What is contribution splitting?
Contribution splitting enables you to share certain types of super contributions with your spouse by splitting them between your super accounts.
Who can receive split contributions?
You can receive split contributions from your spouse if:
- You’re under your preservation age, or
- You’re between your preservation age and age 65, and you haven’t yet permanently retired from the workforce.
You can’t receive any split contributions from your spouse after you’ve reached age 65.
And, if you want to split some of your contributions with your spouse, then your spouse must be under age 65 and:
- Be aged less than their preservation age, or
- Be aged between their preservation age and age 65 and not yet retired.
What’s the definition of a spouse?
The definition of a spouse includes a person:
- You are legally married to
- You are in a relationship with that is registered under certain state or territory laws (including registered same-sex relationships)
- Of the same or of a different sex
- Who lives with you on a genuine domestic basis in a relationship as a couple (known as a ‘de facto spouse’).
What contributions can be split?
The maximum amount you can apply to split is either 85% of your concessional contributions for that financial year, or up to your concessional contributions cap for that financial year – whichever is less.
You can split concessional contributions (i.e., before tax) received in a financial year, including:
- Any contributions your employer made for you
- Any salary sacrifice (pre-tax) contributions you made
- Any personal contributions (after-tax) you made for which you have lodged a notice with Equip Super to claim a tax deduction.
