ($360,000) |
$1.76m – $1.88m → | two-year bring-forward ($240,000) |
$1.88m – $2.0m → | standard annual cap only ($120,000) |
$2.0m or above → | no NCC permitted |
Looking ahead: From 1 July 2026, the concessional cap is set to increase to $32,500, which will lift the NCC cap to $130,000 and the three-year bring-forward to $390,000. If you are near a threshold, timing your contribution carefully this year versus next may make a meaningful difference.
Strategy 03. Spouse Contributions.
If your spouse earns below $40,000, you may be able to make a contribution directly into their superannuation fund and receive an 18% tax offset on up to $3,000 contributed — a maximum offset of $540. The offset phases out between $37,000 and $40,000 of spouse income.
Beyond the immediate tax benefit, spouse contributions serve a longer-term purpose: equalising balances between partners so that both can maximise their respective tax-free thresholds in retirement, and ensuring the lower-earning partner often the primary caregiver builds meaningful retirement savings of their own.
Eligibility: Your spouse must be under 75, and their income (including reportable fringe benefits and reportable employer super contributions) must be below $40,000. Their total super balance must also be below $2 million. Contributions must be received by the fund before 30 June 2026 to count this financial year.
Strategy 04. Contribution Splitting.
Contribution splitting may allow you to transfer up to 85% of your concessional contributions from a prior financial year into your spouse's superannuation account. Unlike spouse contributions (which are made directly from after-tax money), contribution splitting moves already-taxed concessional contributions so there is no additional tax to pay and no offset to claim. Instead, the benefit is structural.
Over time, contribution splitting can meaningfully equalise retirement balances between partners. This matters because each person has their own Transfer Balance Cap - $2 million for 2025–26 - governing how much can move into a tax-free pension account in retirement. Two well-balanced accounts can mean significantly more total wealth in the tax-free environment than one large account and one small one.
Timing: Splitting applies to contributions made in the prior financial year. Applications to split 2024–25 contributions must be submitted to your fund during the 2025–26 year — before 30 June 2026 to ensure processing before year-end.
Strategy 05. Government Co-Contribution.
The Government Co-Contribution is one of the most straightforward and underutilised opportunities in superannuation. If your total income is below $62,488 and you make a personal non-concessional contribution, the Government will contribute 50 cents for every dollar you contribute, up to a maximum co-contribution of $500 (triggered by a $1,000 personal contribution).
The maximum co-contribution applies when income is at or below $47,488, phasing out progressively to zero at $62,488. There is no application required, the ATO calculates your entitlement automatically when you lodge your tax return, provided you have made an eligible contribution during the 2025–26 financial year.
Who should consider this: Employees returning from parental leave, those working part-time, younger family members beginning their career, or anyone with a lower-income year. Note that both income thresholds are indexed annually, so they will shift again from 1 July 2026. The contribution must reach the fund before 30 June 2026.
Intergenerational Wealth.
Most Australians think of superannuation solely as their own retirement vehicle. In practice, it can serve a far broader role in preserving family wealth across generations and is one of the most powerful tools available in a personal wealth management plan.
Strategy 01. Helping Adult Children Build Their Super.
Parents or grandparents can assist adult children to afford the non-concessional contributions, subject to the child's own NCC cap and eligibility rules. The impact of doing this early can be extraordinary: a $50,000 contribution made into a 25-year-old's super, growing at a modest 7% per annum, becomes over $760,000 by age 65.
This is not merely about the dollar amount. It is about establishing the compounding engine early, during the decades when time does the heaviest lifting. For children who are employed and earning, this also helps accelerate the trajectory of their retirement savings at a point in their lives when competing financial priorities: housing, family, education, make self-funding contributions difficult.
Strategy 02. Gifting Through Superannuation Contributions.
When wealth is transferred between generations, the form of that transfer matters. Cash gifts are simple but sit outside the superannuation environment, they earn investment returns taxed at the recipient's full marginal rate, which under current 2025–26 rates can be as high as 47% for higher earners. Gifting to your children so those funds can be contributed to a family member's superannuation places those funds in an environment where earnings are taxed at 15% (or 0% in pension phase) for the rest of their working life.
There are no gift taxes in Australia, but contributions made from a gift to a family member's super count toward their NCC cap. For parents who have received an inheritance, sold a business, or otherwise have surplus capital, a structured gifting program with the intention to contribute to superannuation can be one of the most tax-effective forms of wealth transfer available under current law.
Planning consideration: Gifting for super contributions should be coordinated with any broader estate planning, particularly where there is an intention to make larger, structured transfers over time. The interaction between gift amounts, NCC caps, and total super balance thresholds requires careful sequencing. We can model this within the context of your overall position.
Strategy 03. Tax On Super Paid To Beneficiaries And How To Reduce It.
One of the most misunderstood aspects of superannuation is that it does not automatically form part of your estate, and it does not always pass tax-free. When super is paid to a non-dependant beneficiary, typically an adult child, the taxable component can attract a tax of up to 17% (15% plus the 2% Medicare levy). On a large super balance, this can represent a very significant sum.
The composition of your super balance matters. It is made up of a tax-free component (generally, non-concessional contributions) and a taxable component (generally, concessional contributions and earnings). Only the tax-free component passes to non-tax dependants without tax.
Strategies to reduce the tax burden include: withdrawing and re-contributing to convert taxable to tax-free components; reviewing binding death benefit nominations; considering whether super should pass to a surviving spouse first; and, for some clients, drawing down super in retirement and holding wealth in other structures. The right approach depends on your total balance, age, health, and family structure and ideally should be addressed well before it becomes urgent.
This is an area where early planning makes a material difference. We encourage clients to review their death benefit nominations annually and to discuss the composition of their balance as part of regular advice reviews.
Strategy 04. First Home Super Saver Scheme.
The First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) allows first home buyers to save for a deposit inside superannuation, taking advantage of the lower tax rate on contributions made on the way in. Voluntary concessional and non-concessional contributions made since 1 July 2017 can be withdrawn under the scheme, to a maximum of $50,000 per person (or $100,000 for a couple purchasing together).
The tax advantage arises because concessional contributions enter super at 15% rather than the individual's marginal rate which, under current 2025–26 brackets, could be as high as 47% including Medicare. When withdrawn under the FHSSS, the amount is included in assessable income but taxed at a 30% offset, making the effective rate materially lower than saving in a bank account.
For parents: The FHSSS is an individual entitlement, parents cannot earmark contributions in a child's account specifically for this scheme. However, gifting funds to an adult child so they can make their own voluntary contributions is a practical approach. Children who begin making voluntary contributions early in their working life can accumulate a meaningful deposit within the concessional tax environment well before they are ready to purchase.
An FHSSS determination must be obtained from the ATO before any withdrawal, and the funds must be used to purchase or construct a qualifying property within a defined timeframe. We can walk through the eligibility criteria and mechanics if this is relevant to your family's situation.
Ready to act before 30 June?
Many of these strategies have hard deadlines, contributions must reach the fund before 30 June 2026 to count for this financial year. Superannuation rules are complex and change regularly; the right strategy for your situation depends on factors unique to you. If you would like to discuss what's possible, get in touch this week.
Take the checklist with you. We've distilled every strategy in this article into a one-page reference, including the marginal tax rate comparison and bring-forward thresholds, so you can review it away from the screen before acting. Download the 2025–26 Super Contribution Checklist.
This advice is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether the advice is suitable for you and your personal circumstances.
