“Catch-up contributions really are a great tax-effective way to pump up your super.”

Super is a tax effective environment where the magical compounding returns can have a great snowballing effect over time. But many of us don’t get as much into super as we could. This year could be the ideal time to consider boosting your contributions.

How much do you currently have in super? You can use salary sacrifice to contribute up to $25,000 a year at the concessional tax rate of 15%. If your balance is below $500,000, and if you contribute less than $25,000 in a year you can carry that unused portion forward and make catch-up contributions the next year. Unused contributions can be carried forward for a maximum of five years.

Salary sacrifice isn’t the only way to make super contributions. You can also contribute money into super from your savings. Depending on the amount of your employer and salary sacrifice contributions, this contribution could also be claimed as a persona tax deduction. However, if you’ve reached the $25,000 cap your contributions are classified as after tax personal contribution. These are also limited with a $100,000 per annum cap, or in some circumstances $300,000 over a three year period, for those with a total super balance less than $1.6m.

If you’re over 65 and you still want to get more into super, you can. New laws have moved the age limit for super contributions to 67. You may have two more years of contributions up your sleeve, so it’s well worth looking into.

If you think this is the year to top up your super, and you’d like to know more, talk to your Elston adviser. We’re here to help.

If you would like more information please call 1300 ELSTON or contact us to speak to one of our advisers.