EOFY Countdown 2026
What to Do Before 30 June
Any advice on this site is general in nature only and has not been tailored to your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. Please seek personal advice before acting on any information provided. ABN 35 672 786 218 | Corporate Authorised Representative No. 001311498 | AFSL 232 706
The end of the financial year is a fixed legislative deadline. Once 30 June passes, contribution caps reset, unused carry-forward amounts may expire, and certain concessions close. This page is a practical reference for high-income professionals, business owners, and SMSF trustees who need to confirm their position before the deadline.
This page complements our detailed EOFY Super Contribution Strategy guide with broader year-end actions including SMSF compliance, Division 296 preparation, insurance positioning, and tax planning.
Current as at March 2026. Division 296 received Royal Assent on 13 March 2026 and applies from 1 July 2026. Rates and thresholds should be confirmed on ATO published pages at the time of implementation.
Contributions Before 30 June 2026
Concessional Contributions (Before-Tax)
The concessional contributions cap for the 2025–26 financial year is $30,000. This includes employer super guarantee, salary sacrifice, and personal deductible contributions. If your employer contributions alone do not reach the cap, salary sacrifice or a personal deductible contribution can fill the gap.
If you have unused concessional cap amounts from prior years (back to 2018–19) and your total super balance was below $500,000 on 30 June 2025, you may be able to carry forward those unused amounts. This can allow a concessional contribution well above $30,000 in a single year. See our EOFY Super Contribution Strategy page for worked examples.
Non-Concessional Contributions (After-Tax)
The non-concessional contributions cap for 2025–26 is $120,000. If you were under 75 at any time during the year, and your total super balance was below $1.9 million on 30 June 2025, you may be eligible to use the bring-forward rule and contribute up to $360,000 in a single year.
From 1 July 2026, the non-concessional cap is expected to rise to $130,000 and the bring-forward amount to $390,000. If you are planning a large non-concessional contribution, consider whether contributing before or after 1 July 2026 gives you the better outcome.
Spouse Contributions
If your spouse earns less than $40,000 per year, you may be eligible for a tax offset of up to $540 by contributing $3,000 to their super. The contribution must be received by the fund before 30 June.
Contribution Splitting
Contribution splitting allows you to transfer up to 85% of your concessional contributions from the previous financial year into your spouse’s super account. This can help equalise balances between spouses and manage transfer balance cap limits. The application must be made to your fund after 1 July but relates to contributions made in the prior year.
Division 293 applies an additional 15 per cent tax on concessional contributions where your combined income and concessional contributions exceed $250,000. For most high-income professionals, this means concessional contributions are effectively taxed at 30 per cent rather than 15 per cent. Even at 30 per cent, this is still below the top marginal tax rate of 47 per cent (including Medicare levy), so concessional contributions remain tax-effective for high earners.
For high-income earners, the employer super guarantee is capped at the maximum super contribution base ($62,500 per quarter in 2025 to 2026). This means employer SG alone can consume a significant portion of the $30,000 concessional cap before any salary sacrifice or personal deductible contributions are made. Check your available cap space before 30 June.
If you are aged 67 to 74 and want to claim a tax deduction for personal contributions, you must meet the work test (gainfully employed for at least 40 hours in 30 consecutive days during the financial year) or satisfy the one-off work test exemption. If you are under 67, no work test applies. Contributions must be received by the fund before 30 June 2026, or earlier depending on the fund’s cut-off times.
If you intend to claim a tax deduction for personal contributions, you must lodge a valid notice of intent to claim with your super fund trustee, and receive an acknowledgement, before you lodge your tax return or before certain other events (such as commencing a pension or rolling over). If the notice is not lodged correctly, the deduction cannot be claimed.
SMSF Trustees: EOFY Compliance Checklist
If you are a trustee of a self-managed super fund, there are specific compliance actions that must be completed before or around 30 June. Failure to meet these obligations can result in penalties or loss of the fund’s complying status. See our SMSF Strategy page for more detail on ongoing SMSF governance.
Minimum Pension Payments
If your SMSF is paying an account-based pension or a transition to retirement pension, you must ensure the minimum annual payment has been made by 30 June. The minimum percentage depends on your age at 1 July 2025. If the minimum is not met, the pension is treated as having ceased for tax purposes, and the fund may lose its tax exemption on pension assets for the full year.
Investment Strategy Review
Trustees must review the fund’s investment strategy at least annually. The review should consider diversification, liquidity, the ability to pay benefits, insurance needs of members, and whether current investments align with the strategy. Document the review in the trustee minutes before 30 June.
In-House Asset Compliance
In-house assets must not exceed 5% of the fund’s total assets. If market movements or transactions have pushed the ratio above 5%, trustees must prepare a written plan to bring the level back into compliance. This plan must be prepared before the end of the financial year.
Cost Base Reset for Capital Gains
If a member commences a retirement phase pension during the year, the fund can choose to reset the cost base of assets supporting that pension to market value. This can eliminate embedded capital gains and reduce future CGT within the fund. The reset applies at the date the pension commences, so timing within the financial year matters.
Contribution Reserving
Some SMSF trust deeds allow contributions to be held in a contribution reserve and allocated to members in a later financial year. This can be useful for managing cap limits, especially where a contribution is received close to 30 June but would be better allocated in the following year. Check your trust deed and ensure any reserving strategy is documented.
EOFY and Division 296: What Changes This Year
Division 296 introduces a new tax on superannuation balances above $3 million, applying from the 2025–26 financial year. While the tax is calculated on the movement in your total super balance between 30 June 2025 and 30 June 2026, there are actions you can consider before year-end.
- Review whether contributions made before 30 June will push your balance above the $3 million threshold and trigger Division 296 in this or future years.
- Consider whether insurance held inside super affects the balance calculation and whether restructuring insurance outside super changes the Division 296 outcome. See our SMSF Insurance and Division 296 Whole-of-Fund Review page.
- If you are close to the $3 million threshold, model the impact of different contribution and withdrawal strategies before committing.
For a detailed explanation of how Division 296 works and how to plan around it, see our Division 296 Tax Strategy page.
Insurance Inside Super: Review Before 30 June
Insurance premiums paid from your super fund reduce your balance and your retirement savings. Before 30 June, review:
- Whether your current level of life, TPD, and income protection cover is still appropriate for your situation.
- Whether holding insurance inside or outside super gives you a better after-tax outcome, particularly if Division 296 applies to your balance.
- Whether your SMSF investment strategy documents the insurance needs of each member, as required by the SIS regulations.
For a full review of your insurance positioning, see our Risk Insurance Strategy page.
Transition to Retirement
If you have reached your preservation age but have not yet retired, a transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) allows you to access your super as a pension while continuing to work. Before 30 June, check that the minimum pension payment has been made and that the strategy still aligns with your contribution and tax plan for the year.
A TRIS is taxed at 15% on investment earnings within the fund (unlike a retirement phase pension, which is tax-free). However, it can be an effective tool when combined with salary sacrifice to build super while maintaining cash flow.
Transfer Balance Cap and Indexation
The general transfer balance cap is $1.9 million for the 2025–26 financial year. This is the maximum amount you can transfer into a tax-free retirement phase pension. If you have never started a retirement phase pension, your personal transfer balance cap is the general cap at the time you first commence a pension.
If you started a pension when the cap was lower (e.g. $1.6 million or $1.7 million) and have since fully commuted that pension, your personal cap may have been proportionally indexed. Check your transfer balance account with the ATO before 30 June if you are planning to commence a new pension. See our Retirement Planning page for more detail on retirement phase strategies.
Tax Actions Before 30 June
Prepay Expenses and Bring Forward Deductions
Certain expenses can be prepaid before 30 June to bring the deduction into the current financial year. Common examples include income protection insurance premiums (held outside super), investment loan interest, and professional subscriptions. If you are on a cash basis for tax purposes, the prepayment must be for a period of 12 months or less starting before 30 June.
Capital Gains and Losses
If you have realised capital gains during the year, consider whether there are unrealised losses in your portfolio that could be crystallised before 30 June to offset those gains. Be aware of the wash sale rules — the ATO may disregard a loss if you sell an asset and repurchase the same or substantially similar asset shortly after. For more detail, see our Tax Minimisation Strategies page.
Centrelink and Income Testing
If you or your spouse receive any income-tested government benefits, be aware that superannuation contributions, investment income, and capital gains can all affect your eligibility. Review your expected income for the year and consider whether timing of income or contributions could affect benefits in the current or following year.
Why a Checklist Is Not Enough
Each of the items above interacts with the others. A contribution that reduces your income tax may push your super balance above the Division 296 threshold. An insurance restructure that improves your Division 296 position may create a gap in cover. A capital loss harvest that reduces your CGT liability may affect your Centrelink income test. These interactions are why EOFY planning requires coordination, not just a checklist.
Build MyWealth provides an EOFY coordination review that looks across super contributions, SMSF compliance, Division 296, insurance, and tax to identify the combination of actions that produces the best overall outcome for your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Request an EOFY Coordination Review
Let Build MyWealth review your super contributions, SMSF compliance, Division 296 exposure, insurance, and tax position before 30 June 2026.
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Build MyWealth Pty Ltd ABN 35 672 786 218 is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 001311498) of Fortnum Private Wealth Ltd ABN 54 139 889 535 AFSL 357 306. This page contains general information only and does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. You should consider whether the information is appropriate to your situation before acting on it. Please refer to the relevant Product Disclosure Statement before making any financial decisions. This content reflects legislation and ATO rates as at March 2026. Rates and thresholds are subject to change.