Taxable Income - Notice of Assessment - Extra Super Payments

Hi folks,

In trying to get on the Government deposit guarantee scheme, our income needs to be below $200k.

It's currently at about $215k.

Looking to find out if anyone has previously paid extra super to reduce their taxable income on their notice of assessment.

From reading the ATO website, extra super payments are a deduction from your taxable income. The after-deduction amount goes on the notice of assessment.

I plan to go to an advisor, but I am curious to know if anyone has done this.

Cheers.

Comments

  • +2

    Are you talking about the scheme that protects your bank deposits up to $250K?

    If so, this is the first I've heard about the income threshold.

  • +2
    1. Super is deductible when paid (assuming deductible at all, has to be under your caps, right paperwork etc)
    2. Straight out tax deduction like everything else deducted in your tax return (stapler, charity donation)
    3. If you're looking at an ATO Notice of Assessment it's for a prior year/time in the past, you're not going to be able to reduce that amount by making super contributions now.
    4. Tell me about your podcast please (this is not a tax comment, I'm just interested)
  • +2

    Appreciate your input.

    Yes, we want to make a contribution now to apply after July 2023.

    The podcast was about tips and advice for Introverts on managing their energy. I did about 12 episodes. I do training/speaking part-time, so it was to build out the ideas and content. Ultimately I think I'm more interested in helping people navigate interpersonal relationships and influencing. Introverts probably find these things harder than extroverts, but we can all benefit from improving those skills.

    My wife, who was a co-host, named the podcast as she calls me a lone wolf when I hide in my study!

    • +1

      Thanks for the explanation. Followups

      [1. Timing is everything, June 2023 is last month of 2022/2023 year - money going in NOW will not have an effect on the 2023/2024 year (which is about to begin in July 2023) - but maybe you want baked 2023 numbers to RELY on when you do 2024 stuff?
      [B. There's tricksy stuff about govt programs and your taxable income shifting because of things like super deductions - have this out with the adviser - it's possible you'll have the 'right' taxable income, but when they do the test to see if you are eligible they add the super back and you're screwed.
      [Thirdly. post links to podcast, my s/o is a introvert werewolf (normal person, but was bitten by introvert wolf) and small talk gets really awkward during full moons

  • +2

    Not sure what the government "deposit guarantee scheme" is alluding to.

    Super does reduce your taxable income but not to bring you below the income threshold for certain triggers. i.e. its the same as the private health insurance income test, you can't dump money into super to bring yourself below the threshold unfortunately.

    • Yeah, on top of this - i think the cap for total contributions before the 15% flat super tax rate benefit drops is ~25k? If you're on $215k, you're already compulsorily adding ~$22.5k, you can only really sacrifice another $2.5k of pre-tax income to really get the benefit.

      Not an expert though.

      • +1

        Yes the concessional super contribution cap is $27.5k which counts employer contributions. If OP is getting ~$22.5k in super from their employer they can put in a max of ~$5k of their after tax income, then they need to file a Notice of Intent form when doing their tax return to let the ATO know to reduce their taxable income.

        I forgot to mention, the OP can contribute more than $27.5k if they use the carry forward rule from previous years, up to five years. So they could actually contribute more than ~$5k but as Drakesy said it might not work for what the OP wants to achieve.

      • +1

        He said 'our' income so maybe this is combined income with a partner.

        Will be easy to get below $200k via super contributions in that case.

        • Yes this is for 2 of us. She has $10k super contributed, I have about $17k, so we should have the room.

  • Best log into the ATO website also to see what super contributions and allowances you have left. If you contribute too much super, you'll find that you're suddenly in a situation where you have to pay high tax, possibly higher than your income tax.

    I had previously dumped a large amount to reduce my taxable income, and just about exhausted all my allowances for previous years in addition to the current year.

    • oh we can see this infor inside ato website? where about / which section? thanks
      i have been salary sacrificing for a year (get the HR to deduct from my salary before tax every month)

      • +2

        Login to your ATO account, select Super, and then select 'Concessional contributions'.

        There you'll see your contribution amounts/caps for the past 5 years.

        Once you exhaust your current year's contribution/cap, then any additional contribution starts being applied to available amounts for earlier years. However (!) if you want to, which you should, have the additional amounts applied to the oldest year, I believe you'll need to fill in a form to nominate the payment be made against that year, as opposed to (say) last year.

        This way you exhaust the oldest contribution cap.

        Hope that makes sense.

        • It automatically does it for you. No need to submit any forms

        • thanks. log in now…
          ah my cap is $27k and looks like last year (the whole year) my concessional contrib is just around half of it.
          so most people here are maximaxing their caps?

  • +1

    Any concessional contributions you make before 30 June 2023 will be a deduction and therefore lower your FY22/23 taxable income.

    As mentioned upthread, you can check your mygov account to see if you're eligible for carry forward contributions, stretching back from even the last 5 FYs which may increase your concessional cap and allow you to deduct your income further. I did this last FY and my taxable income dropped by 70k (I was catching up on 4 years of concessional payments).

    Any contribution has to be received by your fund before 30 June. Afterwards, submit a notice of intent to claim and they will respond in writing. This letter is what you need to claim the deduction when you completing your tax return.

    The issue you need to check is if the calculation used for the deposit guarantee scheme allows concessional super contributions and doesn’t add it back later (as the ATO does for Div 23 and a range of other taxes).

    • Thank you for the advice. It confirms what I thought. I'll speak to an advisor about the calculation they use.

      It appears you give your notice of assessment to a lender, that's all! So there is hope!

      The website says:

      Notice of Assessment (NOA)
      The HGS includes an income test, which is assessed by lenders using a Notice of Assessment (NOA).

      Once your tax return has been processed, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) sends a statement called the Notice of Assessment to your myGov Inbox.

      For HGS reservations made from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, the relevant Notice of Assessment is the 2021-2022 financial year. NHFIC advises applicants to speak to their Participating Lender to understand the risk of signing a Contract of Sale prior to obtaining the latest Notice of Assessment.

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