Division 293 Calculator

Concessional super contributions, such as your employer's super guarantee and any salary sacrifice, are normally taxed at 15% when they go into your fund. Division 293 tax adds another 15% for high earners, so those contributions are taxed at 30% in total.

The ATO assesses it to you personally, not to your fund. It is named after the part of the tax law that created it. The threshold has been $250,000 since 1 July 2017 and is not indexed, so it is still $250,000 in 2026-27.

How it is calculated: the ATO adds your Division 293 income to your low tax contributions (your concessional contributions). If the total is more than $250,000, you pay 15% on whichever is smaller:

• the amount your combined total is over $250,000, or
• your concessional contributions.

Division 293 income starts with your taxable income, then adds back items that would otherwise lower it:

• reportable fringe benefits, for example from a novated lease or salary packaging
• net financial investment losses, such as a negatively geared share portfolio
• net rental property losses, so a negatively geared investment property does not get you under the threshold
• amounts on which family trust distribution tax has been paid

Low tax contributions are your concessional contributions for the year: employer contributions including the 12% super guarantee, salary sacrifice, and personal contributions you claim a tax deduction for. Catch-up contributions using unused cap amounts from earlier years also count.

Excess concessional contributions are left out, because they are taxed at your marginal rate instead. The general concessional cap is $32,500 for 2026-27, up from $30,000 in 2025-26.

Taxable income already has salary sacrifice and deductible personal contributions taken out. When you use the calculator, enter taxable income from your tax return or payslip, not your salary package, or you will count those contributions twice.

Just over the line. Taxable income of $240,000 plus $28,800 of super guarantee gives $268,800. That is $18,800 over, which is less than the contributions, so the tax is 15% of $18,800: $2,820.

Well over the line. Taxable income of $300,000 plus a full $32,500 of contributions gives $332,500. The $82,500 over the threshold is more than the contributions, so the tax is 15% of $32,500: $4,875.

Salary sacrifice tips you over. Taxable income of $230,000 plus $32,500 of contributions gives $262,500. Only the $12,500 over the threshold is caught, so the tax is $1,875.

Under the line. Taxable income of $200,000 plus $30,000 of contributions gives $230,000. No Division 293 tax is payable.

The test is done one year at a time. A bonus or a large capital gain from selling shares or a property can push you over $250,000 in a single year, even if you are usually well under it. If you expect a big year, run the numbers before you add extra salary sacrifice or a personal deductible contribution.

Usually, yes. Above $190,000 your marginal rate is 45% plus the 2% Medicare levy, or 47%. Money sacrificed into super is taxed at 30% once Division 293 applies, so you still save about 17 cents in every dollar, compared with 32 cents at the same salary without Division 293. The trade-off is that the money is locked in super until you reach preservation age and retire. Try the salary sacrifice calculator to see the difference for your pay.

You do not pay Division 293 through your tax return. After you lodge and your fund reports your contributions, the ATO sends a separate Division 293 notice with a due date. You can pay it from your own money, or lodge an election with the ATO so it issues a release authority and your super fund pays it. Members of defined benefit funds usually have the amount recorded as a deferred debt, paid when the benefit is paid out.

The calculator uses the taxable income you enter plus your concessional contributions. It does not add fringe benefits or investment losses for you, so add those to the taxable income box yourself. It also does not remove excess contributions above your cap, and it does not model defined benefit funds.