OpenTaxCalculator

Superannuation Calculator Australia

Employers must pay 12% of your ordinary time earnings into super. This projection adds your contributions after the 15% contributions tax, investment returns and fees, year by year.

Updated 2026-10-03 · ATO and official government rates

Assumptions
Projected super at 67$1,887,782About $856,620 in today's dollars · 12% super guarantee · not financial advice
$0$495,543$991,085$1,486,628$1,982,171355167
  • Balance

Your result is ready

Related

How much super will I have? A worked projection

A 30-year-old earning $75,000 with $40,000 in super could reach about $2,018,894 at 67 on the super guarantee alone. That is about $809,712 in today's dollars. The rate assumptions are the calculator's starting values: 7% returns after investment tax, 0.8% fees plus $100 a year, 3.5% salary growth and 2.5% inflation. Contributions are taxed at 15% on the way in.

The table changes one input at a time. Small, early changes add up over 37 years. A lower fee or a modest extra contribution makes more difference than most people expect, and retiring 3 years earlier costs both contributions and compounding.

Scenario (age 30 today)Balance at retirementIn today's dollars
Super guarantee only, retire at 67$2,018,894$809,712
Plus $2,500 a year salary sacrifice$2,310,773$926,775
Fees of 0.5% instead of 0.8%$2,162,901$867,468
Retire at 64 instead of 67$1,615,858$697,898

How much do I need to retire?

No single number fits everyone. Moneysmart, ASIC's consumer site, offers three starting points. The first is a rule of thumb of about 70% of your pre-retirement income. The second is the ASFA Retirement Standard budgets for a modest or comfortable lifestyle. The third is Super Consumers Australia's retirement savings targets. All three assume you own your home, and renters need more.

On the 70% rule, someone earning $90,000 before retiring would aim for about $63,000 a year from all sources. Super is only one of those sources. The Age Pension (payable from age 67, subject to income and assets tests, according to Services Australia), other savings and any part-time work all count. That is why the Moneysmart retirement planner models them together.

How long will my super last?

How long super lasts depends on how much you draw each year compared with what the balance keeps earning. The table assumes withdrawals at the start of each year that keep pace with inflation, and a 3% return above inflation after fees. It ignores the Age Pension, which in practice tops up many retirees as their balance falls.

Balance at 67Withdraw (today’s dollars)Lasts about
$400,000$30,000 a year17 years
$600,000$40,000 a year20 years
$600,000$50,000 a year15 years
$900,000$55,000 a year22 years

When you can access super: preservation age and conditions of release

Preservation age is 60 for everyone born after 30 June 1964, so it is now 60 for all current workers. Moneysmart explains that you can withdraw from 60 if you retire or leave a job, and from 65 whether you are working or not. Between 60 and 65 you can also open a transition to retirement income stream while still working.

Withdrawals from a taxed fund after meeting a condition of release from age 60 are usually tax-free. Moneysmart notes that investment earnings are taxed at 15% while money stays in super but 0% in an account-based pension. The amount you can move into retirement-phase pensions is limited by the $2,100,000 transfer balance cap in 2026–27.

Payday super from 1 July 2026

Since 1 July 2026 employers must pay super at the same time as wages instead of quarterly. Moneysmart says contributions should reach your fund within 7 business days of payday. The 12% rate did not change. It now applies to "qualifying earnings", which match ordinary time earnings but also include all commissions. The maximum contribution base is now annual: $270,830 of earnings in 2026–27, so the most super guarantee an employer must pay is $32,500.

For a projection, payday super means contributions start earning a little sooner than under quarterly payments. To check them, compare your payslip with your fund app after each pay. If payments go missing, ask your employer, then report unpaid super to the ATO.

Ways to grow your super before retirement

Each of these extra contribution types has its own 2026–27 limit, held in this site's data from the ATO's key super rates tables.

  • Salary sacrifice or deductible personal contributions, within the $32,500 concessional cap (plus unused carry-forward amounts if your balance is under $500,000).
  • After-tax (non-concessional) contributions up to $130,000 a year. These attract the government co-contribution of up to $500 if total income is under $64,293.
  • The low income super tax offset refunds up to $500 of contributions tax for incomes of $37,000 or less.
  • Consolidating duplicate accounts avoids paying 2 sets of fees and insurance premiums. Check myGov (linked to the ATO) for lost or duplicate super.

Frequently asked questions

What is the super guarantee rate?

12% of ordinary time earnings from 1 July 2025, up to the maximum super contribution base ($270,830 of earnings a year in 2026–27).

How much super should I have at 40?

There is no official target by age. Use the calculator to see if your current balance and contributions reach the income you want at 67, and compare it with Moneysmart's 70%-of-income rule of thumb or the ASFA Retirement Standard.

Is the super calculator result in today’s dollars?

It shows both. The large figure is the future dollar balance; the line underneath deflates it by the inflation assumption so you can compare it with today's prices.

What age can I get my super and the Age Pension?

Super from 60 if you retire or leave a job, or 65 regardless. The Age Pension from 67, subject to residence rules and income and assets tests.

What returns should I assume?

Use a long-term, after-fee figure that matches your investment option, and test a lower one. Past returns are not a guide to the future. The calculator lets you change returns, fees and inflation separately.

Sources

Figures are taken from official government publications and were last reviewed on 2026-10-03.

  1. ATO: Tax rates – Australian resident (Resident tax rates 2026–27 and 2025–26)
  2. ATO: Tax rates – foreign resident (Foreign resident tax rates 2025–26)
  3. ATO: Tax rates – working holiday makers (Working holiday maker tax rates 2025–26)
  4. ATO: Medicare levy reduction for low-income earners (Table: Medicare levy thresholds for a single individual, 2025–26)
  5. ATO: Medicare levy reduction – family income (family taxable income thresholds 2025–26, +$4,338 per dependent child)
  6. ATO: Medicare levy surcharge income, thresholds and rates (MLS income thresholds and rates for 2026–27 and 2025–26)
  7. ATO: Low income tax offset ($700 max; −5c per $1 over $37,500; −1.5c per $1 over $45,000; nil from $66,667)
  8. ATO: Seniors and pensioners tax offset (SAPTO rates and rebate income thresholds for 2025–26; 12.5c per $1 reduction)
  9. ATO: Study and training loan repayment thresholds and rates (Table 1: 2026–27, Table 2: 2025–26)
  10. ATO: Schedule 1 (NAT 1004) – Using a formula (x = whole dollars + 99c; round to nearest dollar, 50c up)
  11. ATO: Personal income tax – new tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer (2026–27 SAPTO thresholds)
  12. ATO: Schedule 15 – Tax table for working holiday makers (Table A: rates for 2026–27, payments from 1 July 2026)
  13. ATO: Schedule 1 – Statement of formulas for calculating amounts to be withheld (NAT 1004), payments from 1 July 2026 – weekly coefficients
  14. ATO: Schedule 1 (NAT 1004) – Withholding amounts sample data, weekly (from 1 July 2026)
  15. ATO: Schedule 8 – Statement of formulas for calculating study and training support loans components (NAT 3539), payments from 1 July 2026
  16. ATO: Key super rates and thresholds – Contributions caps (Table 1.1 concessional, Table 4 non-concessional)
  17. ATO: Understanding concessional and non-concessional contributions (concessional contributions taxed in the fund at 15%)
  18. ATO: Key super rates and thresholds – Division 293 tax (Table 7: $250,000 threshold, 15% rate)
  19. ATO: Key super rates and thresholds – Super guarantee (Table 21 SG %, Tables 23–24 maximum contribution base)
  20. ATO: Key super rates and thresholds – Government contributions (Table 25 co-contribution thresholds; LISTO)
  21. ATO: Low income super tax offset (15% of concessional contributions, max $500, income $37,000 or less)
  22. ATO: Key super rates and thresholds – Transfer balance cap (Table 26)
  23. ATO: Key super rates and thresholds – Payments from super (Table 12 preservation age)
  24. ATO: Key super rates and thresholds – Employment termination payments (Table 17 ETP cap, Table 20 genuine redundancy limits)
  25. ATO: How ETP components are taxed (17%/32% incl. Medicare; $180,000 whole-of-income cap; 45% + 2% above cap)
  26. ATO: How GST works (10% rate)
  27. ATO: Registering for GST ($75,000 / $150,000 non-profit; taxi or limousine travel incl. ride-sourcing regardless of turnover)
  28. ATO: CGT discount (50% individuals and trusts, 33.33% complying super funds, 12-month ownership)
  29. ATO: Tax reform – Reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax (applies from 1 July 2027)
  30. ATO: Changes to company tax rates (25% base rate entity, $50m aggregated turnover, 2021–22 and future years)
  31. ATO: Company tax rates 2025–26
  32. ATO: Instant asset write-off for eligible businesses (Table 1: $20,000, turnover under $10 million)
  33. ATO Small business newsroom: $20,000 instant asset write-off here to stay (permanent from 1 July 2026)
  34. ATO: Small business income tax offset (16%, max $1,000, turnover under $5 million, 2021–22 onwards)
  35. Fair Work Ombudsman: Minimum wage increase starts today (1 July 2025 – $948.00/week, $24.95/hour, casual $31.19)
  36. Fair Work Ombudsman: Minimum wage increase starts today (1 July 2026 – $1,004.90/week, $26.44/hour, casual $33.05)
  37. Fair Work Commission: Annual Wage Review 2026 ([2026] FWCFB 3500, announced 2 June 2026)
  38. Moneysmart (ASIC): Work out how much you need to retire
  39. Moneysmart (ASIC): Getting your super (access from 60 and 65)
  40. Services Australia: Who can get Age Pension (Age Pension age 67)
  41. Moneysmart (ASIC): What is Payday Super
  42. ATO: What payments are qualifying earnings (Payday Super, from 1 July 2026)