An SMSF can accept all types of contributions, including:

Your employer can pay your mandated Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions to your SMSF.

You need to provide the following information to your employer or payroll office:

Some employers require you to complete a Super Standard Choice Form to nominate your SMSF. You can generate your form here:

If you need to provide a 'Notice of Compliance' for your SMSF, this can be generated as a PDF from the Super Fund Lookup website: https://superfundlookup.gov.au/

You can make personal contributions by depositing personal monies into your SMSF cash account.

To claim an income tax deduction for the contribution, you need to complete a Notice of Intent to Claim form:

The Notice of Intent to Claim Form must be completed before lodging your income tax return for the financial year. It doesn't need to be completed before the end of the financial year.

There is an annual concessional contribution cap of $30,000 per individual for 2025/26. Exceeding this cap results in the excess contributions being included in your assessable income and taxed at your marginal tax rate. You will also receive a 15% tax offset because the amount has already been taxed within your super fund.

However, you can also access unused concessional contributions from previous financial years (from 2020/21) if your Total Super Balance (TSB) is under $500,000 as of the prior 30 June.

You can view how unused carry-forward concessional contributions work on the ATO website here.

Your concessional contributions history (prior years) and Total Super Balance via your MyGov account under ATO > Super > Information.

A concessional contribution that exceeds your cap (including any carry-forward amounts available) will be classified as a non-concessional contribution.
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Note that excess concessional contributions are also included in assessable income and subject to tax at the marginal tax rate, with a 15% tax offset applied since they are taxed within the super fund. If not released, they can impact non-concessional caps, potentially triggering tax rates as high as 94%.

When you contribute to your SMSF, and either you or an employer does not claim a tax deduction, the amount is a non-concessional contribution.

There is an annual non-concessional cap of $120,000 per individual per year. To make non-concessional contributions, your Total Super Balance (TSB) must be below $1.88m as of the prior 30 June. For excess contributions, the ATO issues a Release Authority to instruct your super fund to return the excess contributions along with any associated earnings to you. Voluntary release is not permitted.
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Your ability to use the bring forward cap is also impacted where your Total Super Balance is above $1.76m.
More information: https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/super/growing-and-keeping-track-of-your-super/caps-limits-and-tax-on-super-contributions/non-concessional-contributions-cap#ato-Bringforwardarrangement

If you are close to this amount, you must seek professional advice because how much you can contribute is impacted by a range of factors.

Non-concessional contributions can only be made for people under 67 (2021) or under 75 (2022 onwards).

It is also possible to bring forward two years' worth of non-concessional contributions so a 3 x $120,000 = $360,000 provided your TSB is under $1.76m. Another effective contribution management strategy is reserving, where contributions are made late in the fiscal year (like in June) and allocated to the member's account in the next fiscal year. This approach helps manage annual caps effectively and spreads deductions over multiple years.

If your spouse's total income (taxable income plus FBT and reportable super contributions) is less than $37,000, and you deposit $3,000 into your SMSF on behalf of your spouse, you can receive a tax offset of $540.

If your total income (taxable income plus FBT and reportable super contributions) is below $56,112 for the 2021/22 financial year and you make a personal non-concessional contribution, the Government will make a co-contribution of your behalf.

From 1 July 2022, you can contribute an additional $15,000 per year to super (including an SMSF) up to $50,000 to be used as a deposit towards your first home.

Allows an individual over age 60 to contribute $300,000 from the sale of a personal residence they've lived in for 10 years or more to super. The amount doesn't count towards any contribution caps and is not impacted by Total Super Balance (TSB).
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