Super Spouse Contributions 2026-27: Splitting, the $540 Offset & How Both Work Together
The short answer: you can do both at once. Split up to 85% of your concessional contributions into your partner’s super in the year after they’re made, and make a separate after-tax contribution to your spouse’s account to claim up to a $540 tax offset — provided your spouse earns $40,000 or less. They’re separate mechanisms with separate rules, and almost every guide online explains them in isolation without showing what a combined strategy looks like in real dollars. This one does.
Run your own numbers through our super calculator as you read — contribution caps, balances and tax offsets all interact, and it’s worth seeing the effect on your specific salary.
Two strategies, one household: what’s the difference?
People mix these up constantly, so let’s be blunt:
- The spouse tax offset: you pay an after-tax (non-concessional) contribution into your spouse’s super — up to $3,000 — and the ATO gives you a tax offset of up to $540. It’s an actual tax saving on your return.
- Contribution splitting: you transfer up to 85% of your own concessional contributions (employer SG, salary sacrifice, deductible personal contributions) to your spouse’s account. There’s no tax saving in the year you apply — it’s a rollover, not a contribution. The benefit is strategic: balancing super between two partners over time.
They use different money, count against different caps, and get claimed in different tax years. Keep that separation in your head and the rest follows.
The $540 spouse offset: official rules for 2026-27
The rules are set by the ATO and haven’t changed for 2026-27. Here’s the official picture:
| Rule | 2026-27 detail |
|---|---|
| Maximum offset | $540 per year |
| Qualifying contribution | Up to $3,000 after-tax contribution to spouse’s complying fund or RSA |
| Spouse income — full offset | $37,000 or less (assessable income + reportable fringe benefits + reportable super) |
| Spouse income — partial offset | $37,000 to $40,000 (phases out dollar-for-dollar) |
| Spouse income — no offset | $40,000 or more |
| Receiving spouse’s age | Under 75 at the time of contribution |
| Receiving spouse’s balance | Total super balance below the $2.1 million general transfer balance cap (30 June of prior year) |
| Who claims it | The contributing spouse, in their own tax return |
The formula the ATO applies: 18% of the lesser of ($3,000 minus $1 for every $1 your spouse earns over $37,000) and the total contributions you paid. Stating it as a formula is why most guides are useless — here’s what it means in real dollars:
| Spouse’s income | $3,000 contribution → offset | $2,000 contribution → offset |
|---|---|---|
| $37,000 or less | $540 | $360 |
| $37,500 | $450 | $360 |
| $38,500 | $270 | $270 |
| $39,000 | $180 | $180 |
| $39,500 | $90 | $90 |
| $40,000+ | $0 | $0 |
Notice the “lesser of” interaction most articles skip: at $38,500, a $3,000 contribution only qualifies $1,500 (because $1,500 of the $3,000 is eaten by the taper), so contributing the full $3,000 gets you the same $270 as a $2,000 contribution. Know where the taper bites before you write the cheque.
One more thing that trips people up: the $3,000 counts against the receiving spouse’s non-concessional cap — $130,000 for 2026-27 — not yours. And if your spouse’s non-concessional contributions have already hit the cap, or their total super balance is at or above $2.1 million, the contribution isn’t eligible for the offset at all. Brush up on the caps in our super contribution caps guide before you plan around it.
Contribution splitting: official rules for 2026-27
| Rule | 2026-27 detail |
|---|---|
| Maximum you can split | 85% of a financial year’s taxed splittable contributions (or the lesser of 85% / the concessional cap) |
| What can be split | Concessional contributions: employer SG, salary sacrifice, personal contributions you claim as a deduction |
| What can’t be split | After-tax/non-concessional contributions, spouse contributions, downsizer, co-contributions, LISTO, FHSS amounts, rollovers |
| When to apply | In the financial year after the contribution year — one application per fund per year |
| Eligible spouse | Husband, wife, or de facto partner (any gender); not other family members |
| Receiving spouse’s age status | Below preservation age, or 60–65 and not retired; splitting to a 65+ or retired spouse is invalid |
| Whose cap it counts against | Yours (the splitter’s concessional cap) — it’s a rollover, not a new contribution |
| SMSFs | Allowed if the fund offers it — check the deed and pass a trustee resolution |
The line everyone needs to read twice: a split does not use any of your spouse’s contribution caps. Each of you keeps your own concessional cap — nothing is combined. Your spouse’s cap isn’t touched by what you split to them.
The combined game plan: a worked example in real dollars
This is the scenario no competitor runs. Meet Daniel and Priya:
- Daniel earns $200,000 a year. His employer pays 12% SG on his salary: $24,000. He salary sacrifices another $6,000, taking his 2025-26 concessional contributions to $30,000 (check how that works with our salary sacrifice guide).
- Priya works part-time and earns $38,500. Her super balance is modest.
Move 1 — the split (applying in 2026-27 for 2025-26 contributions). Daniel applies to split 85% of his 2025-26 concessional contributions: 85% × $30,000 = $25,500 rolls into Priya’s super as a contributions-splitting super benefit. Immediate tax saving for Daniel this year: zero — it’s a rollover, not a deduction or offset. The long-term payoff: $25,500 moves from Daniel’s balance (which is drifting toward the $3 million Division 296 territory) into Priya’s, where it has room to grow. Read our Division 296 guide for why that matters from 2026-27.
Move 2 — the offset (2026-27 year). Separately, Daniel makes a $3,000 after-tax contribution to Priya’s super. Her income is $38,500, so: $3,000 − ($38,500 − $37,000) = $1,500 qualifying; offset = 18% × $1,500 = $270. Daniel claims that $270 in his 2026-27 tax return. Priya’s non-concessional cap still has plenty of room, and her total super balance is well under $2.1 million, so eligibility is clean.
The combined result: $25,500 shifted toward balance equalisation + a real $270 tax saving on the offset + nothing extra used of Priya’s caps (the split counts against Daniel’s concessional cap, and the $3,000 sits inside her $130,000 non-concessional cap). One couple, two mechanisms, one tax year — and yes, doing both is entirely allowed, because the split isn’t a “contribution” for offset purposes and the offset contribution isn’t splittable. The ATO confirms this in one buried line that nobody expands on: you can’t claim the offset for contributions you split, because a split is a rollover. Daniel didn’t split his $3,000 — he split his concessional contributions and made a separate after-tax spouse contribution. Different money, no conflict.
Step-by-step: doing it without tripping over
The order matters more than the amounts:
- Work out your concessional position first. Confirm how much of the $32,500 cap (2026-27) you’ve used, including unused cap you might be carrying forward — see our carry-forward guide.
- Lodge your notice of intent to claim a deduction before applying to split. If you made deductible personal contributions and want them included in the split, the deduction notice must be accepted by the fund first. Splitting first and noticing later breaks the chain.
- Split before you change funds. This is the trap Passive Investing Australia flags and almost nobody else does: if you leave a super fund mid-year, you generally lose the ability to split that year’s contributions from that fund. Apply the split first, then roll over.
- Apply in the year after the contribution year. You can only split a given year’s contributions during the following financial year, once per fund per year. The only exception: if the entire benefit is being withdrawn, rolled over or cashed in that same year.
- Make the spouse contribution (offset move) in the income year you want to claim it. Daniel’s $270 offset belongs to 2026-27 because the $3,000 landed in 2026-27.
- Check the receiving spouse’s side: under 75, balance under $2.1 million, non-concessional cap not exceeded.
- SMSF? Confirm the trust deed permits splitting and record a trustee resolution before lodging the ATO splitting application.
Common mistakes (the expensive ones)
- Expecting the $540 offset on split contributions. A split is a rollover, not a contribution — no offset attaches to it, ever.
- Assuming you share one concessional cap. You don’t. The InvestSMART reader who asked “is he limited to $25,000 between us?” got it wrong in a very human way — each person keeps their own $32,500 cap.
- Forgetting the notice of intent. Deductible personal contributions can’t be split until the fund accepts your deduction notice. Miss it, and the contributions sit in the wrong category.
- Leaving a fund before splitting. The fund-change trap costs people a whole year’s splitting rights. Apply first, then move.
- Assuming splitting fixes Division 293. It doesn’t — Division 293 liability stays with the original contributor, regardless of where the money rolls. Nobody’s guide mentions this; it’s exactly what high-income splitters assume wrongly.
- Thinking the split gets early access. Split amounts keep their preservation status — they land in the receiving spouse’s account as preserved money. You can’t split to get your hands on it sooner.
- Splitting to a 65+ or retired spouse. The application is invalid. Check the age/status test before lodging.
Tips worth knowing
- Time the split early in the financial year rather than leaving it to June — forms, ID verification and trustee processes can drag, and a real Whirlpool thread shows AustralianSuper members fighting annual identity-verification failures on the splitting form.
- Combine with the government co-contribution if your spouse is a low-income earner — a separate $500 boost that stacks alongside both strategies. See our co-contribution guide.
- Think in balances, not just years. The real payoff of splitting is equalising two balances before retirement — two people near the $2.1 million transfer balance cap each can hold far more in tax-free pension phase than one person at $3 million-plus (where Division 296’s extra earnings tax kicks in from 2026-27).
- A younger-spouse angle: parking contributions with the younger partner can delay when super counts toward Age Pension means-testing — worth modelling with advice, not guessing.
- Keep the paperwork. Splitting applications, deduction notices and trustee resolutions should live in one folder; the ATO and your fund can ask about all of them years later.
FAQ: the questions people actually ask
Can my spouse and I share one concessional cap between us?
No. Each of you has your own $32,500 concessional cap for 2026-27. A split from your account to your spouse’s doesn’t use a cent of their cap — it’s treated as a rollover, and it stays counted against yours. This is the single most-asked question on the topic, and the answer is reassuringly simple.
Can I get the $540 offset AND split my contributions in the same year?
Yes. They’re different mechanisms using different money. You split up to 85% of your concessional contributions (a rollover — no offset), and separately make an after-tax spouse contribution of up to $3,000 to claim the offset. What you can’t do is claim the offset on the split itself.
When exactly do I apply for a split — and what if I change super funds?
Apply in the financial year after the contribution year — one application per fund per year. If you’re leaving a fund, apply the split before you roll over; leaving first generally forfeits that year’s splitting from that fund. Also lodge any deduction notice before the split application.
What happens to split amounts if we separate or divorce?
Already-split amounts are your spouse’s preserved super — they stay in your spouse’s account and enter the property pool like any other super. A family-law payment split is a completely separate court-order process; it doesn’t reverse or interact with voluntary contribution splitting.
Will splitting help me avoid Division 293 tax?
No. Division 293 liability stays with the original contributor even after the split. Splitting helps with Division 296 exposure (the $3 million earnings tax from 2026-27) and transfer-balance-cap equalisation, not Division 293.
My spouse earns just over $40,000. Is there any offset at all?
No — the offset cuts out entirely at $40,000 of spouse income. But the splitting strategy doesn’t care about your spouse’s income at all: you can split to a spouse earning $200,000 if the age and status tests are met. The two strategies have completely different income tests.
The bottom line
Spouse contributions and contribution splitting are the two legitimate ways to grow a partner’s super while cutting your own tax — but they solve different problems. The offset is a small, immediate tax saving ($540 max) for couples where one partner earns $40,000 or less. Splitting is a long-term balance play with no immediate tax saving, built for equalising two balances ahead of retirement, the transfer balance cap, and Division 296. Run both in the same year, in the right order — notice of intent first, split before changing funds, spouse contribution in the claim year — and avoid the traps nobody warns you about: no offset on splits, no shared caps, Division 293 stays put, and split money is preserved in your spouse’s name. The ATO’s pages confirm every figure here; check the spouse contributions page and contributions splitting form page before you act.
