Indexation moved most of the key thresholds this year. If you are working off last year's figures, several of them are now wrong. Here is the 2026-27 set.
Contributions
The concessional contributions cap increased from $30,000 to $32,500. That cap covers employer superannuation guarantee contributions, salary sacrifice, and personal contributions you claim a deduction for. They all count against the same number.
The non-concessional contributions cap increased from $120,000 to $130,000. These are after tax contributions where you do not claim a deduction.
The maximum three year bring forward increased from $360,000 to $390,000, but how much of it you can actually use depends on your total superannuation balance at 30 June 2026:
- Below $1.84 million: the full $390,000 over three years
- $1.84 million to $1.97 million: $260,000 over two years
- $1.97 million to $2.1 million: the standard $130,000 only
- Above $2.1 million: nil
The transfer balance cap
The general transfer balance cap increased from $2 million to $2.1 million. This is the limit on how much you can move into the retirement phase, where fund earnings are generally tax free.
It also does a lot of work elsewhere, because the total superannuation balance threshold that governs non-concessional contribution eligibility moves with it. So that threshold is now $2.1 million as well.
Two things trip people up here. Your personal transfer balance cap is not automatically the general cap. If you have already started a pension, your personal cap is indexed only on the unused proportion, which for many people means less than the full $100,000 increase. And the defined benefit income cap moved to $131,250.
Carry forward concessional contributions
You can still use unused concessional cap from the previous five financial years if your total superannuation balance was below $500,000 at the prior 30 June. That $500,000 threshold is not indexed and has not moved.
Because the caps have risen over the years, someone eligible in 2026-27 could have a substantial available amount when the current $32,500 is added to prior year unused amounts. Whether using it makes sense is a separate question entirely.
The employer side
The superannuation guarantee rate stays at 12 per cent. It has finished its legislated increases.
One change worth flagging for employers: the maximum contribution base has shifted from a quarterly figure to an annual one, $270,830 for 2026-27. If your payroll system is calculating against a quarterly cap, it needs updating.
Unchanged
The Division 293 threshold remains at $250,000, and the downsizer contribution limit remains at $300,000.
One caution
Contribution caps are the area where well intentioned action causes the most damage. Excess contributions tax, unintended triggering of a bring forward period, and contributions made when you were not eligible are all expensive and all avoidable. The numbers above are the rules. Whether any particular contribution suits your situation is financial advice, and we are not licensed to give it. What we can do is tell you what the fund's records show and what the caps are, which is usually the missing information.