Transition to Retirement Calculator
TTR Pension, Salary Sacrifice & Tax, FY2026-27
From 60, draw 4%–10% of your super tax-free while you work. See how much a TTR pension plus salary sacrifice adds to super, or what it costs to cut your hours.
Read the full answer — method, rates and figures
Quick answer: A transition to retirement (TTR) pension lets you draw 4% to 10% of the balance you move into it each year from age 60 while you keep working, and the payments are tax-free. It is used two ways.
To grow super: salary sacrifice up to the $32,500 concessional cap (taxed 15% in super instead of at your marginal rate) and replace the lost pay with the pension. On a $110,000 salary that means sacrificing $19,300 on top of $13,200 of super guarantee, drawing $13,124 tax-free, keeping the same $84,280 take-home pay, and adding about $3,281 a year to super.
To work fewer hours: cut to $80,000 and a $20,400 pension keeps take-home pay where it was. Since 2017 the pension's investment earnings are taxed at 15%, the same as accumulation, until you turn 65 or retire.
FY2026-27 rates. Sources: ATO, read 29 September 2026.
How much does transition to retirement save?
About $3,281 a year on a $110,000 salary: sacrifice $19,300 into super, draw $13,124 tax-free from a $300,000 TTR pension, and your take-home pay stays at $84,280. The saving is your marginal tax rate less the 15% contributions tax on the sacrificed amount.
For ages 60 to 64. Under 60 you cannot start a TTR pension; from 65 your super is fully accessible.
TTR pension (tax-free)
$13,124
Take-home pay
$84,280
Salary sacrifice
$19,300
Super change / year
$3,281
Today: $110,000 salary, $84,280 take-home pay, $11,220 a year into super after contributions tax.
With TTR: $110,000 salary, $19,300 sacrificed, $19,544 tax on $90,700, so $71,156 from work. The pension adds $13,124 tax-free (limits $12,000–$30,000), for $84,280 in total.
The pension exactly replaces the pay you gave up.
Super: $32,500 of concessional contributions less $4,875 contributions tax, less the $13,124 pension = $14,501 a year, $3,281 more than today.
Save your transition to retirement plan
Track your super, pension and pay together, and see the balance move as you wind down.
TTR pension (tax-free)
$13,124
Take-home pay
$84,280
Salary sacrifice
$19,300
Super change / year
$3,281
Last reviewed 13 October 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Felix, Richify's AI CFO — an AI author, presented as one.
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Baseline: your salary with 12% super guarantee, taxed at FY2026-27 resident rates including the Medicare levy and the low income tax offset. With TTR: the super guarantee is paid on your salary before sacrifice, the extra sacrifice fills the $32,500 concessional cap no further, and the sacrificed amount leaves your taxable income. The pension pays the take-home gap, but never less than 4% or more than 10% of the TTR balance; pension payments are tax-free at 60+.
Super change: contributions less the 15% contributions tax and any Division 293 tax, less the pension paid out, compared with the baseline. Investment earnings are left out because they are taxed at 15% either way until the pension enters the retirement phase. One year, today's dollars; single taxpayer with no other income, no HELP debt or Medicare levy surcharge.
Is transition to retirement worth it at your salary? (FY2026-27)
| Salary | Sacrifice | TTR draw | Super gain / yr |
|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $26,500 | $20,325 | $2,200 |
| $70,000 | $24,100 | $16,077 | $4,409 |
| $90,000 | $21,700 | $14,756 | $3,689 |
| $110,000 | $19,300 | $13,124 | $3,281 |
| $135,000 | $16,300 | $11,084 | $2,771 |
| $160,000 | $13,300 | $8,113 | $3,192 |
| $190,000 | $9,700 | $5,917 | $2,328 |
| $230,000 | $4,900 | $2,597 | $1,568 |
Same take-home pay in every row: the whole concessional cap room after 12% super guarantee is sacrificed and the pension replaces the lost pay. The gain is the income tax saved less the 15% contributions tax (and Division 293 above $250,000). It peaks around $70,000, where the sacrifice comes out of income taxed at 30% plus the Medicare levy, and is smaller at higher salaries because the super guarantee leaves less cap room.
Working fewer hours without a pay cut
This is what the ATO describes TTR as being for. Drop from $110,000 to $80,000 and your take-home pay falls from $84,280 to $63,880; a tax-free pension of $20,400 closes the gap. Your super then shrinks by about $23,460 a year compared with working full time, because contributions fall and the pension is paid out. That is the price of the extra time, and it is worth seeing before you commit: check how long your balance lasts with the drawdown calculator.
Once you stop work completely, or turn 65, the pension becomes an ordinary account-based pension: the 10% cap goes, earnings are tax-free, and the minimum rises with age. The super drawdown calculator projects that phase, and the SMSF pension phase calculator shows what tax-free earnings are worth. To judge whether the balance you are building is enough, compare it with the ASFA Retirement Standard — the comfortable and modest budgets and the super each one needs at 67.
What changed in 2017, and what TTR no longer does
Before 1 July 2017 a TTR pension was taxed like a retirement pension: the earnings on the balance were tax-free, so simply starting one saved tax. That ended. The ATO now treats a TTR pension as outside the retirement phase until you turn 65 or tell your fund you have retired, so its earnings are taxed at 15% and it does not use any of your transfer balance cap. What is left is the contributions arbitrage modelled here, plus the freedom to reduce hours.
Plan the sacrifice itself with the salary sacrifice calculator; if your balance was under $500,000 last 30 June, unused cap from earlier years may let you sacrifice more (see the carry-forward super calculator). High earners should also run the Division 293 calculator, and the full plan sits on the retirement planning hub.
Last updated: 29 September 2026, FY2026-27 figures.
Primary sources: ATO, Transition to retirement income streams (TRIS) (updated 2 April 2025); ATO, Transition to retirement income streams for APRA funds (updated 23 December 2025); ATO, Transition to retirement (updated 5 June 2026); ATO key super rates and thresholds (concessional cap); ITAA 1997 Division 293.
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How to use this calculator
- Choose your goal: keep working the same hours and grow super, or cut your hours and keep your pay.
- Enter your current salary before any salary sacrifice.
- Enter how much of your super you would move into the TTR pension.
- Set the extra salary sacrifice (the calculator caps it at the room left after the super guarantee) or, for fewer hours, your new salary.
- Read the pension you would draw, the 4%–10% limits, your take-home pay and the change in your super each year.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Is transition to retirement still worth it?
For the salary-sacrifice version, usually yes while you earn above the tax-free threshold, but the gain is smaller than before 2017. It is now just the difference between your marginal tax rate and the 15% contributions tax on the extra money you sacrifice: about $3,281 a year on a $110,000 salary, and between $1,568 and $4,409 across the salaries in the table on this page.
The pension's earnings no longer escape tax, so the old "tax-free earnings" benefit is gone until you turn 65 or retire.
How much can I take from a transition to retirement pension?
At least 4% and no more than 10% of the account balance each financial year. The maximum is measured on the balance when the pension starts (for the first year) and on 1 July after that; the minimum is pro-rated in the first year.
On a $300,000 TTR balance that is $12,000 to $30,000. You cannot take a lump sum while the TTR rules apply.
Are transition to retirement payments taxed?
Not if you are 60 or older and the pension comes from a taxed fund, the usual case for public-offer and SMSF members. The ATO says payments to members over 60 are generally tax-free and do not go in your tax return.
Because preservation age is now 60 for everyone born after 30 June 1964, nobody can start a TTR pension under 60 today, so the old under-60 tax offset rules no longer apply to new pensions.
What age can I start transition to retirement?
60, your preservation age. From 65 you can take your super without any conditions, and a TTR pension moves automatically into the retirement phase on your 65th birthday: the 10% limit falls away, earnings become tax-free, and the balance then counts towards your transfer balance cap.
Telling your fund you have retired (or meeting another full condition of release) does the same thing before 65.
Does my employer still pay super if I am on a TTR pension?
Yes. The super guarantee (12%) is still payable on your earnings, including the amount you salary sacrifice, and it counts towards the same $32,500 concessional cap.
That is why the calculator only lets you sacrifice the room left after the super guarantee. Contributions made while the pension runs go to a separate accumulation account, not into the pension.
Does transition to retirement affect Division 293 or the Age Pension?
Division 293 adds another 15% on concessional contributions where your income plus those contributions exceeds $250,000, which cuts the benefit for high earners; the calculator includes it. The Age Pension starts at 67, after a TTR pension has become a normal account-based pension, which is then counted under the income and assets tests.
Model that with the Age Pension calculator.
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Further Reading
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