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Topping up your spouse's super
Sharing super between spouses
Did you know that if your spouse is a low-income earner you may be able to top-up their super from your own contributions? There are two ways to do this, known as spouse super contribution and contribution splitting.
What is spouse super contribution?
A spouse super contribution is where you make voluntary payments from your after-tax income into your spouse’s super account. You may be able to claim either a:
- full tax offset of $540, if you contribute $3,000 or more and your spouse earns $37,000 or less
- partial tax offset, if you pay less than $3,000 and your spouse earns more than $37,000 but less than $40,000.
You can pay more than $3,000 if you like - up to the normal after-tax contribution cap of $120,000 - but your tax offset doesn't increase beyond $540.
What are the eligibility criteria for claiming a spouse contribution tax offset?
In order to claim the tax offset, you must be able to show that:
- your spouse's income must be less than $40,000. That is the sum of their:
- assessable income (disregarding your spouse's first home super saver (FHSS) scheme released amount)
- total reportable fringe benefits amounts
- total reportable employer superannuation contributions
- your spouse's total super balance is under $1.9 million
- both you and your spouse are Australian residents
- your spouse has not exceeded their after-tax contribution cap ($120,000)
- you haven't already claimed a tax deduction for the contribution
- your spouse must be under the age 75.
How does spouse super contribution work?
To make a spouse super contribution, you simply need to follow these two steps:
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Transfer money into your spouse’s super account via BPAY®. Note that there are two BPAY reference numbers when making contributions to a Prime Super account. Please ensure you use the BPAY reference number that is specifically for spouse contributions. You can view these on your MemberOnline or call us on 1800 675 839.
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Fill out the spouse contribution details in the relevant section of your tax return.
What are the eligibility criteria for claiming a spouse contribution tax offset?
In order to claim the tax offset, you must be able to show that:
- your spouse (married or de facto) earns less than $40,000 per year including employer super, or is not working at all
- your spouse's total super balance is under $1.9 million
- both you and your spouse are Australian residents
- your spouse has not exceeded their after-tax contribution cap ($120,000)
- you haven't already claimed a tax deduction for the contribution
- your spouse must be under the age 75 and no work test applies.
What is contribution splitting?
Contribution splitting is where you ask Prime Super to direct some of your before-tax super contributions from last year, into your spouse's super fund. You can split any type of before-tax super, including contributions from salary sacrifice, the 'contribute and claim' process or from your employer's super guarantee contributions.
The split doesn't need to be equal, but the most you can contribute to your spouse each year is 85% of your total before-tax contributions from the previous year. Your spouse must not be retired.
How does spouse contribution splitting work?
To set up spouse contribution splitting, you need to:
- fill out the spouse contribution splitting form and send it to us.
- have a before-tax contribution made to your super via:
a. employers' superannuation guarantee
b. salary sacrifice
c. contribute and claim system
Then Prime Super will transfer the requested sum or percentage of your super into your spouse's super fund. If your spouse has retired early and you're not sure if they're eligible, give Prime Super a call on 1800 675 839.