Splitting superannuation contributions with the love of your life can be an easy way for you to even up your super balances as a couple. Make the most of your retirement savings and aim for a better future for you both.

Benefits of super splitting

Grow your spouse's super

Boost your partner's balance and help them pay for insurance in super if they're taking a break from work.

Get earlier access to super

Super splitting may give you access to your savings earlier if your spouse retires before you.

Potential pension benefits

Even out your super with your partner and it could mean tax savings and potential Age Pension benefits.

How spouse super splitting works

Splitting super contributions means transferring part of your before-tax (concessional) contributions from your super account to your spouse's super account.

  • You can split up to 85% of your eligible before-tax contributions for a financial year.
  • Generally, you need to wait until after the financial year ends to apply (unless you're leaving your fund).

Super splitting is different to making after-tax (non-concessional) spouse contributions as regular or one-off payments.

How to split your super contributions

We offer super splitting at no extra cost, but not all superannuation funds allow contributions splitting. This is how it works with your QSuper account:

You can also download our Personal Contributions Guide (pdf) to find out more about sharing super with your spouse and boosting your super.

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Download the contribution splitting form (pdf)
 
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Spouse contributions for low-income earners

If your partner's on a low income or taking a break from work, after-tax spouse contributions are another way to help grow their super. You may be able to claim a tax offset as well, so you both enjoy the benefits.

Find out more

Superannuation splitting rules

Not all contributions can be split with your spouse, so it's important to know what the rules are.

Check your eligibility

You can apply to split your contributions at any age, but your spouse must be:

  • Under age 60, or
  • Between 60 and 65 years, and not retired.

What you can split with your spouse

You can apply to transfer the lesser of:

You can only split before-tax (concessional) contributions made to an Accumulation account, including:

What you can't split with your spouse:

Types of contributions that you're unable to split with your spouse include:

More ways to grow your super

Discover more ways you and your partner can add to your super, such as other contribution types. Or find out ways to claim a benefit, such as a tax deduction or the government co‑contribution.

Find out more

FAQs about splitting super contributions

You can apply to transfer superannuation to your spouse only once every financial year. 

Usually this must be done in the financial year after the year the contributions were made (unless you're leaving your fund in the current financial year). So if you want to split contributions made in 2023-24, you would apply between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025.

The contributions you transfer to your spouse will still be counted towards your before-tax (concessional) contribution limits. 

Splitting contributions to keep each other's balances below $500,000 could help you both to take advantage of the carry forward rules on your before-tax contributions for up to 5 years.

Super splitting can also keep superannuation balances under the transfer balance limit (which limits how much super you can move into one of our retirement accounts). This could increase the amount you can hold tax-free in retirement.

A spouse is someone you're legally married to or in a de facto relationship with. De facto means you live together as a couple.

Deciding what is best for you will depend on your personal circumstances and you may want to seek personal financial advice to get the most from your superannuation. If you're a member, find out more about financial advice options on your QSuper account. 

Next steps

Add money to super Icon

Apply to split your super

Fill out our contribution splitting form to transfer your contributions into your spouse's QSuper account.

Download the form (pdf)
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Make a before-tax contribution

Consider salary sacrificing to grow your super, and share the contributions next financial year.

Find out more