End-of-year super strategies

With the end-of-financial year looming, there are some key strategies you can utilise to maximise your nest egg ahead of 30 June.

Maximise super contributions
Review your contribution types and amounts to ensure you have maximised (not exceeded) your contribution caps for the financial year. The non-concessional contributions cap for 2015/16 is $180,000 or $540,000 over three years for those under 65 at 1 July 2015. From 1 July 2017, a $500,000 lifetime non-concessional contributions cap is proposed to take effect. The concessional contributions cap is currently at $30,000 and $35,000 for those aged 49 or over at 30 June 2015. The lifetime CGT cap is $1,395,000.

Split contributions with your spouse
You can split up to 85 per cent of your 2015 concessional contributions with your spouse providing they are not over 65 years or have reached their preservation age and retired. If you split contributions they must be made before 30 June. This strategy will be increasingly important under the budget’s announcements to introduce a $1.6 million lifetime cap that can be held within the zero tax pension environment.

Make a spouse contribution
You can claim a tax offset of 18 per cent on super contributions of up to $540 per year where your spouse’s assessable income, total reportable fringe benefits amounts and reportable employer super contributions is less than $13,800. The tax offset for eligible spouse contributions cannot be claimed for super contributions that you made into your own fund, then split to your spouse.