With the end of the financial year approaching, financial advisor and Retire Life Ready author James Wrigley has a blunt message for Australians who want to cut their tax bill: stop leaving money on the table.
Speaking on the new season of 7NEWS Money Talks powered by Vanguard, Wrigley said the annual rush to top up super is one of the most overlooked opportunities in personal finance.
Understanding the Concessional Contribution Cap
“It’s always a bit of a mad rush towards the end of the financial year as people start to try to get things organised to take advantage of those caps as best they can,” he told host Tim McMillan.
The starting point, he explained, is the annual cap on pre-tax contributions. “There’s a $30,000 pre-tax - or what’s called concessional - contribution cap that you can contribute to your super fund. Your employer will use up some of that… but the difference is a bit of a tax deduction that’s available to people that take advantage of it.”
Carry-Forward Rule: Catch Up on Missed Contributions
Where the big numbers come in is a scheme that lets you mop up the contributions you didn’t make in previous years. “We have available to us a scheme that was introduced a few years back where you can carry forward up to the last five financial years’ worth of unused concessional caps,” Wrigley said.
Stacked together, the numbers can add up fast. “It’s actually the last five years plus the $30,000 for this year. So it’s technically six years. So potentially there’s $100,000 you can contribute to super to get a tax deduction,” Wrigley said.
In practice, he added, most working people will only have the gap between previous limits and what they actually contributed. “It’s not uncommon for us to see people that are working that might be able to put $70,000 or $80,000 into super. Now that’s a big tax deduction if you’re able to do so.”
Low Uptake Despite Significant Benefits
The take-up remains low. Vanguard’s 2025 How Australia Retires report, based on a survey of more than 1,800 Australians aged 18 and over, found that 46 per cent of Australians have never made a concessional contribution. This means they wouldn’t have used the carry-forward rule either.
Renae Smith, Chief of Personal Investor, Vanguard Australia told 7NEWS: “Many Australians assume that if they miss contributing in one year, that opportunity is lost. But the carry-forward rule means those missed contributions can potentially be used later, when people are better placed financially.”
“Still, it’s important to remember that unused caps don’t last forever. If you don’t use it, you lose it. That makes understanding what you have available, and acting before it expires, critical,” Smith added.
Eligibility Requirements
“You have to have had under $500,000 in your super fund at the beginning of the financial year — that’s the test. It doesn’t matter what your balance is today.”
Is There a Catch?
The single biggest hurdle, Wrigley said, is having the cash. “For most people, the limiting factor is getting their hands on $60,000 or $70,000 or $100,000 worth of cash to put into super in the first place,” he said.
He said the strategy most often comes into play when someone has had a windfall. “We see it most commonly being used where someone’s sold an asset or they’ve come across a bit of a windfall… an inheritance, some monies that have come their way, or really commonly they’ve sold an asset,” he said.
There’s also a “sweet spot” where the tax saving is largest. “The real sweet spot for these additional super contributions is if someone earns more than $190,000 a year but less than $250,000,” Wrigley said. “Your super contributions are only taxed at 15 per cent, but the income you’re earning, including Medicare, is taxed at 47. So you’ve got a 32 per cent saving in tax by putting a dollar into super at that level.”
Wrigley stressed it wasn’t just for high earners. “Even for lower-income earners there’s still some benefits there,” he said. As always, whether the strategy makes sense will depend on your individual circumstances, and it can help to seek advice from a qualified financial professional.
The Deadline You Can’t Miss
The real deadline isn’t the paperwork — but the cash actually landing in your account. “The money has to be in your account, in your super fund, not just given to the super fund, but actually credited to your account by the 30th of June,” Wrigley said.
Because funds are flooded with last-minute contributions, processing cut-offs come earlier than you’d expect. “They’ll often say maybe by the 22nd or the 25th you need to have made the BPAY payment to give it a couple of days to land with us,” Wrigley said. “So you don’t want to leave it right until the very end.”
As McMillan put it: “Don’t leave it ‘til 4:30 in the afternoon on the 30th of June, because it’s not gonna happen.”
The Paperwork Is Simpler Than You Think
Wrigley is keen to dispel the idea that the admin is a deal-breaker. “It’s really quite simple,” he said. Many funds let you lodge the notice of intent online. “If you log in, they’ll say, we received a $20,000 contribution for you. You’ll tick a couple of boxes and press submit.”
Even the ATO’s paper form, he noted, “is only two pages”. And if you’re catching up on multiple years? “You don’t have to do five separate notices for the five past financial years. It’s just the one notice in this current financial year,” he said.
How to Check Your Available Cap
To check exactly how much room you have, Wrigley points to one source of truth. “The ATO through your myGov account is the way to find that… it will tell you exactly to the cent how much you can contribute under these rules,” he said.
His one warning: don’t trust your payslip. “Don’t rely on the payslip that your employer has provided… best to actually contact your super fund and find out exactly what they’ve received for you this year,” Wrigley said.
What Is the Money Talk Podcast?
Money Talks, the new 7NEWS podcast, powered by Vanguard, cuts through the confusion to help Australians take control of their money — from investing and super to saving and retirement. Hosted by Tim McMillan, each episode features Australia’s leading personal finance minds and Vanguard experts sharing smart, practical insights to help you make confident decisions and build lasting financial freedom.
Along the way, listeners reveal their most honest money confessions — real stories of fear, failure, and success — giving experts the chance to unpack what’s really going on behind our financial habits and start the conversations we’ve all been too afraid to have.
Important information: All information in MoneyTalks is general in nature and does not take into account your personal circumstances. You should always seek independent, professional financial advice from a licensed expert before making any financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd (ABN 72 072 881 086 / AFSL 227263) is the product issuer of Vanguard Personal Investor and the Vanguard Australian funds and ETFs. Vanguard Super Pty Ltd (ABN 73 643 614 386 / AFSL 526270) is the trustee of Vanguard Super. Read the relevant IDPS Guide, PDS and TMD available at vanguard.com.au and consider if a product is right for you before making an investment decision. Vanguard analysis using SuperRatings Fee Report, shows Vanguard MySuper Lifecycle as one of the lowest fee MySuper products as at 30 June 2025. Other fees and costs may apply, please refer to the PDS.
