Concessional super contributions are made from your before-tax salary. They include Super Guarantee (SG) contributions that employers are generally required to make on your behalf, as well as salary sacrifice contributions.

A key advantage of concessional contributions is they are taxed at only 15% instead of your marginal tax rate which is likely to be higher (up to 47%, including the Medicare Levy, depending on how much you earn).

You can make up to $30,000 worth of concessional contributions each financial year – this is across all your super accounts. So if you’re below this annual limit, you can take the opportunity to make extra concessional contributions into your super account before 30 June each financial year. This can be done using a salary-sacrifice arrangement through your employer, or by using after-tax money to deposit funds directly into your account and then claiming a tax deduction for the contribution.

Are you a sole trader?

If you’re a sole trader, you can choose how much and how often you contribute to your super (within the contribution limits).

That means you can consider a contribution towards the end of the financial year after seeing how your business has performed – you also have the option of claiming a tax deduction for the contribution.

Don’t forget about the carry forward rule

If you’ve made more than $30,000 worth of concessional contributions for the financial year, you might be able to use the carry forward rule to go above that amount.

This rule lets you top up your super by using unused cap amounts from the previous five financial years. To be eligible, your total super balance as at 30 June of the previous year needs to have been less than $500,000 – this is across all your super accounts.