$1.2M (legally) into Super over 12 months?

Have you been told your maximum super caps are $30,000 concessional and $120,000 non-concessional? Non necessarily! With a bit of strategy, we were able to legally achieve contributions of nearly $1.2M over the past 12 months for a client.

Our client, in her mid-60s, was selling her business and also changing homes to retire. She had a desire to hold her retirement savings, as far as possible, in superannuation.

We implemented the following strategy to maximise her super contributions:

June 2024

Top up Concessional (tax deductible) Contributions to the 2024 cap of $27,500

Make a Non-Concessional (non-deductible) Contribution of the 2024 cap of $110,000 (taking care not to trigger the bring-forward rule)

July 2024 - May 2025

Make Concessional (tax deductible) Contributions of the 2025 cap of $30,000

Make a Non-Concessional (non-deductible) Contribution of $360,000 (using the 3-year bring-forward rule applied to the 2025 cap of $120,000)

Make a Downsizer Contribution of the maximum of $300,000 (a Non-Concessional Contribution that doesn’t count against the NCC cap)

Make a Small Business Capital Gains Tax Retirement Exemption Contribution of $335,000 (Can be as high as $500,000 lifetime limit. Again, a Non-Concessional Contribution that doesn’t count against the NCC cap)

Voila! A total of $1,162,500 moved into super in 12 months. Obviously, the client’s circumstances favoured the outcome, but the value of strategy is clear.