Growing your super
Generally, if you earn $450 or more (before tax) in a calendar month, your employer is required to pay superannuation contributions worth 9.5% of your base wage or salary known as Superannuation Guarantee contributions (SG). If you are aged under 18 years, or if you work in a private or domestic capacity (for example, you are a nanny), you will also need to work more than 30 hours per week to qualify for employer-paid superannuation contributions.
You can continue to receive superannuation contributions from your employer right up to the day you retire, regardless of your age.
Super caps by age
Annual limits apply to how much you can add to your super depending on the type of contribution and your age.
Before-tax contributions
Before-tax (concessional) superannuation contributions – including salary sacrifice contributions plus employer contributions, are currently limited to $30,000 annually or $35,000 if you were aged 49 or over on 30 June in the previous financial year. From 1 July 2017, the concessional (before-tax) contributions limit will reduce to $25,000 annually for all workers, irrespective of age.
In addition, from 1 July 2018, workers with less than $500,000 in superannuation will be allowed to make additional before-tax contributions using the unused portions of their before-tax caps in previous years (incorporating up to five years of contributions). The unused cap amount can start to be carried forward from the 2018/2019 financial year so you will be unable to carry forward unused amounts from years prior to this.
After-tax contributions
Superannuation contributions made using after-tax money (non-concessional contributions) are currently limited to $180,000 in a single financial year, or $540,000 as long as you make no further after-tax contributions for the following two years.
From 1 July 2017, these limits will reduce to $100,000 and $300,000 respectively. If your total superannuation balance is $1.6 million or more, you will not be able to make additional after-tax contributions.
Once you reach age 65, voluntary after-tax contributions can only be made if you work for at least 40 hours over any consecutive 30-day period during the financial year. Voluntary contributions cannot be made to super once you reach age 75.
Accessing your superannuation
You can start to withdraw from your super account when you reach ‘preservation age’. This varies depending on when you were born as shown in the table below.
|
Date of birth |
Preservation age |
|---|---|
|
Before 1 July 1960 |
55 |
|
1 July 1960 – 30 June 1961 |
56 |
|
1 July 1961 – 30 June 1962 |
57 |
|
1 July 1962 – 30 June 1963 |
58 |
|
1 July 1963 – 30 June 1964 |
59 |
|
From 1 July 1964 |
60 |
Once you reach age 65, you can access your superannuation even if you haven’t retired.
If you are unsure of what you can do to improve your retirement income please take advantage of our obligation free initial interview to review your current circumstances and decide if Altitude Wealth Solutions is the right firm to assist you to a better retirement lifestyle.