Total superannuation balance

About your total super balance

Your total super balance (TSB) is relevant when working out your eligibility for the following superannuation provisions:

• carry-forward concessional contributions
• non-concessional contributions cap and the bring-forward of your non-concessional contributions cap
• work test exemption
• government co-contribution
• spouse tax offset
• segregated asset method for calculating exempt current pension income.

How to find your total super balance

You can view your TSB by using ATO online services. Select Super then Information then Total superannuation balance.

If you don't have a myGov account, create one and link it to the ATO.

This will display:

• Current tab – your TSB for the current financial year (if available)
• History tab – your TSB for each of the previous financial years from 2016–17 onwards
• The elements that make up your TSB, including
  • accumulation phase value for each account
  • retirement phase value for each account
  • roll-over amounts
  • outstanding limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) amounts (where applicable)
  • each structured settlement contribution made.
   

We use the information reported by super funds to determine your TSB.

Amounts displayed may not include:

• current or previous financial year information we have not yet received or processed
• transition to retirement income stream accounts
• some pension accounts
• defined benefit account balances.

If you think the information displayed is incorrect or incomplete, check with your fund and your own records.

If the TSB amount displayed is zero, this is because either:

• we do not have any information for the financial year
• the amounts that some funds report to us for TSB purposes may not equal the account balance reported on the member‘s annual statement
• some funds report the accumulation phase value as a different or zero amount.

For example, if your SMSF has not lodged their annual return or a transfer balance account report with an accumulation phase value, your TSB will be incomplete or show as zero.

These amounts will become available as funds begin reporting them to us.

How your total super balance is calculated

Your TSB:

• may be different from your super fund account balance as the TSB includes amounts that don't form part of your account balance
• includes all your super interests.

If you wish to calculate your TSB at a particular time:

• add
  • the accumulation phase value of your super interests that are not in the retirement phase
  • the retirement phase value of your super interests
  • the amount of each roll-over super benefit not already included in the accumulation phase value or the retirement phase value. This is rollovers that are in transit between super funds on 30 June.
  • the outstanding limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) amount in an SMSF or an APRA fund with fewer than 7 members you entered into from 1 July 2018, if either
    • the LRBA is with an associate of the fund
    • you have satisfied a condition of release with a nil cashing restriction
     
   
• subtract
  • any personal injury or structured settlement contributions that have been paid into your super funds.
   

Accumulation phase value

The accumulation phase value (APV) of your super interests is the total amount of super benefits that would be payable if you chose to cease all of your super interests by, for example, closing all of your super accounts. Generally, this is the withdrawal value for an accumulation fund.

The APV does not include super interests that are in the retirement phase.

If you have a defined benefit interest, the super regulations may specify a different method for determining the APV. Your APV is generally not the balance of your defined benefit account.

The APV also includes:

• certain deferred super income streams
• transition-to-retirement income streams that are not in the retirement phase
• super income streams that have not complied with the pension or annuity standards or a commutation authority.

Your super fund reports your APV to us annually in either the:

• member account transaction service for APRA-regulated funds
• SMSF annual return.

Some super funds may report your APV as zero if the amount they could pay to you or roll over to another fund at 30 June is zero.

Retirement phase value

If you have a transfer balance account, your retirement phase value (RPV) is your transfer balance at the end of 30 June.

Your fund will modify your transfer balance if you have either:

• one or more certain account-based super income streams
• made structured settlement contributions to your super fund.

We get your RPV for a super interest from either the:

• balance of your transfer balance account
• amounts reported to us by each of your super funds annually in either the
  • member account transaction service for APRA-regulated funds
  • SMSF annual return.
   

Account-based super income streams

Account-based super income streams will have the transfer balance account items modified to be the current value of the super interest that supports the super income stream at the end of the financial year. The current value is the amount that would become payable if you were to choose to close the interest.

If you only have account-based income streams, your RPV will equal the current value of these income streams.

For all other super income streams the transfer balance account items are not modified when calculating your RPV.

Certain other transfer balance account items are not modified, including:

• credits for excess transfer balance earnings
• debits for non-commutable excess amounts.

Structured settlement contributions

If you have made a structured settlement contribution to a super interest, your transfer balance is modified by disregarding the debit in your transfer balance account that is due to the structured settlement contribution. This modification applies to both account-based and non-account-based income streams.

For more information see LCR 2016/12 Superannuation reform: Total superannuation balance.

SMSF outstanding limited recourse borrowing arrangement amount

A member of an SMSF will have an outstanding limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA) amount included in their TSB if the LRBA was entered on or after 1 July 2018 and either:

• the LRBA is between the fund and an associate of the fund
• the member has met a condition of release with a nil cashing restriction.

This does not include refinancing an existing LRBA that was entered into before 1 July 2018 and refinanced on or after that date, if both of the following apply:

• the LRBA is secured by the same asset or assets as the old LRBA
• the refinanced amount is the same or less than the existing LRBA.

The LRBA amount is equal to the share of the outstanding balance of the LRBA on 30 June. This relates to your share of the total super interests in the SMSF that the LRBA assets support.

If the fund in which you have a super interest has an affected LRBA, the fund must report the outstanding LRBA amount for you in the relevant section of the SMSF annual return.

For more information, see Super law requirements for LRBA.

How your total super balance affects you

Carry forward concessional contributions

If your TSB is less than $500,000 at the end of 30 June of the previous financial year, you may be able to increase your concessional contributions cap for the current year if you have unused concessional contributions cap amounts from the previous 5 years (but not before 2018–19).

Bring-forward non-concessional contributions cap

If your TSB is below the general transfer balance cap ($1.7 million from 2021–22, $1.9 million from 2023–24) on 30 June of the previous financial year, you may be eligible to increase your non-concessional contributions cap by bringing forward caps from the next 1 or 2 years.

Work test exemption

From 1 July 2022, if you are aged 67 to 74, the work test and the work test exemption no longer apply for the purpose of making salary sacrifice or non-concessional contributions. It still applies if you want to claim a personal super contribution deduction.

From 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2022, if you were aged 67 to 74 and your TSB was below $300,000 at the end of the previous year, you can make voluntary super contributions for 12 months from the end of the financial year in which you last met the work test.

This work test exemption:

• can only be used once
• does not apply to defined benefit funds.

For 2019–20 and earlier years, the age requirement for this exemption was 65 to 74 years.

For more information, see Restrictions on voluntary contributions.

Government co-contribution

In addition to the other eligibility conditions, you are eligible for the government super co-contribution if you meet both these conditions:

• your non-concessional contributions do not exceed your non-concessional contributions cap for the relevant financial year
• on 30 June of the previous financial year your TSB is less than the general transfer balance cap ($1.7 million from 2021–22, $1.9 million from 2023–24).

Spouse tax offset

In addition to the other eligibility conditions, to be eligible for the spouse tax offset:

• the spouse who is receiving the contribution cannot contribute more than their annual non-concessional contributions cap for the relevant year
• on 30 June of the previous financial year, your spouse must have a TSB less than the general transfer balance cap ($1.7 million from 2021–22, $1.9 million from 2023–24) for that financial year.

Segregated asset method for calculating exempt current pension income

SMSFs and APRA funds with fewer than 7 members are not allowed to use the segregated asset method to calculate exempt current pension income (ECPI) if, at any time in the year, the fund has a retirement phase interest and all of the following apply:

• a member has a TSB exceeding $1.6 million just before the start of that year
• the same member has a super interest in the fund at any time during the year
• the same member is receiving a retirement phase income stream just before the start of the year (from the super fund or another provider).

For more information, see methods for calculating ECPI.

Keep track of your total super balance, as it's relevant to how key superannuation rules apply to you.