Changes to superannuation

The government has committed $50 million in additional funding over three years, from 1 July 2026, for an ATO program aimed at ensuring timely payment of tax and superannuation liabilities. Known as the Tax Integrity Program, it will focus on medium and large businesses and wealthy groups. This aims to provide employees with an estimated $31 million in unpaid superannuation over five years from 2024-25 financial year.  

The Government will provide $6.7 million in 2025–26 to extend the operation of the National Anti Scam Centre within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. This aims at continuing to protect consumers and businesses from scam activity. This measure builds on the 2023–24 Budget measure titled Fighting Scams. 

The Federal Budget includes several measures aimed at improving lives of vulnerable groups:

• $506.4 million over five years from 2024-25 (and an additional $12.3 million in 2029-30) under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap with First Nations Australians.
• $423.8 million over five years from 2024–25 (and $150 million per year ongoing) to support inclusion and build the capacity of people with disability and their families.
• $175.4 million over four years from 2025–26 (and $43.8 million per year ongoing) for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
• $21.4 million over three years from 2025-26, in additional measures to assist victim-survivors of family and domestic violence with engagement in the justice system.

Superannuation will be paid on Government funded Paid Parental Leave (PPL) for parents of babies born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025.

Payments will be made annually to individuals’ super funds from 1 July 2026. This will help to reduce the impact of career breaks to care for young children on superannuation balances.

Analysis by the Super Members Council (SMC) shows a mother of two who received super on the Scheme would be $14,500 better off in retirement. A mother of one child would be $7,500 better off (Superannuation Members’ Council, 2024-25 Pre Budget-Submission, January 2024).

AustralianSuper has campaigned for this change for many years as a measure to help address structural inequalities that contribute to lower superannuation balances for women at retirement.

The start date for this measure is 1 July 2025 with the Government estimating that approximately 180,000 families per year will benefit from superannuation on paid parental leave.

As part of the 2024-25 Federal Budget, the Treasurer announced a 12-month extension to 30 June 2025 of the current freeze in deeming rates for retirees.

This measure will assist part pensioners with bank deposits, investments and also super pension income streams which are captured under the deeming rules. The measure will allow retirees to benefit from increases in interest rates and returns without reductions in their age pension.

The deeming rate has been frozen for the last two years with the top rate unchanged at 2.25%.

Super guarantee

From 1 July 2024, the super guarantee, that is - the percentage of your wage that your employer is required to pay into your super account, will increase from 11.0% to 11.5%. The super guarantee will continue to rise in 0.5% increments until it reaches 12% in 2025.

Refer to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website for full details.

Changes to super tax concessions

On 28 February 2023, the Australian Government announced from 1 July 2025 a 30% concessional tax rate will be applied to future earnings for superannuation balances above $3 million, instead of the current 15%. This measure is not yet law.

Detailed information can be found in the Treasury Superannuation Concessions fact sheet.

Increase in super contribution caps

From 1 July 2024, both concessional and non-concessional contributions caps will be increasing as follows:

The total super balance for non-concessional contributions, remains at $1.9 million. The general transfer balance cap also remains unchanged at $1.9 million.

Full details on concessional caps can be found ATO website.

Full details on non-concessional caps can be found ATO website.

Payday super

From 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay their employees’ super at the same time as their salary and wages. This delayed start date provides employers, super funds, payroll providers and other parts of the superannuation system with sufficient time to prepare for the change. This measure is not yet law.

Details on Payday super can be found on the ATO website.

From 1 July 2024, both concessional and non-concessional contributions caps increased:

The total super balance for non-concessional contributions, remains at $1.9 million. The general transfer balance cap also remains unchanged at $1.9 million.

Full details on concessional caps can be found ATO website.

Full details on non-concessional caps can be found ATO website.

The maximum superannuation contribution base is $65,070 each quarter for the 2024–25 financial year.

From 1 July 2024, the SG rate for employers to pay on behalf of eligible employees is 11.5%. There will be a final increase of 0.5% on 1 July 2025 to 12%. The increases aim to reduce financial pressure on the Age Pension, to help off-set Australia’s ageing population and improve financial outcomes at retirement.