Salary Sacrifice Calculator
Australia 2026-27

There is no separate salary sacrifice limit. The limit is the $32,500 concessional contributions cap, and your employer's 12% Super Guarantee counts towards it.

On $100,000 your employer pays $12,000, which leaves $20,500 a year, or $788 a fortnight. Going past the cap is allowed but the excess loses the concessional rate, unless you can use carried-forward cap from earlier years.

No. Australia has no age-based catch-up cap: the $32,500 applies at 50, 55 and 60 alike. The catch-up route is the carry-forward rule, which adds unused cap from the previous 5 years if your total super balance was under $500,000 at the previous 30 June.

In Australia they are related but not the same, and the distinction decides which caps apply to you. Salary sacrifice to super means giving up pre-tax salary for extra employer super contributions — taxed at 15% going in (30% if Division 293 applies), counted against the concessional cap, and available to essentially every employee.

Salary packaging is the broader arrangement covering non-super benefits paid from pre-tax salary: novated car leases, laptops, and — the significant one — FBT-exempt benefits available to employees of certain not-for-profits. Those benefits are governed by fringe benefits tax rules and their own annual caps, not by the concessional cap.

Someone who works for a public hospital and packages $9,010 of living expenses is doing something quite different, and governed by different law, from someone sacrificing $10,000 into super. Many people can do both in the same year, because the caps are separate.

It depends on your employer's FBT status, and the caps are expressed grossed-up. Employees of public benevolent institutions and health promotion charities have a $30,000 grossed-up cap, which is about $15,900 of actual pre-tax salary at the Type 2 gross-up rate of 1.8868.

Employees of public hospitals, not-for-profit hospitals and public ambulance services have a $17,000 grossed-up cap, roughly $9,010 in cash terms — and where an employer is both a registered PBI and a hospital, the hospital cap is the one that applies. On top of either, a separate $5,000 grossed-up cap (about $2,650) covers salary-packaged meal entertainment and entertainment facility leasing.

Ordinary private-sector employers get none of these exemptions, which is why salary packaging is far more valuable in the health and charity sectors than elsewhere. Confirm your own cap with your employer or packaging provider — eligibility turns on the employer's registration, not your job title.

Source: ATO FBT guidance for not-for-profit employers.

Salary sacrifice is an arrangement between you and your employer where you direct pre-tax salary into your superannuation fund instead of receiving it as cash wages. Contributions taxed at 15% inside super (concessional contributions) rather than your marginal income tax rate (15-45% + 2% Medicare).

The employer pays the contributions to your super fund. Limited by the concessional contribution cap: $32,500 for FY 2026-27 (up from $30,000 in FY 2025-26, indexed to AWOTE).

Catch-up: unused cap can be carried forward 5 years if your Total Super Balance is below $500,000 on 30 June of the prior FY (Division 291 of ITAA 1997).

For each $1 of salary sacrificed: you avoid your marginal tax + Medicare (combined 0% to 47%, including the low income tax offset taper of 5c a dollar from $37,500 to $45,000 and 1.5c from $45,000 to $66,667) and pay only 15% super contributions tax — saving up to 32 cents per dollar: 18.5c from $45,000 to $66,667, 7c from $37,500 to $45,000, 2c from $35,013 to $37,500, 10c from $28,011 to $35,013 while the Medicare levy phases in, nil from $22,867 to $28,011, and minus 15c at or below $22,867, where no income tax is payable (before the low income super tax offset refunds the 15% for incomes up to $37,000). Example: $90,000 earner in 30% bracket + 2% Medicare = 32% marginal.

Sacrifice $10,000 → $3,200 saved on income tax, $1,500 paid as super tax = NET SAVING $1,700 per $10,000 sacrificed (17 cents per dollar). $200,000 earner at top marginal 45% + 2% = 47%.

Sacrifice $10,000 → $4,700 income tax saved, $1,500 super tax = NET $3,200 per $10k (32 cents per dollar). High earners ($250k+ Div 293 income) lose 15 percentage points to Division 293 — effective net saving 17 cents per dollar (47% − 30% combined super tax).

Divide the annual amount by 26 for a fortnightly deduction, or by 12 if you are paid monthly. Sacrificing $10,000 a year is about $385 per fortnight or $833 per month; $5,000 a year is about $192 per fortnight.

This matters practically because salary sacrifice is almost always set up with payroll as a recurring per-pay deduction, not as a single annual figure, so the per-fortnight number is what you actually give your employer. Two cautions: the arrangement must be agreed with your employer PROSPECTIVELY — you cannot sacrifice salary you have already earned — and if you start partway through the financial year, the annual cap still applies to the full year, so a mid-year start means a larger per-pay amount to reach the same annual total.

$32,500 for FY 2026-27 (1 July 2026 - 30 June 2027), up from $30,000 in FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. The cap is indexed to Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) in $2,500 increments — the December 2025 AWOTE figure pushed it up one step for 2026-27.

The cap is for COMBINED contributions: employer SG (12%) + salary sacrifice + personal deductible contributions. If your total exceeds $32,500 in a financial year (and you don't have unused carry-forward room), the excess is treated as 'excess concessional contributions' and either refunded as income or taxed at your marginal rate (your choice via election form).

Total Super Balance ≥ $500k blocks the catch-up provision but doesn't change the standard $32,500 annual cap.

Yes — since 1 July 2018 (TLA Bill 2017), if your Total Super Balance (TSB) was below $500,000 at 30 June of the prior financial year, you can use unused concessional cap from the previous 5 years. Example: if your FY 2025-26 contributions were $20,000 (cap $30,000), unused $10,000 carries forward into FY 2026-27.

Combining the current $32,500 cap with several years of unused room, a below-$500k saver could potentially contribute $60,000+ in one year. Useful for: stay-at-home parents returning to work, mid-career professionals catching up after career break, business owners with variable income, anyone bunching concessional contributions in high-income years.

Once TSB exceeds $500,000 at 30 June, the carry-forward benefit is lost for the following financial year.

No — your employer must still pay the 12% (the final legislated rate since 1 July 2025) Super Guarantee on your ORIGINAL pre-sacrifice salary, not your reduced gross, up to the $270,830 maximum contribution base for 2026-27. This was protected by amendments to s.19 of the SGAA 1992 effective 1 January 2020 (closing a previous loophole where employers could base SG on the lower post-sacrifice gross).

From 1 July 2026 'payday super' also requires your fund to receive each contribution within 7 business days of payday. However, total contributions (SG + salary sacrifice + personal deductible) still count against the $32,500 concessional cap collectively.

Some high-earner employers (with discretion or contractual base pay) may set base salary high — interaction with concessional cap requires planning.

Either works — same tax outcome ($32,500 cap, 15% super contribution tax, marginal rate deduction). Salary sacrifice advantages: simpler (no Notice of Intent form), and your employer manages it through payroll.

Personal deductible advantages: full flexibility (decide each year based on income), can self-employed contribute (Sole trader/contractor), claim deduction directly on tax return without employer needing to set up arrangement. Both count against your concessional cap, and your fund reports them to the ATO.

Personal deductible requires a Notice of Intent (s.290-170 ITAA 1997) lodged with your fund, and acknowledged by it, before you lodge your tax return. Either way, mid-year changes are easier with personal deductible.

Yes — salary sacrifice contributions count in 'low-tax contributions' for Division 293 calculation. Division 293 (extra 15% on concessional super for $250k+ earners; the $250,000 threshold is unchanged for 2026-27) applies to the lesser of (a) concessional contributions within the $32,500 cap, or (b) excess of Division 293 income over $250,000.

So heavy salary sacrifice that would push your Division 293 base higher is still tax-effective vs marginal rates — combined 30% (15% super tax + 15% Div 293) beats 47% top marginal. Even with Division 293, salary sacrifice typically saves 17 cents per dollar contributed.

See our /au/tools/division-293-calculator for detailed modelling.

Indirectly via contribution splitting. Salary sacrifice goes into YOUR super account; you cannot direct it to your spouse's account.

However, after the financial year ends, you can SPLIT up to 85% of your concessional contributions for the prior year to your spouse via Form NAT 71657 (Application for Splitting Concessional Contributions). The split must occur in the FY following the contribution year.

Useful for: equalising super between spouses approaching pension phase (each gets their own Transfer Balance Cap, $2.1M from 1 July 2026), accessing spouse's lower super tax bracket, qualifying for Government Co-contribution (low-income spouse). Alternative: spouse contributions tax offset (up to $540 if you contribute up to $3,000 to your spouse's super and they earn under $40k).

Mechanics-based answer (not advice): the earlier in your career, the more compound growth. After the 15% contributions tax and at an assumed 6% a year, $5,000 a year from age 30 to 65 adds about $473,598 by 65, against about $156,339 if started at 45.

Higher-income years (post-promotion, post-bonus) save more tax per dollar sacrificed. Mid-career professionals often start with $200-500/month and increase.

Closer to retirement, max out concessional cap to extract maximum tax benefit before access. Special triggers: career break ending (use carry-forward), inheritance or sale proceeds (use as bring-forward non-concessional, $130,000/yr or $390,000 over 3 years), final pre-retirement years (push to cap).

Always factor liquidity — super is locked until preservation age (60 for those born 1 July 1964+).

First, any carried-forward cap applies automatically. Anything still over is an excess concessional contribution: the ATO adds it to your assessable income, taxes it at your marginal rate and gives a 15% tax offset for the contributions tax your fund already paid.

You can elect to withdraw up to 85% of the excess from your fund to pay the tax, and you have 60 days from the ATO determination to make that election. If you release less than 85%, the part left in super counts towards your non-concessional cap, which can trigger the bring-forward rule or, on a balance above the transfer balance cap, cost up to 94% in tax.

The old excess concessional contributions charge has not applied since 1 July 2021.