How you can re-contribute without paying extra tax
If you withdrew money from your super fund through the COVID-19 early release of super program, you can rebuild your super by making personal super contributions.
In general, if you make a personal super contribution to your fund out of money you have already paid tax on and you don't claim a tax deduction, it will count towards your non-concessional contributions cap. If you exceed the cap, you will have to pay extra tax.
However, you may be eligible to have COVID-19 re-contributions excluded from the non-concessional contributions cap. If you decide to do this and you are close to exceeding your non-concessional contributions cap for the year, you can make this choice by lodging a re-contribution form with your super fund.
It is only necessary to choose to have a personal contribution treated as a COVID-19 re-contribution if the contribution would otherwise lead to you exceeding your non-concessional cap for the year.
You should consider seeking advice from a financial advisor or tax agent before making this choice. You won't be eligible to claim a personal super deduction for any amounts you choose to have treated as a COVID-19 re-contribution.
As with other super contributions, a COVID-19 re-contribution will count towards:
- your transfer balance cap, which applies when you move your super into retirement phase
- your total super balance when it is recalculated to include all your contributions on 30 June.
Eligibility
You're eligible to re-contribute COVID-19 early release withdrawals without the contributions counting towards your non-concessional contributions cap if:
- you withdrew superannuation amounts through the COVID-19 early release of super program (which closed on 31 December 2020)
- the total amount, including any previous COVID-19 re-contributions, you're re-contributing is equal to or less than the total amount you withdrew through COVID-19 early release
- you re-contribute the amounts to your fund from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2030
- you're not claiming a deduction in your income tax return for amounts you re-contribute
- you give your fund the approved form notifying it of the re-contribution at the time or before it is made.
How much you can re-contribute
You can make multiple re-contributions, but the total must not exceed the total amount you withdrew through COVID-19 early release.
Example: not exceeding the non-concessional contributions cap
After withdrawing $20,000 through COVID-19 early release of superannuation, Chloe decides to make a personal contribution of $10,000 into her super.
As Chloe's non-concessional contributions cap for the financial year is $110,000, and she will not be exceeding this amount, she decides not to treat this amount as a COVID-19 re-contribution.
End of example
Example: exceeding the non-concessional contributions cap
After withdrawing $10,000 through COVID-19 early release of superannuation, Scott decides to make a personal contribution of $120,000 into his super.
Scott's non-concessional contributions cap for the financial year is $110,000. As his personal contribution would exceed his non-concessional contributions cap, he decides to treat $10,000 as a COVID-19 re-contribution.
Scott will need to provide the approved form to notify his fund of the re-contribution when or before he makes the contribution. Scott's fund will report this re-contribution to us.
Scott is ineligible to claim a personal deduction in his income tax return for the amount he re-contributes.
End of exampleHow to make your re-contribution
Re-contributions of COVID-19 early release of superannuation can be made from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2030.
Before choosing to treat your contribution as a COVID-19 re-contribution, you should:
- check your non-concessional contributions cap to see if you are likely to exceed it in the year you made the contribution. If the contribution won't cause you to exceed your cap, you don't need to treat it as a COVID-19 re-contribution
- check your eligibility
- confirm that your super fund will accept re-contributions.
If you choose to make a COVID-19 re-contribution, you will need to complete the Notice of re-contribution of COVID-19 early release amounts (NAT 75394) form. Give this to your super fund before or at the time you make your contribution. Your fund will report this re-contribution information to us.
One form can be used to cover multiple re-contribution amounts to a single fund in the same financial year as long as the contributions don't exceed the amount on the form. If the contributions exceed this amount, another form will need to be completed.
If you make COVID-19 re-contributions to multiple funds or in more than one financial year, a separate form must be lodged with each fund for each financial year.
How to re-contribute COVID-19 early release withdrawals to rebuild your super balance.