Super Co-Contribution Australia 2026-27: The Free $500 Guide

The short answer

If you earn under $64,293 in 2026-27 and put after-tax money into your super, the government adds 50 cents for every dollar you contribute — up to $500 a year. Earn $49,293 or less, contribute $1,000, and you collect the full $500. There is no application form: the ATO works it out from your tax return and pays it straight into your fund. That is a 50% instant return on your money, which no salary-sacrifice arrangement can match at low incomes.

How the super co-contribution works

The scheme is simple at its core. You make a personal contribution to your super from after-tax income — money you have already paid tax on — and the government matches part of it. Two conditions decide how much free money you get:

• How much you contribute. The government pays 50 cents for every dollar of your eligible personal contribution, up to a maximum payment of $500. So contributing $1,000 is the most you ever need to contribute to unlock the full match.
• How much you earn. If your total income is at or below the lower threshold, you qualify for the full $500. Between the two thresholds, the maximum entitlement shrinks by 3.333 cents for every dollar you earn over the lower threshold. At or above the higher threshold, the entitlement is nil.

The actual payment is the lesser of those two numbers — 50% of what you contributed, capped by your income-based maximum. Once your tax return is lodged and assessed, the ATO pays it automatically into your super account. The payment itself is not taxed, is not declared as income, and stays preserved in super.

One critical rule sits underneath all of this: the contribution must be one you do not claim a tax deduction for. Claim a deduction and the match on that money is gone — it becomes an ordinary concessional contribution instead.

2026-27 thresholds and matching rates

These are the official ATO figures for the year ending 30 June 2027. Watch out: several popular guides still display 2025-26’s $47,488/$62,488 pair under a 2026-27 heading — the table below is current.

Financial year	Maximum co-contribution	Matching rate	Lower income threshold	Higher income threshold
2026-27	$500	50c per $1	$49,293	$64,293
2025-26	$500	50c per $1	$47,488	$62,488

The lower threshold is indexed each year in line with average weekly ordinary time earnings; the higher threshold always sits exactly $15,000 above it. To see the pattern at a glance, here is what the maximum entitlement looks like at different income levels for 2026-27, assuming you contribute at least $1,000:

Your total income	Maximum co-contribution
$49,293 or less	$500 (full match)
$52,293	$400
$55,293	$300
$58,293	$200
$61,293	$100
$64,293 or more	$0 (not eligible)

Handy rule of thumb inside the phase-out zone: you never need to contribute more than twice your maximum entitlement. At $58,293 your entitlement caps at $200, so contributing $400 gets you every dollar of it. If you want to model the exact numbers for your own salary, our super contributions tool runs the 2026-27 figures.

Eligibility checklist: all seven tests

You must pass every one of these for the ATO to pay you:

1. Made a personal after-tax contribution. At least one contribution to a complying super fund during 2026-27, with no tax deduction claimed on it. Salary-sacrifice amounts do not count.
2. Total income below $64,293. “Total income” is wider than taxable income (see the trap section below) — it includes reportable fringe benefits and reportable employer super contributions.
3. The 10% employment test. At least 10% of your total income must come from employment-related activities, running a business, or a combination. This is how self-employed people qualify — and also why a 17-year-old working a part-time job can receive the payment. There is no minimum age; the only age rule is being under 71 at the end of the financial year.
4. Lodged a tax return. No return, no assessment, no payment. The ATO can only calculate your entitlement once your return is processed.
5. TFN with your fund. Your tax file number must be on record with the super fund. A missing TFN is one of the most common reasons payments never arrive.
6. Balance and cap tests. Your total super balance must have been below the general transfer balance cap ($2.1 million for 2026-27) on 30 June 2026, and you must not have exceeded the $130,000 non-concessional contributions cap in 2026-27.
7. Residency. You must not have held a temporary resident visa at any time during the year (New Zealand citizens and certain prescribed-visa holders are excepted).

One payment per person per year — if you contribute to two funds, the ATO aggregates the contributions and pays a single entitlement of up to $500.

Worked examples with real 2026-27 figures

Example 1: Mia earns $40,000 and contributes $1,000

Mia’s total income of $40,000 sits below the $49,293 lower threshold, so her maximum entitlement is the full $500. She contributes $1,000 of after-tax money to her super and claims no deduction. The government matches 50% of her contribution: 50c × $1,000 = $500, which is within her $500 maximum. Result: $1,500 lands in Mia’s super for $1,000 of her own money — a 50% instant, risk-free return.

Example 2: Jack earns $55,000 and contributes $1,000

Jack is inside the phase-out zone. His income exceeds $49,293 by $5,707, so his maximum entitlement is reduced by $5,707 × 3.333c ≈ $190, giving him an entitlement of roughly $310. He contributes $1,000; 50% of that is $500, but his payment is capped at his $310 entitlement. Had he contributed only $620 he would still have collected the full $310 — the rest earns no match. This “twice your entitlement” rule stops you over-contributing for nothing.

Example 3: Sofia earns $62,000 and contributes $1,000

Sofia is near the top of the phase-out zone. Her income exceeds $49,293 by $12,707, so her entitlement is reduced by $12,707 × 3.333c ≈ $424, leaving roughly $76. She contributes $1,000 and receives $76 — a contribution of just $152 would have secured the whole $76. Earn $64,293 or more and the entitlement hits zero.

Co-contribution vs salary sacrifice vs spouse contribution: the $45,000 decision

Suppose you earn $45,000 and have $1,000 to direct toward super. Which move wins in 2026-27? (At $45,000 your marginal income-tax rate is 15%, plus the 2% Medicare levy — 17% all up.)

Strategy	What happens to your $1,000	Government help	Net outcome
After-tax contribution (co-contribution)	$1,000 into your super	$500 match	$1,500 in your super
Salary sacrifice	$1,000 pre-tax into super, taxed 15% inside the fund	$170 tax saving	$850 in super, costing you $830 of take-home — a net gain of about $20
Spouse contribution	$1,000 into your partner’s super (if they earn under $37,000)	18% tax offset = $180 off your tax bill	Partner’s super +$1,000, your tax −$180 — but your super gets nothing

The verdict for a $45,000 earner is not close: the co-contribution turns $1,000 into $1,500, while salary sacrifice nets about $20 once the 15% contributions tax is accounted for. The spouse-contribution offset is a different animal: it rewards you for topping up a low-income partner’s super, with up to $540 available on a $3,000 contribution — and the receiving spouse could also make their own $1,000 personal contribution and collect their own $500 co-contribution.

For the salary-sacrifice mechanics in detail, see our superannuation tax and salary sacrifice guide, and check how the contributions sit against the annual limits in our super contribution caps guide.

The “total income” trap: why some people miss out entirely

This is the single most misunderstood part of the scheme. Your co-contribution eligibility is not tested on your taxable income — it is tested on a wider measure called total income, which includes:

• your assessable income before deductions,
• reportable fringe benefits (a novated lease car benefit, for example), and
• reportable employer super contributions (which includes salary-sacrifice amounts).

Three traps fall out of this definition:

Trap 1: Claiming a deduction does not help. Because assessable income is measured before deductions, claiming a $1,000 tax deduction for your personal contribution does nothing for your co-contribution eligibility — but it does disqualify the contribution from the match. You lose the $500 and gain nothing. If you want the match, do not claim. Our tax deductions checklist explains which contributions you can claim for.

Trap 2: Salary sacrifice can push you over the cliff. Salary-sacrifice contributions count as reportable employer super contributions, so they increase your total income for this test. On a $58,000 salary with no sacrifice, total income is $58,000 and the entitlement is roughly $210. Salary-sacrifice $4,000 and total income becomes $62,000 — the entitlement collapses to about $76. The sacrifice earns no match itself. For co-contribution purposes, salary sacrifice is all cost and no benefit.

Trap 3: Fringe benefits and bonuses. A $5,000 Christmas bonus or a reportable fringe benefit from salary packaging can silently carry total income over $64,293 and wipe the entitlement to zero. If you are anywhere near the higher threshold, estimate your total income — not just your salary — before counting on the payment. You can sanity-check your marginal rate on our income tax tool alongside the 2026-27 tax rates guide.

Can you get the co-contribution AND the LISTO payment?

Yes — and low earners should know these are two separate schemes. The Low Income Superannuation Tax Offset (LISTO) refunds the 15% contributions tax paid on your concessional contributions (like your employer’s super guarantee) if your income is $37,000 or less, up to $500 a year. The co-contribution rewards your after-tax contributions. Meet both sets of rules and you collect both.

Worked example: Alex earns $35,000. His employer’s 12% super guarantee is $4,200, on which the fund pays 15% tax ($630). LISTO refunds $500 of that (the maximum) back into his fund automatically. Alex also contributes $1,000 after tax with no deduction claimed — his income is below $49,293, so he collects the full $500 co-contribution too. Total government money added to Alex’s super: $1,000. (The government has announced the LISTO threshold will rise to $45,000 with an $810 maximum from 1 July 2027 — announced, not yet law, so it does not apply to 2026-27.)

Common mistakes that kill the payment

• Claiming a tax deduction on the same contribution. This is the number-one self-inflicted error.
• No TFN on file with the fund. Check your fund’s app or member portal — a missing TFN is one of the most common reasons payments never arrive.
• Assuming salary sacrifice counts. It does not, and it inflates your total income as well.
• Using taxable income instead of total income — then discovering a fringe benefit or bonus pushed you over $64,293.
• Contributing after 30 June. The fund must receive the money by 30 June 2027. A BPAY made on 30 June that lands in July can miss the cut-off — contribute a week early.
• Expecting the money in your bank account. The payment goes into your super and stays preserved. It is retirement money, not a refund.
• Not lodging a tax return. The ATO cannot assess an entitlement it never sees.
• Ignoring the $130,000 non-concessional cap. The $500 government payment doesn’t count toward it — but your $1,000 does, and for big contributors it can trigger the bring-forward rule.
• Changing funds without updating details. If the fund that reported your contributions can no longer accept the payment, the ATO will contact you for an alternative fund’s details — respond, or the money sits in limbo.

Tips to get the full $500

• Check your TFN is with your fund now, not after 30 June. It takes two minutes in most fund apps.
• In the phase-out zone, contribute exactly twice your entitlement. At $55,000 that is about $620; at $60,000 (entitlement ≈ $143) it is about $286. Any more earns no extra match.
• Keep the contribution and the deduction decision separate. Decide in advance: this $1,000 is for the co-contribution, so no deduction gets claimed on it.
• Time it before mid-June to dodge EOFY processing delays.
• Estimate total income first if you have fringe benefits or bonuses — a rough calc now beats a surprise “not eligible” later.
• Couples: double-dip legally. Each partner can earn their own $500 on their own contributions. A household where both partners earn under $49,293 and each contributes $1,000 collects $1,000 of government money.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to apply for the co-contribution?

No. There is no form and no application. Make an eligible after-tax contribution, lodge your tax return, and the ATO calculates and pays your entitlement automatically — provided your fund holds your TFN.

When will the payment actually arrive?

After your tax return for the year is assessed. In practice most payments land between November and January of the following financial year. If the ATO takes more than 60 days from receiving all the required information, it must add interest to your payment to compensate for the delay.

I earn $63,000 — is it even worth bothering?

Probably yes, because the contribution needed is tiny. At $63,000 your entitlement is roughly $43 (income exceeds $49,293 by $13,707; $13,707 × 3.333c ≈ $457 reduction). Contribute about $87 after tax and you collect the full $43 — still close to a 50% return.

Can salary sacrifice and the co-contribution be combined?

Technically yes — nothing stops you doing both in the same year — but salary sacrifice never earns the match and it increases your total income, which can shrink the match you get on your after-tax contributions. Run the numbers before combining them.

I’m 70. Am I too old?

Not necessarily. The rule is that you must be under 71 at the end of the financial year (30 June 2027). Turn 71 during the year and you still qualify for that year.

What if I didn’t receive a payment I think I’m owed?

First re-check every eligibility test — total income definition, the 10% employment test, the deduction rule, and your TFN. If everything holds, phone the ATO on 13 10 20 or write to request a review of the decision. Keep records of your contribution receipts and your tax return.

The bottom line

The super co-contribution is the closest thing Australian tax law offers to free money: a 50% instant return for putting $1,000 of after-tax savings into your super. The 2026-27 thresholds are $49,293 for the full $500 and $64,293 as the cut-off, the payment is automatic, and the most common ways people miss out — claiming a deduction, a missing TFN, or salary sacrifice inflating their total income — are all avoidable. Contribute before 30 June 2027, lodge your return, and let the ATO do the rest.

General information only — not personal financial advice. Figures are the ATO’s 2026-27 rates and thresholds; confirm your situation with the ATO or a registered tax agent. ATO references: the super co-contribution page and the government contributions thresholds table.