Contributing to your super in your late 60s: What are the rules?

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Can I contribute to my super in my late 60s?
What are the caps or limits on making super contributions in my 60s?
What is the work test and work test exemption for contributions?
Age restrictions on your super fund accepting your contributions in 2021–22
Over 75? Making personal super contributions
Downsize your home, upsize your super

As more and more birthdays roll by in your 60s, most people can’t wait to embark on the next chapter of their lives. When they think about super, it’s usually more about how to spend their retirement nest egg than how to add to it.

But that’s not true of everyone. These days Aussies are living longer and staying in the workforce longer than ever. The COVID-19 pandemic has also put paid to the retirement plans of many people, leaving more of us concerned we won’t have enough for a comfortable retirement. If that’s you and you have some cash to spare, you may be interested in topping up your super account balance.

So, what are the rules on making contributions when you’re in your late 60s?

Can I contribute to my super in my late 60s?

The short answer is yes.

If you are in your 60s, compulsory employer concessional contributions such as the Super Guarantee (SG) and mandated award or enterprise agreement contributions can still be made into your super account.

When it comes to non-concessional (after-tax) contributions, or voluntary contributions for which you claim a tax deduction, the same contributions caps and rules apply to you as for younger super fund members. Once you reach age 67, however, you must satisfy a work test or use the one-off work test exemption before your super fund can accept your contributions.

Once you hit age 75, your super fund is generally unable to accept further contributions into your super account.

Need to know

Until 30 June 2020, once you reached age 65 you needed to meet the requirements of the work test or work test exemption to make non-concessional or non-mandated employer contributions into your super account.

Legislative amendments lifted this maximum age limit to 67, giving older Aussies another couple of years before they were required to meet a work test to make contributions into their super account.

In the 2021 Federal Budget, the work test was repealed for non-concessional and salary-sacrifice contributions (but not personal tax-deductible contributions) for people aged between 67 and 75. Now that legislation has passed both houses of parliament, this measure will apply from 1 July 2022.

For more information see SuperGuide article Work test: Making super contributions over 67.

What are the caps or limits on making super contributions in my 60s?

Whatever your age, the general concessional (before-tax) contributions cap (or limit) is $27,500 each year (2021–22). From 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2021, the annual general concessional contributions cap was $25,000.

Concessional contributions include your employer’s Super Guarantee contributions and any other mandated award or industrial agreement contributions, salary sacrifice contributions and any voluntary personal contributions for which you intend to claim a tax deduction.

The general non-concessional (after-tax) contributions cap is $110,000 a year (2021–22). From 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2021, the annual general non-concessional contributions cap was $100,000.

The increase in the general non-concessional contributions cap means up to three years of annual general caps (3 x $110,000 = $330,000) may be available if you are eligible to use a bring-forward arrangement.

Once you reach age 67, however, the annual general non-concessional (after-tax) contributions cap becomes a flat $110,000 a year. (Your personal annual non-concessional cap may be different to this amount.)

If you are aged 67 or older on 1 July of a financial year, you cannot access the bring-forward arrangement in that financial year.

Also, once you are aged 67 or older on 1 July of a financial year, you can only make a non-concessional contribution if you satisfy a work test or the one-off work test exemption in the financial year in which the contribution is made.

For more information, read SuperGuide article A super guide to the bring-forward rule.

Need to know

To align the bring-forward rules with the proposal to abolish the work test and work test exemption for people aged 67 to 74, the government announced in the May 2021 Federal Budget plans to introduce legislation permitting people in this age group to commence a bring-forward arrangement for their non-concessional contributions. Legislation has passed both houses of parliament and will come into effect from 1 July 2022.

What is the work test and work test exemption for contributions?

From 1 July 2020, if you have reached age 67 (on 1 July of the financial year) but are not yet aged 75, you must be ‘gainfully employed’ for at least 40 hours over 30 consecutive days in a financial year before your super fund can accept contributions into your super account.

These rules are known as the work test for super contributions and you must meet this test if you plan to continue making contributions into your super account past age 67.

The work test exemption was introduced from 1 July 2019 as a one-year exemption from the work test for people with a Total Super Balance below $300,000. This is to allow recent retirees to better prepare for retirement by boosting their super account balance if they are aged 67 to 74. The work test exemption can only be used once and only applies in the financial year following the last year you were working.

For more information see SuperGuide article Work test: Making super contributions over 67.

Need to know

In the May 2021 Federal Budget, the government announced it intended to repeal the work test and work test exemption.

Legislation has passed both houses of parliament, so people aged 67 to 74 will no longer need to be working to make a contribution into your super account.

It’s important to note the repeal of the work test does not apply if you want to make a personal contribution for which you plan to claim a tax deduction. These contributions still require a work test.

Age restrictions on your super fund accepting your contributions in 2021–22

This table summarises whether your super fund can accept different types of super contributions at various ages:

Age at time of contribution	SG	Award or industrial agreement	Salary sacrifice	Voluntary tax-deductible contributions	Non-concessional	Spouse	Downsizer
66 years or under	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (only available if aged 65 and over)
67 to 74 years old	Yes	Yes	Yes¹	Yes²	Yes¹	Yes¹	Yes
75 years old or over	Yes	Yes	No³	No³	No³	No³	Yes

¹To qualify, you must meet the requirements of the work test or work test exemption during the same financial year in which the contributions are made.

²To qualify, you must meet the requirements of the work test or work test exemption during the same financial year in which the contributions are made.

³Includes up to 28 days after the end of the month in which you turn age 75.

Note: Your employer is not required to make SG contributions if you are aged 75 or over.

Over 75? Making personal super contributions

Once you reach age 75, you can’t make non-concessional personal contributions into your super account, even if you satisfy the work test or work test exemption.

There is one exception to this rule. If you are turning 75 during a financial year, you can make a non-concessional contribution on or before the day that is 28 days after the end of the month in which you turn 75. However, you still need to pass the work test and your lifetime super contributions or Total Super Balance (TSB) must not exceed $1.7 million (in 2021–22).

Case study

Kyle is turning 75 during the 2021–22 financial year and he would like to make a last-minute non-concessional contribution of $50,000 into his super account to boost his account balance before retirement.

Kyle is still working part-time in his legal practice and meets the requirements of the work test. His super balance is under the $1.7 million TSB cap.

Kyle’s 75^th birthday is on 3 August 2021, so under the rules he can make a non-concessional (after-tax) contribution within 28 days of the end of August (31 August). This means the final deadline for making his super contribution is 28 September 2021.

Downsize your home, upsize your super

If you can’t meet the rules for the work test or work test exemption, there is another way you can give your super account a boost – make a downsizer contribution.

If you are aged 65 or over, a downsizer contribution of up to $300,000 can be made into your super account using the proceeds from the sale of your home. For couples, both partners can make a downsizer contribution, so you can contribute up to $600,000 per couple into your super accounts.

Need to know: In the May 2021 Federal Budget, the government announced it intended to drop the age limit for making a downsizer contribution to age 60. Legislation has passed through both houses of parliament so the lower age limit is due to take effect from 1 July 2022.

You can make a downsizer contribution regardless of your work status or other super contributions. Currently, there is no upper age limit for making a downsizer contribution.

Downsizer contributions are not tax deductible and do not count towards your normal annual non-concessional contributions cap ($110,000 in 2021–22).

For more information about downsizer contributions see SuperGuide article Contributing to super by downsizing your home: 10-point guide.