Australia · FY2026-27
What changed on 1 July 2026
The contribution caps, the transfer balance cap and the deeming thresholds all indexed, one new tax commenced, and a marginal rate came down. Here is every FY2026-27 change in one table — what it was, what it is, and the page that works it through.
AU FY2026-27 Law
Last reviewed 31 July 2026
Superannuation
The contribution caps and the transfer balance cap indexed together, and one entirely new tax started.
| Measure | FY2025-26 | FY2026-27 | Applies from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concessional contributions cap Indexed in $2,500 increments against AWOTE. A client using the full five-year catch-up can now contribute up to $175,000 in a single year. Carry-forward concessional contributions → | $30,000 | $32,500 | 1 July 2026 |
| Non-concessional contributions cap The annual cap is four times the concessional cap, so it moves whenever that one does. Bring-forward contributions → | $120,000 | $130,000 | 1 July 2026 |
| Bring-forward — two-year period Two times the annual cap, and the balance tiers that decide availability moved with the transfer balance cap at the same time. Bring-forward contributions → | $240,000 | $260,000 | 1 July 2026 |
| Bring-forward — three-year period Three times the annual cap. A client who triggered a bring-forward before the rollover stays on the old amounts for the rest of their period. Bring-forward contributions → | $360,000 | $390,000 | 1 July 2026 |
| General transfer balance cap A $100,000 step. A member with an existing transfer balance account is credited their unused proportion of it, not the whole step — which is why almost nobody's personal cap is the general cap. Personal transfer balance cap → | $2,000,000 | $2,100,000 | 1 July 2026 |
| Division 296 Commences for the first time this year, on a realised-earnings basis, with a second tier above the larger threshold. The first assessments follow the year, not the start date. Division 296 → | Did not apply | 15% additional above $3,000,000 | 1 July 2026 |
| Maximum superannuation contribution base An annual ceiling under Payday Super, replacing the previous $62,500 per quarter basis. Superannuation guarantee → | A per-quarter basis | $270,830 per year | 1 July 2026 |
Tax
One rate change, with another already legislated for the year after — worth modelling now rather than in twelve months.
| Measure | FY2025-26 | FY2026-27 | Applies from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Second resident marginal tax band The second band was cut from 16% to 15% for 2026-27, with a further step to 14% from 1 July 2027. Rates exclude the Medicare levy. Marginal tax rates → | 16% | 15% | 1 July 2026 |
What did not change — and why that matters
Half of a rollover is knowing what stayed still. A threshold that does not index while the figures around it do is a threshold that quietly tightens every year, and each of these catches a few more clients than it did last year.
| Measure | FY2026-27 | Why it did not move |
|---|---|---|
| Superannuation guarantee rate | 12% | The final legislated step, in place since the year before. There is no further increase scheduled. |
| Division 293 income threshold | $250,000 | Never indexed, and unchanged since 1 July 2017 — so each rise in the concessional cap pulls more clients over it without the threshold moving at all. |
| Carry-forward total super balance threshold | $500,000 | Not indexed. The gate on using carried-forward concessional cap space is the same figure it has always been. |
| Deeming rate — lower and deeming rate — upper | 1.25% and 3.25% | Set by the Minister rather than indexed. Deeming threshold — single moved; the rates applied to it did not. |
| Work Bonus — fortnightly exclusion | $300 per fortnight | Not indexed, and neither is the balance ceiling or the starting credit for new pensioners. |
| Gifting limit — per financial year | $10,000 | Not indexed, and neither is the five-year limit. Both tighten in real terms every year without a decision being taken. |
What to do with this in a review
- Re-check every client sitting on a boundary. Indexation moves clients across thresholds without anything happening in their lives. The bring-forward tiers, the $500,000 carry-forward gate and the Division 296 threshold are all measured against balances that also moved.
- Do not assume the new personal transfer balance cap. The general cap moved by $100,000; a member’s personal cap moved by their unused proportion of it. The calculator works it through, including the truncation.
- Model the tax cut across two years, not one. The second band was cut from 16% to 15% for 2026-27, with a further step to 14% from 1 July 2027. Rates exclude the Medicare levy. A salary-sacrifice or contribution-timing decision made now sits across both.
- Diarise the social-security dates. The maximum rates of pension index on 20 March and 20 September, taking the assets test cut-offs with them, so a file note written in July is out of date before the year ends. The deeming rates are reviewed separately again, and the Seniors Health Card limit — $101,105 for a single client — indexes later in the year.
- Division 296 is a modelling job, not a mailout. It applies for the first time this year. Which clients it reaches, and what it costs them, is worked through in the explainer.
Questions we get asked
- Are all of these law, or some of them announced?
- All of the changes on this page are law. Where the hub carries a measure that is announced but not yet enacted, it is marked as announced against the figure itself, on the rates pages — the distinction is kept in the data rather than in a footnote.
- Does this page get rewritten next year?
- No. It is deliberately dated: it is the record of what changed on 1 July 2026, and it stays at this URL unchanged. Next year gets its own page at its own URL. The pages that always carry current figures are the rates references, whose URLs have no year in them at all.
- What is the one change most likely to be missed?
- The transfer balance cap step. The general cap rose by $100,000, but a member with an existing transfer balance account is credited only their unused proportion of that step — so two clients with identical balances can have different personal caps, and neither is likely to be $2,100,000.
- Why do some prior-year figures show a dash?
- Because we hold the current figure and its source, but not a verified prior-year value for it. Rather than repeat a number we have not checked against a primary source, the cell is left empty and the current figure is linked to the page that carries it.
Sources
Every figure above is read from the same reference files as the rest of the hub, each with its own citation and effective date — how we maintain this explains the discipline, including what a dash in the prior-year column means.
- ATO — Key superannuation rates and thresholds
- ATO — Concessional contributions cap
- ATO — Non-concessional contributions cap
- ATO — Better targeted superannuation concessions
- ATO — Individual income tax rates (Australian residents)
- Services Australia — Deeming
- Services Australia — Age Pension
- Services Australia — Assets test for Age Pension
Related
- Super rates and thresholds — the evergreen version of the first table above.
- Age Pension rates and thresholds — the evergreen version of the third.
- Division 296 — the one measure here that is new rather than indexed.
- How we maintain this — where these figures come from, and how they are kept current.
- All knowledge-hub references
Social security
The deeming thresholds and the means-test free areas moved with the financial year; the deeming rates did not move at all, and the maximum rates of pension run on their own twice-yearly clock.
Sources