Superannuation Calculator

Superannuation guarantee in Australia

The super guarantee is the minimum super your employer must pay on top of your wages. It reached 12% on 1 July 2025 and stays there: that is its final legislated level, with no further rises scheduled. On a $90,000 base salary your employer pays an extra $10,800 a year into your fund.

Two changes landed on 1 July 2026. Payday Super requires employers to pay super with every pay run rather than quarterly, so contributions appear in your fund within days rather than up to three months later, and a shortfall becomes visible far sooner. And the maximum contribution base became an annual figure of $270,830 for FY2026-27, replacing the old per-quarter cap, so high earners with uneven quarterly pay are no longer short-changed by the timing.

Sources: ATO, super guarantee percentage and ATO, contributions caps. Checked 21 August 2026. TaxSnap is a calculator, not a tax agent: see the disclaimer and where every figure comes from.

"Plus super" against "package including super"

Job ads quote pay two ways and the difference is real money. Plus super means the figure is your cash salary and super is added on top. Package, or inclusive of super, means the figure already contains the super, so your cash salary is the smaller number inside it.

Read the middle two columns against each other. The same headline number is worth $10,800 more in cash on a $90,000 role if it is quoted plus super. This is the single most common way two job offers get compared wrongly, and the fix is to convert both to the same basis before you look at them.

The concessional cap and what counts toward it

The concessional contributions cap rose to $32,500 for FY2026-27, up from $30,000 in FY2025-26. It is indexed to average weekly ordinary time earnings, which is why it moves in steps rather than every year.

Your employer's compulsory super counts toward that cap, and so does anything you salary sacrifice or claim as a personal deduction. On $90,000 the $10,800 of guarantee leaves about $21,700 of room. Go over the cap and the excess is added back to your taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate with an interest charge, which removes the benefit entirely.

If your total super balance was under $500,000 at the end of the previous 30 June, unused cap from the last five years can be carried forward and used in a single year. That matters for anyone with an uneven income: a low-earning year builds room that a high-earning year can use.

How super is taxed

• Going in. Employer contributions and salary sacrifice are taxed at 15% in the fund rather than at your marginal rate. That gap is the whole benefit.
• Division 293. If your income plus concessional contributions exceeds $250,000, an extra 15% applies to the contributions above that line, taking them to 30%. Still below the top marginal rate, so sacrificing usually remains worthwhile, but the advantage is halved.
• Low income earners. The low income super tax offset refunds the 15% contributions tax, up to $500, for people earning up to $37,000. It is paid into your fund automatically, so there is nothing to claim.
• Earnings inside the fund. Taxed at up to 15%, lower again on capital gains held over a year.

Checking your employer is actually paying it

Unpaid super is common and easy to miss, because a pay slip showing a super amount is a statement of what is owed, not proof that it was paid. The only reliable check is your fund.

Log in to your super account, or go through the ATO's online services via myGov, and compare the contributions received against what your pay slips say. Under Payday Super the contributions should now appear within days of each pay, so a gap of weeks is a signal rather than normal lag. If money is missing, raise it with the employer first, then lodge an unpaid super enquiry with the ATO, which can pursue it on your behalf.

Choice of fund, stapling, and why it matters

You can generally choose your own fund. If you do not, your existing stapled fund follows you to a new employer instead of a new account being opened, which was the change that stopped people accumulating a fund per job. Multiple accounts mean multiple sets of fees and often multiple insurance premiums quietly draining balances.

Because it is preserved until you meet a condition of release, which for most people now means age 60, super is a long horizon. Small differences in fees and returns compound over decades into large ones. Comparing funds is genuinely worth an hour, though which fund suits you is financial advice and we do not give it: see a licensed adviser.

Frequently Asked Questions