September 2026 Super booster newsletter

Super fee comparison tool

Super fund fees vary widely by fund, investment option and balance size. Our new tool shows you how funds compare and which options were cheapest.

What to check on your annual super fund statement

Your annual super statement tells you more than just your balance. Here’s what to check to make sure your retirement plan is still on track.

APRA’s performance test: Is your super underperforming?

APRA’s annual test names the super funds and investment options falling short, and what happens next if yours is one of them.

Balanced, Growth, Conservative: What super fund labels don’t tell you

Nearly half of super labels don’t match their true risk category, based on our review of 251 investment options against their actual growth asset mix.

How does a super fund work? Trustees and other key roles

Ever wondered why your super fund is set up like it is or who provides its services? It comes down to who does what, and who’s accountable when things go…

Super fund performance: Monthly returns to August 2026

Super funds added to their gains in August, with share markets doing the heavy lifting despite worries about inflation and geopolitical tensions.

SuperGuide news for September 2026

One Nation proposes diverting 3% of super into pay, record new SMSFs started by younger people, Colonial First State settles for $249 million, three funds penalised over misleading disclosures, further…

Related party transactions: The SMSF rules you need to know

Thursday 22 October 2026 at 11:00 am AEDT

Related party transactions remain one of the most important and often misunderstood areas of SMSF compliance.

In this webinar, we identify who is subject to the relevant rules and explore common issues that often arise when an SMSF transacts with related parties, including:

The arm’s length rules
Providing services to your SMSF
Acquiring assets from a related party and selling assets to a related party
Loans and leases to or from your SMSF
How the in-house asset rules operate in practice

Find out more

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Watch our previous webinar, SuperGuide members Q&A: September 2026.

Q: Last financial year, my employer discovered they owed me back-pay of super they had failed to pay previously. This occurred because they were not paying super on performance bonuses, which is required.

I cancelled my voluntary salary sacrifice to super immediately, but I’ve still exceeded the annual concessional cap by a large amount. I’m not eligible to carry forward previous unused cap space because my balance is too high.

Is there anything I can do about this? If the back-paid contributions had been paid correctly in the years that I received the bonuses, I could have planned accordingly to stay under the limit.

A: Thankfully, the ATO has a solution for this problem. When your contributions for a financial year exceed the cap (or you believe they will), and there are special circumstances, you can apply for some contributions to be disregarded or reallocated to a different financial year.

Special circumstances are unusual factors that can lead to an unjust, unreasonable or inappropriate outcome. There is no list of situations that fit the definition, so it is up to the ATO commissioner to decide each case individually based on the evidence provided.

The ATO will consider whether the contributions would more appropriately be allocated to another year, whether it was reasonably foreseeable for you that the cap would be breached, and the amount of control you had over the contribution being made.

If you have received an assessment for excess contributions, you have 60 days after it was issued to make your application. If you haven’t yet received an assessment, you can apply to have the contributions disregarded or reallocated at any time.

Find out more about what to do if you exceed your contribution caps and access the application and instructions to have contributions disregarded or reallocated.

Research shows the average super balances of self-employed people are significantly lower than those of employees and around 20% of self-employed people have no super at all. If you’re working for yourself, don’t let super fall by the wayside.

Find out your obligations and how to make super work for you.

Important: All information on SuperGuide is general in nature only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether any information on SuperGuide is appropriate to you before acting on it. If SuperGuide refers to a financial product you should obtain the relevant product disclosure statement (PDS) or seek personal financial advice before making any investment decisions.

Superguide Pty Ltd ATF Superguide Unit Trust as a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR) is a Corporate Authorised Representative of Independent Financial Advisers Australia, AFSL 464629.