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Accumulation Plan members can split their superannuation contributions between themselves and their spouse or defacto partner (including same sex couples).
Contribution splitting is a Commonwealth Government initiative that allows a person to split their taxed contributions (ie. employer and salary sacrifice contributions) and personal deductible contributions, and transfer them to an account in their spouse’s name. The receiving spouse must be under the age of 65 and not retired.
The maximum amount that can be split is the lesser of:
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85% of your total taxed contributions* to the Accumulation Plan; and
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The concessional contributions cap, being $25,000 per annum (or $50,000 per annum if aged 50 or over).
*The 85% maximum allows for the deduction of 15% contributions tax.
The following contributions cannot be split:
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Member and employer contributions to defined benefit funds,
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Personal (after-tax) contributions, including super co-contributions and payments in lieu of long service leave and annual leave,
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Rollovers from another fund,
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Employer eligible termination payments,
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Contributions for an account that is subject to a payment split or on which a payment flag is operating for Family Law purposes.
Contribution splitting may provide the following benefits:
- A member who retires before age 60 can take advantage of two lump sum tax free amounts.
- A member who receives an income stream can take advantage of two sets of personal tax rates on income received prior to age 60.
- Splitting contributions with an older spouse enables earlier access to superannuation benefits (if the older spouse is aged 60 years and over, generally no tax will apply to the superannuation benefits).
- Splitting contributions with a younger spouse may result in higher age pension entitlements due to the deferral of those contributions being counted under the Social Security income and assets tests.
| Important: You should be aware however, that contributions splitting may be a less attractive strategy following the abolition of Reasonable Benefits Limits and changes to superannuation tax rates effective from 1 July 2007. |
How to split your contributions
An application to split contributions for the previous year can be made at any time following the end of a financial year unless you are terminating employment in which case you can split contributions made in the current financial year.
The application process for contribution splitting varies slightly depending on which fund you are a member of - refer to next steps for more information.
Once we have processed your application we will pay the split amount to your spouse’s super fund. Split contributions must be deposited into a complying superannuation fund.
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