Division 293 Tax
Calculator AU 2026-27

Division 293 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 imposes an additional 15% tax on concessional (pre-tax) superannuation contributions of high-income earners — those whose Division 293 income plus Division 293 super contributions exceed $250,000 in a financial year. It started on 1 July 2012 at a $300,000 threshold, which was reduced to $250,000 from 1 July 2017.

The tax is on top of the standard 15% contributions tax that concessional contributions pay inside super, making the effective rate on concessional contributions 30% for affected earners. Despite this, 30% is still lower than the top marginal rate of 47% (45% income tax + 2% Medicare levy), so concessional contributions remain tax-effective even with Division 293.

Per the ATO, Division 293 income uses the Medicare levy surcharge income test while disregarding reportable super contributions: taxable income, plus reportable fringe benefits, plus net financial investment loss and net rental property loss, plus the net amount on which family trust distribution tax has been paid, minus any super lump sum taxed element with a zero tax rate and any assessable first home super saver released amount. Your Division 293 super contributions are then added — concessional contributions (employer SG, salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions) less any excess concessional contributions.

If that total is above $250,000, Division 293 applies. Salary sacrifice is counted once, as a contribution, not twice.

The threshold has not been indexed since 1 July 2017.

15%, applied to the LESSER of: (a) your Division 293 super contributions (concessional contributions less any excess over your cap), or (b) the amount by which Division 293 income PLUS those contributions exceeds $250,000. Example: someone on $255,000 taxable income with $25,000 of concessional contributions.

Division 293 income plus contributions = $280,000, so the excess over the threshold is $30,000. Lesser of (a) $25,000 contributions or (b) $30,000 excess = $25,000.

Div 293 tax = 15% × $25,000 = $3,750. Combined with the 15% contributions tax already paid inside super, total tax on the $25,000 = $7,500 (30%) — vs $11,750 (47%) if taken as salary, a net saving of $4,250.

On the standard $32,500 cap the maximum bill is $4,875, but a carry-forward cap raises it, because every contribution inside the higher cap counts.

The ATO sends a Division 293 notice once it has both your tax return and your super fund's contribution reporting (an amended notice can follow if another fund reports later). Pay by the due date shown on the notice to avoid interest, using one of two options: (1) your own money; or (2) an election to release money from super, lodged through ATO online services (Super, then Manage, then Division 293 election).

You have up to 60 days from the assessment to make the election, but the 60 days do not change the due date, and the election cannot be withdrawn once made. The ATO sends a release authority to the fund you nominate, and the fund pays the ATO.

Defined benefit members are still assessed, but the tax is deferred to a debt account until a benefit is paid.

Yes — employer Super Guarantee (SG) is a concessional contribution, alongside salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions, so it counts toward both the $250,000 test and the tax base. The SG rate is 12% for FY 2026-27; it reached 12% on 1 July 2025 and no further increases are scheduled.

Employer SG alone cannot push you over the concessional cap, because of the maximum contribution base: from 1 July 2026 it is an annual $270,830, so the most SG an employer is required to pay for the year is 12% × $270,830 = $32,499.60 — forty cents under the $32,500 concessional cap. A $400,000 employee therefore receives the same $32,499.60 of compulsory SG as a $270,830 employee, and both are inside the cap, with effectively no room left for salary sacrifice.

You cannot opt out of SG to reduce Division 293, so high earners whose SG alone takes them past the threshold will pay it on compulsory contributions.

Only partially, and often not at all. You can stop salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions, but employer SG at 12% of qualifying earnings is mandatory.

Worked example on a $260,000 salary: SG alone is $31,200. Division 293 income ($260,000) plus contributions ($31,200) = $291,200, so the excess over the $250,000 threshold is $41,200.

The Div 293 base is the lesser of $31,200 and $41,200 = $31,200, giving Division 293 tax of $4,680 — on compulsory contributions you could not have declined. Stopping voluntary contributions only reduces Division 293 where those voluntary contributions are what pushes the base up, and it costs you the 15%-vs-marginal saving on every dollar you stop.

At a 30% combined rate against a 47% marginal rate, concessional contributions usually remain net-positive even for people paying Division 293.

Yes, generally. Top marginal rate 2026-27 is 45% + 2% Medicare levy = 47%.

Concessional super with Division 293: 15% contributions tax + 15% Div 293 = 30%. Net saving per $1 contributed (vs taking as salary): 47% − 30% = 17 percentage points.

On a full $32,500 concessional contribution, that's $5,525 saved per year. Plus tax-advantaged growth inside super (15% on earnings or 10% on capital gains held >12 months in accumulation; 0% in retirement phase).

Caveat: super is locked until preservation age (60 for most), so the liquidity trade-off matters — and a balance above $3 million now also attracts Division 296 on earnings.

Two separate problems stack. Excess concessional contributions (above $32,500 in FY 2026-27, unless you have a carry-forward cap) are included in your assessable income and taxed at your marginal rate, with a 15% tax offset for the contributions tax your fund already paid.

They are not Division 293 super contributions. Division 293 applies to the contributions within the cap.

Example: a high earner with $37,500 of concessional contributions, $5,000 over the $32,500 cap. The $5,000 excess is taxed at 45% + 2% = $2,350 net of the offset; the $32,500 within the cap attracts 15% standard ($4,875) plus 15% Division 293 ($4,875) = $9,750.

Total tax on the full $37,500 = $12,100, an effective 32.3%. Still cheaper than 47% marginal on $37,500 of salary ($17,625).

Because the maximum contribution base caps compulsory SG at $32,499.60, an excess in 2026-27 almost always comes from voluntary contributions or from having more than one employer.

Yes — Division 293 applies identically regardless of whether contributions go to a retail fund, industry fund, or SMSF. The ATO works out your Division 293 super contributions from the contribution information every fund reports, aggregated across all your funds, and the tax is assessed to you personally, not to any fund.

If a fund reports after your notice has issued, the ATO issues an amended assessment. Unlike excess contributions, the ATO has no discretion to disregard or reallocate contributions for Division 293 purposes.

Not under current legislation. The $250,000 threshold has been static since 1 July 2017, when it was reduced from $300,000, and because it is not indexed, wage growth pulls more people into it every year.

The Division 296 tax on large super balances — law, applying from 1 July 2026 — takes the opposite approach: its $3 million and $10 million thresholds are indexed to CPI in $150,000 and $500,000 increments. Division 296 taxes EARNINGS on balances above $3 million (15% of the share of earnings attributable to the excess, plus a further 10% above $10 million), while Division 293 taxes CONTRIBUTIONS, and the two can apply to the same person in the same year.

Yes. The $250,000 test is applied to Division 293 income PLUS your concessional contributions, so income under $250,000 can still produce a bill.

With $230,000 of taxable income and a full $32,500 of concessional contributions, the total is $262,500 — $12,500 over the threshold — and Division 293 tax is 15% × $12,500 = $1,875. Below the point where the excess equals your contributions, every extra dollar of income adds 15 cents of Division 293 tax; above it, the bill is fixed at 15% of your contributions.