You can help grow your spouse's retirement savings in 2 main ways:
Make a spouse contribution
Split your own contributions with your spouse.
A spouse contribution is when you pay money into your spouse or partner's super account from your after-tax (non-concessional) income. If they earn less than $40,000 a year or are not working right now,1 you may be able to claim an 18% tax offset (up to $540) if you make after-tax contributions to their super.
The spouse contribution tax offset starts when your spouse earns less than $37,000 a year, and it reduces as they earn more, ending when they earn $40,000 a year or more.
Splitting your super contributions with your spouse means transferring part of your before-tax (concessional) contributions from your super account to your partner's super account. You can split up to 85% of your eligible before-tax contributions for a financial year.
Super splitting is different to making after-tax spouse contributions, but both of them can have benefits.
Learn how much you and your spouse could have in retirement, based on both your financial situations. The calculator will ask you if you want to include your partner's details.
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If they have insurance on their account for illness and injury, or even death, keeping your partner's account balance up means they can pay the cost to keep their insurance.
You get a tax offset when you make a spouse contribution if it meets the criteria. Contribution splitting gives you a better chance of being qualified for the government's Age Pension.
If you've split super contributions with your spouse and they retire before you, they may share their super with you after they've withdrawn it. This means you effectively get earlier access than if you waited until your retirement to access that super.
It's easy to make a spouse contribution or split your super contributions.
Your partner getting the contribution needs to give us their tax file number (TFN) and be under age 75. They can add their TFN to the Profile section in Member Online. The easiest way to make a spouse contribution is through BPAY® on our website.
Make sure you meet these spouse contribution eligibility rules before trying to claim the offset:
You'll then claim the spouse contribution tax offset in a specific section in your tax return – see the ATO website for instructions.
| Spouse income (per year) | Tax offset you can claim on a $3,000 contribution |
|---|---|
| $37,000 or less | $540 |
| $38,000 | $360 |
| $39,000 | $180 |
| $40,000 or more | $0 |
Make a BPAY® payment online on our website or use our Spouse Contribution Advice Form.
Pay with BPAYNot all super funds let you split your super – but we do, and we don’t charge any special fees. Here’s how you can split some of your before-tax (concessional) contributions into your partner’s account.
They must be under the age they can access their super, or between their access age and 65 and not retired.
Your account with us needs at least $6,000 left after you split the contributions. Check your account balance in Member Online or by downloading our app. (Your partner that's getting the money can be with us or another super fund.)
Check your contribution amounts and how much you want to split – the minimum you can split is $5,000 (gross or before tax).
Download and send us the Contribution splitting form. Wait until the end of the financial year to do this, unless you're leaving a super fund or taking out your super.
You can find this on your spouse or partner’s end-of-financial-year PAYG summary, or you may be able to add it up from their payslips for the year
Make sure you check the limits for the year for their non-concessional super contributions and total super balance.
Case study
Charlie (30) works as a teacher, earning $80,000 a year, while their partner Amy (28) works casually and earns $37,000 a year.
They've been living together for 5 years, and Charlie wants to help grow Amy's super balance and also get some tax benefits. Together, they decide to do this with regular spouse contributions, putting $120 a fortnight after-tax into Amy's super account.
Since Amy is a low-income earner, the first $3,000 of Charlie's spousal contribution gets the maximum tax offset of 18%. This reduces the tax payable on Charlie's income by $540, and Amy ends up with an extra $3,120 in her super for the year.
You can contribute to your spouse as much as you like, as long as it's under your spouse's non-concessional contribution limit for the year.
Keep in mind the maximum spouse contribution tax offset you can get is $540 if you contribute $3,000 or more. To get the maximum tax offset, your spouse must earn less than $37,000 a year.
A spouse is someone you're legally married to or your de facto partner. De facto means you live together as a couple, including same-sex relationships.
You can apply to transfer super to your spouse or partner once each financial year.
Usually, you need to do this in the financial year after the year the contributions came into your account – unless you're leaving your super fund in the current financial year.
The contributions you transfer to your spouse still count towards your before-tax (concessional) contribution limits.
Splitting contributions to keep each other's balances below $500,000 could help you both to take advantage of the carry forward rules on your before-tax contributions for up to 5 years.
Types of contributions that you're unable to split with your spouse include:
Making a spouse contribution or splitting super contributions is different to paying super to your ex-spouse for a family law settlement or court order during divorce/separation.
There are so many ways you can grow your or your partner's super, depending on your situation and how much you each earn.
Deciding what's best for you depends on your personal circumstances, so you might want to get financial advice about your and your partner's super. Check out the advice options included with your membership. Not a member yet? Join today.
Add money directly to your partner's super account using BPAY or filling out the Spouse Contribution Advice form.
Use BPAYFill out our Contribution Splitting Advice form to transfer contributions to your partner's account.
Download the formYou can make still make a contribution to your spouse by joining over 2.3 million Australians who trust ART with their super.
Join us today®Registered to BPAY Pty Ltd ABN 69 079 137 518.
1. What they earn includes your spouse's assessable income, total reportable fringe benefits, and your spouse's reportable employer superannuation contributions, less any amounts they've taken out of their super for a home deposit during the financial year.
