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Superannuation and foreign employment income

Check your super entitlements and deductions on your foreign employment income.

Last updated 30 June 2024

Your super guarantee

Regardless of whether your foreign employment income is exempt from tax, you may still be entitled to super guarantee. The super guarantee is not linked to your assessable income. If you're an employee and get salary or wages, you may be entitled to super guarantee. An exception to this is if your employer is a foreign resident and you are working outside Australia.

Non-resident employer

If your employer isn't an Australian resident, they aren't required to provide super guarantee for you when you are working outside Australia. If you also work within Australia for this employer, they should be providing the super guarantee for you for this period.

Resident employer

If your employer is an Australian resident then generally the law requires them to provide super guarantee for you for your period of service both inside and outside Australia.

If you have questions about your super guarantee, speak to your employer.

Your super co-contributions

To be entitled to a super co-contribution you must have made a personal contribution into a complying fund and meet certain income tests.

If your foreign employment income is:

  • not exempt from tax      
    • include it in your assessable income
    • we will take it into account when we work out your entitlement to a super co-contribution
  • exempt from tax      
    • it is excluded from your assessable income
    • we do not take it into account when we work out your entitlement to a co-contribution.

Your deductions for personal super contributions

You may be able to claim a tax deduction for personal super contributions that you made to your super fund from your after-tax income.

For personal super contributions made on or after 1 July 2017, there is no income test. Your foreign employment income isn't taken into account in working out your entitlement to a deduction for personal super contributions, however you still need to meet the other eligibility requirements.

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