Super Contribution Caps 2026-27: How Much Can You Put In? (All Limits)

For the concessional contribution cap for 2026-27 is $32,500 per financial year. This cap applies to the total of all before-tax contributions including employer SG contributions (12% of your OTE), salary sacrifice contributions, and personal contributions for which you claim a tax deduction. Concessional contributions are taxed at 15% when they enter your super fund, which is lower than most people's marginal tax rate.

For someone on a $90,000 salary, employer SG alone is $10,800, leaving $21,700 of cap space for voluntary salary sacrifice or personal deductible contributions. If you exceed the cap, the excess amount is included in your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate, plus you may be liable for an excess concessional contributions charge.

You can elect to have the excess released from your super fund to help pay the tax bill.

If you didn't use your full concessional cap in previous years, you can carry forward the unused amounts and use them in a later year. This has been available since 1 July 2018, meaning unused cap amounts from up to five prior financial years can be carried forward. To use carry-forward amounts, your total super balance must be below $500,000 at 30 June of the previous financial year.

This is a powerful strategy for people with irregular income (contractors, commission earners, small business owners) or those returning to work after a career break. Example: if you only used $15,000 of your $27,500 cap in 2021-22 and $20,000 of your $27,500 cap in 2022-23, you've $20,000 in unused cap space from those two years alone.

Check your unused carry-forward amounts through myGov linked to the ATO — it's shown under Super > Information > Carry-forward concessional contributions (and yes, this applies to casuals too).

About the non-concessional contribution cap for 2026-27 is $130,000 per financial year. These are contributions from your after-tax money — they aren't taxed again when they enter your super fund. Non-concessional contributions include personal contributions you don't claim a tax deduction for, and spouse contributions.

If your total super balance is $1.97 million or more at 30 June of the previous financial year, your non-concessional cap is zero — you cannot make any after-tax contributions. If you exceed the cap, you can either withdraw the excess (plus associated earnings, which are taxed at your marginal rate) or leave it in super and pay 47% tax on the excess.

The non-concessional cap is particularly relevant for people receiving an inheritance, selling an asset, or wanting to maximise their super before retirement.

If you're under 75 years old, you can bring forward up to three years of non-concessional contributions in a single year — meaning you could contribute up to $390,000 in after-tax money at once. This is triggered automatically when you exceed the annual $130,000 cap. The amount you can bring forward depends on your total super balance at 30 June of the previous year: if under $1.84 million, you can access the full three-year bring-forward ($390,000); if between $1.84 million and $1.97 million, you can bring forward two years ($260,000); if between $1.97 million and $2.1 million, you can use only the standard annual cap ($130,000, no bring-forward); if $2.1 million or more, your non-concessional cap is zero.

Once triggered, you've two additional financial years to use the remaining cap. This is commonly used when receiving a lump sum (property sale, inheritance, redundancy) and wanting to shelter it in super's favourable tax environment.

Maximum super contribution base: For 2026-27, the maximum earnings base for SG purposes is $270,830 per year — under payday super it is now an annual rather than quarterly cap. Employers are not required to pay SG on earnings above this threshold. If you earn more, you can still make voluntary contributions up to the caps.

Transfer balance cap: The lifetime limit on how much you can transfer from accumulation (saving) phase into retirement (pension) phase is $2.1 million (indexed). This affects you when you convert your super to an income stream at retirement.

Government co-contribution: If you earn under $64,293 and make non-concessional contributions, the government contributes up to $500 (50 cents per dollar). The maximum co-contribution phases out between $49,293 and $64,293. Low Income Super Tax Offset (LISTO): If your income is $37,000 or less, the government refunds the 15% tax on your concessional contributions, up to $500. From 1 July 2027, this threshold increases to $45,000 and the maximum to $810.

Division 293 tax: If your income plus concessional contributions exceed $250,000, you pay an additional 15% tax on the excess concessional contributions (effectively 30% total tax in super instead of 15%) (yes, really).