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Commonwealth act
This Act creates and fixes the tax on "excess non‑concessional contributions" to superannuation. Those terms are defined by cross‑reference to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (s3). The tax is the amount imposed under section 292‑80 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (s4).
The basic tax rate in this Act is 47% of a person’s excess non‑concessional contributions for a financial year (s5). "Financial year" is defined by reference to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (s3).
For the years designated as "temporary budget repair levy years," the Act increases that percentage by 2 percentage points (s6(1)–(2)). The increase is subject to a limit: the increase must not cause the sum of (a) income tax and (b) the excess non‑concessional contributions tax payable on a person’s excess concessional contributions for that temporary year to exceed 95% of those excess concessional contributions (s6(3)). The terms "excess concessional contributions," "income tax," and "temporary budget repair levy year" are defined by reference to other taxation laws (s6(4)).
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Direct links to the current provisions in Superannuation (Excess Non-concessional Contributions Tax) Act 2007.
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View on official registerSourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Who pays: the person whose contributions exceed the non‑concessional cap (s4–s5). The payer must calculate the excess per financial year using the definitions and rules in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (s3, s4).
How much: a fixed percentage of the excess — 47% normally, 49% in temporary budget repair levy years unless limited by the 95% cap described in s6(3) (s5, s6(2)–(3)).
Administrative reliance and discretionary scope: the Act is mechanically prescriptive (fixed percentage) but depends on other laws for key definitions and the detailed calculation of "excess" and the operation of the cross‑crediting or interaction with income tax (s3, s4, s6(4)). That means accurate application requires reference to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and the Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997.
Incentives and private‑sector effects: by taxing excess non‑concessional contributions at a high percentage, the Act raises the private cost of making contributions above the legal caps (s5). This changes individual financial choices about how much to contribute to superannuation and when. The temporary 2 percentage point increase raises that marginal cost further in specified years (s6(2)). The 95% cap on the increase (s6(3)) creates an interaction between tax on concessional and non‑concessional excesses that can affect tax outcomes and planning decisions.
Compliance burden and implementation risk: taxpayers must use cross‑referenced definitions and compute excess contributions by financial year (s3). The Australian Taxation Office (or other administering agency) will need to apply the percentage, enforce payment, and manage the interaction with income tax in temporary levy years (s4–s6). Reliance on external definitions and a cross‑tax cap (s6(3)–(4)) increases the administrative complexity of calculation and compliance.
Cost to affected persons is immediate and explicit: a large fraction of any contribution that exceeds the non‑concessional cap is taken as tax (47% or higher in levy years) rather than remaining in the superannuation fund (s5, s6(2)).
The Act’s temporary increase clause (s6) is time‑limited to legislatively defined "temporary budget repair levy years" and subject to an arithmetic cap that limits the combined tax exposure relative to excess concessional contributions (s6(1)–(4)).
There is no discretionary relief or exemption in the text of this Act itself; the outcome for any person depends on the definitions and calculation rules in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and related transitional provisions (s3, s6(4)).