Carry-Forward (Catch-Up) Concessional Contributions Calculator — 2026–27

Since 1 July 2018 the concessional contributions cap has not been a hard annual ceiling. Section 291-20 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 increases your cap for a financial year by the unused cap from the 5 financial years immediately before it. Unused amounts first accrued in 2018–19 and 2019–20 was the first year anyone could draw on them. The ATO calls the result your carry-forward or catch-up amount, and the arithmetic is deliberately simple:

1. For each of the 5earlier years, take that year's general cap and subtract the concessional contributions counted against it. The result is floored at zero — contributing more than the cap in one year never creates a negative amount that eats into another year.
2. Add those 5 unused amounts together. For 2026–27 the window runs 2021–22 to 2025–26, with caps of A$27,500, A$27,500, A$27,500, A$30,000, A$30,000.
3. Apply the eligibility test. Carried-forward amounts are only usable if your total superannuation balance — every account you hold, added together — was below A$500,000 at 30 June immediately before the contribution year. The threshold is strict and is not indexed, so a balance of exactly A$500,000 fails.
4. Add this year's general cap of A$32,500 to get your total available cap, then subtract the concessional contributions already counted this year — employer super guarantee included — to get the room actually left.

Order matters when you spend it. Contributions are applied to the current year's general cap first, then to unused amounts starting with the earliest year. That first-in-first-out rule is what keeps the oldest amount — the one about to expire — from being stranded. Unused cap survives for exactly 5 years and then lapses: an amount left over from 2021–22 is on its last legs in 2026–27 and disappears on 30 June 2027.

The calculator derives the carry-forward total twice, by two different readings of the rule, and shows both. The first walks each year separately: unused = max(0, cap − contributions), summed. The second works in aggregate: add the 5caps together, then subtract the contributions that counted against them, each clipped to its own year's cap. The two must agree to the cent; if they ever did not, the page says so rather than quietly picking one.

The tax panel is a separate calculation. It compares your income tax plus Medicare levy with and without the deduction — walking the 2026–27 resident brackets rather than assuming a single flat marginal rate, which matters when a large catch-up contribution drops you through a bracket — then subtracts the 15% contributions tax the fund pays. Where your income plus contributions clears A$250,000, Division 293 adds another 15% on the part above that line, and the tool shows it as its own deduction rather than burying it in the net figure.

The general cap is indexed to average weekly ordinary time earnings in A$2,500 steps, which is why it holds flat for several years and then jumps. Unused amounts only started accruing in 2018–19.

Source: ATO key superannuation rates and thresholds, contributions caps. Checked 2026-08-13.

• ATO — Carry forward unused concessional contributions
• ATO — Key superannuation rates and thresholds: contributions caps
• ATO — Concessional contributions cap
• ATO — Division 293 tax on concessional contributions by high-income earners
• ATO — Tax rates for Australian residents
• Moneysmart (ASIC) — Super contributions

Statutory basis: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 s 291-20 for the cap and the A$500,000 balance condition, and Division 293 for the high-income surcharge. The caps and thresholds on this page were last cross-checked against the ATO sources on 2026-08-13. They are reviewed each July, when new indexation takes effect. This is general information, not personal financial advice.