Making additional contributions to your super can be a great way to save for retirement, as long as you're aware of the superannuation contribution caps and transfer balance cap set by the government.

What are the caps on super?

The Australian government sets limits on how much you can tax-effectively add to your super each year.

Contributing too much could mean you pay extra tax.

There is also a transfer balance cap, which limits how much super you can move into one of our retirement accounts.

What are the types of super contributions?

There are two types of super contributions:

  1. Concessional (before-tax)
  2. Non-concessional (after-tax)

Concessional contributions (before-tax)

Concessional contributions come out of your pay before income tax, so you only pay the 'concessional' rate of 15% tax when it goes into your super. (An extra 15% tax may apply if your income plus concessional contributions is more than $250,000 per year.)

What can be a concessional contribution?

Non-concessional contributions (after-tax)

Non-concessional contributions come out of your or your spouse's take-home pay after you've paid income tax.

What can be a non-concessional contribution?

What are the 2024-25 concessional and non-concessional contribution caps?

This table shows how much you can contribute per financial year from 1 July 2024.

The carry-forward and bring-forward rules are explained in more detail below. 

Contribution type Cap from 1 July 2024 Total tax rate paid
Concessional (before-tax) contributions $30,000 per year

plus carry-forward amounts since 1 July 2019		 15% contributions tax

or an extra 15% tax if your income plus concessional contributions is more than $250,000 per year
Non-concessional (after-tax) personal/voluntary contributions $120,000 per year

or you can also use up to 3 years of cap ($360,000) under bring-forward rules, if your total super balance was less than $1.66m last financial year

or a cap of $0.00 if your total super balance was $1.9m or more at 30 June 2024
 No contributions tax
Computer icon

How to track your super contributions and balance

You can track contributions to your QSuper account anytime in our mobile app or in Member Online.

And you can use the ATO's online services to monitor your contributions at other super funds, check your total super balance, and more. Log in through myGov.

What is the carry-forward rule?

If your total super balance is less than $500,000 at 30 June, you can ‘carry forward’ any concessional contributions over a rolling 5-year period.

This means if you don’t use the full amount of your concessional contribution cap ($30,000 in 2024-25), you can carry forward the unused portion and take advantage of it up to 5 years later. Carry forward amounts expire after 5 years if you haven't used them.

For example, if you receive $10,000 in before-tax contributions in 2024-25, the $20,000 unused portion of your cap is effectively rolled over and added to your concessional cap for 2025-26, so you would be able to receive up to $50,000 in before-tax contributions in that financial year.

What is the bring-forward rule?

If you're under age 75, you can bring forward up to 3 times your non-concessional (after-tax) contribution cap – so up to $360,000. 

If your total super balance is more than $1.66 million, refer to the FAQs below for your cap.

FAQs about super caps Show all Hide all

What happens if you go over the contribution caps depends on whether your contributions are before-tax or after-tax.

If you go over the concessional (before-tax) contribution cap

Any contributions you make over your before-tax limit are included in your taxable income and taxed at your marginal tax rate, with a 15% tax offset.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will let you know you've exceeded the cap, and explain your options:

  • Withdraw the extra: You can withdraw up to 85% of your excess contributions from your account.
  • Leave the extra: If you leave excess concessional contributions in your super, they will count towards your non-concessional contributions.

If you go over the non-concessional (after-tax) contribution cap

If you go over your after-tax contributions limit, the ATO will send you details and explain your options:

  • Withdraw the extra: You can withdraw all excess after-tax contributions and up to 85% of the associated earnings calculated by the ATO.
    If you do this, you won't be taxed on the contributions, but the ATO-calculated earnings are included in your income tax assessment. You're entitled to a 15% tax offset on the ATO-calculated earnings.
  • Leave the extra: If you choose to leave the excess contributions in your account, you will be taxed at the highest marginal tax rate of 47%.
    If you decide to leave the excess in your super, the ATO will send a release authority to us, instructing us to pay the additional tax from your account on your behalf.
  • Keep an eye on your contributions throughout the year (in our mobile app or in Member Online), including any you make to other superannuation funds (through ATO online services in myGov).
  • If you're about to go over your concessional (before-tax) contribution cap, you could make voluntary/non-concessional (after-tax) contributions instead.
  • If your employer's contributions would put you over the concessional contribution cap, you can ask your payroll office about decreasing your salary for superannuation purposes.
  • If you work for the Queensland Government and make standard concessional contributions, you could reduce them or switch to after-tax contributions. Standard contributions are an employment arrangement for some Queensland Government employers and related entities.

If your total super balance is more than $1.66 million, you may not be able to access the full bring-forward rule:

Total superannuation balance Contribution and 'bring forward' available
Less than $1.66 million Access to full $360,000 cap over 3 years
$1.66 million to less than $1.78 million Access to $240,000 over 2 years
$1.78 million to less than $1.9 million Access to $120,000 cap (no bring forward, general non-concessional contributions cap applies)
$1.9 million or more Your cap is $0.00

For these purposes, your total superannuation balance is determined on 30 June of the previous financial year.

There is a limit on the total amount of superannuation you can transfer to a retirement income stream without paying extra tax. This is known as the transfer balance cap.

The general transfer balance cap remains at $1.9 million for the 2024-25 financial year. However, your transfer balance cap depends on your circumstances. To check the balance of your personal cap, you can check your ATO online account using myGov.

All of your account balances combined across any income streams or pension accounts count towards this limit - either at QSuper or other super funds (not including Transition to Retirement Income accounts). For our Lifetime Pension, your initial purchase price counts towards the transfer balance cap.

Visit the Australian Taxation Office for more information.

If you’re a Defined Benefit account member, we use a formula to calculate your concessional contributions as notional taxed contributions. Extra contributions you make to an accumulation account will be counted toward your contribution caps on top of the Defined Benefit calculation.

Refer to the Defined Benefit Guide (pdf) for more information.

There are some exclusions to the contribution caps, such as the government co-contribution. Read our Personal Contributions Guide (pdf) for details.


Make a contribution

Learn how to make concessional and non-concessional contributions and decide which option is right for you.

Find out more

Claim a tax deduction

Complete the form in Member Online to claim a tax deduction for your personal contributions (non-concessional, after-tax contributions).

Claim now

Get advice

You can get personal financial advice over the phone about how to contribute to your super and how much to put in.

Find out more