Carry-Forward Concessional Contributions: Use Your $30,000 Cap Before June 30
Missing the 30 June 2026 deadline can permanently forfeit unused concessional cap amounts that would have let an eligible Australian contribute more than the usual $30,000 pre-tax cap into super, because unused amounts only carry forward for 5 years and expire if not used in time.
The number that matters
The central number is $30,000: Australia’s concessional super contributions cap for 2025–26, which sets the base against which carry-forward amounts are added.
How it quietly costs you
The first quiet money leak is not checking eligibility and unused cap amounts before 30 June, which can cause people to miss a one-off chance to use prior unused concessional caps.
The mechanism is simple: you can only use carry-forward amounts if your total super balance is under $500,000 at 30 June of the previous financial year, and unused amounts are only available for 5 years before expiring.
The quantified impact is the loss of access to extra pre-tax super contributions above the annual $30,000 cap, which can meaningfully reduce the tax-advantaged amount you can move into super in a given year.
Old vs better: instead of staying at the standard $30,000 concessional cap, eligible Australians can use their unused carry-forward amounts on top of that cap if they act before the deadline and their ATO record shows eligibility.
The second, compounding trap
The second layer is timing failure around salary sacrifice and employer contributions, which can push contributions into the next financial year and make people miss the intended 30 June-year-end strategy.
The ATO notes that employer super guarantee contributions for the quarter ending 30 June may be made by 28 July in the next financial year, and salary sacrifice arrangements must be set up so the fund receives the money by 30 June if the goal is to count it in the current year.
The long-run cost is that a delayed contribution can waste a year of compounding inside super and reduce the amount that can be contributed under the current year’s cap, especially if the carry-forward window is about to expire after 5 years.
What this looks like in practice
Megan, 44, marketing manager, earning $140,000, with $280,000 in super, 17 years from retirement. She is eligible to use carry-forward amounts because her balance is below $500,000, and she is likely to be the kind of worker who has not been maxing out the concessional cap every year.
- She discovers she may have unused concessional cap amounts sitting in her ATO record, available only through myGov, and that these can be used on top of the $30,000 cap if she is eligible.
- She discovers the unused cap amounts are not indefinite: they roll forward for 5 years and then expire, meaning a missed year can permanently reduce how much she can contribute later.
- She discovers her employer’s Super Guarantee timing may not match her planning, because the quarter ending 30 June can be paid by 28 July, so waiting too long can shift the contribution into the next financial year.
The full cost of doing nothing
For Megan, the combined cost of missing both the eligibility check and the timing window is the loss of one year of extra concessional contributions above $30,000, plus the risk that any unused amount expires after 5 years rather than being used later.
A conservative modelling basis is: she has unused concessional cap available from prior years, the ATO balance test is satisfied at the prior 30 June, and she otherwise would have contributed up to the maximum allowed carry-forward amount before the deadline.
What to do about it
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Check your carry-forward balance in myGov → ATO online → Super → Information → Carry-forward concessional contributions.
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Log in to myGov.
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Open the linked ATO service.
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Find the carry-forward concessional contributions screen and note the unused amount.
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Good: you can see a positive unused cap and your balance was under $500,000 at the prior 30 June.
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Confirm your total super balance and contribution eligibility using the ATO / myGov super information page.
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Compare your displayed total super balance against the $500,000 threshold.
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Check whether the unused amounts shown are still within the 5-year window.
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Verify that the contributions you want to make will be received before year-end.
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Good: your record shows eligibility and the carry-forward amount is still available for this year.
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Set up any salary sacrifice or personal deductible contribution before 30 June using your usual super workflow.
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Confirm the amount with your payroll or fund.
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Make sure the contribution is received by the fund by 30 June if you want it counted this year.
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Keep the notice-of-intent process in mind for personal deductible contributions.
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Good: the contribution lands in the intended financial year and fits within your available cap.
A myth worth clearing up
Myth: “If I didn’t use my extra cap this year, I can just use it whenever I want later.” Fact: Unused concessional cap amounts are only carried forward for 5 years, and eligibility also depends on having a total super balance below $500,000 at the prior 30 June.
Sources
Researched 2026-06-25.
Corrections & disclosure: an AI-assisted, human-reviewed guide. Every figure is dated and sourced above. Spot something out of date or wrong? Tell us and we’ll correct it — corrections are noted here and in the video description.
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