How do I transfer super into my spouse's super fund?

To help boost your spouse’s super, you may be able to share or ‘split’ super contributions with them. This is called ‘contributions splitting’. You can ask your super fund to transfer up to 85% of a financial year’s ‘taxed splittable contributions’ to your spouse. These are generally:

• any contributions your employer made for you, including any salary sacrifice contributions

• any personal contributions you made that you’ve advised your super fund you’ll claim as a tax deduction.

You can apply to split your contributions this opens in a new window  at any age, but your spouse must be either:

• less than the preservation age that applies to them

• aged between the preservation age and 65 years, and not retired.

It's a good idea to talk to your super fund first.  They’ll let you know if they offer contribution splitting, any costs involved, and what forms to complete.  They’ll step you through the process, and tell you what funds you have available to split with your spouse.  Keep in mind that both you and your spouse will need to be members of the same super fund.

There are many financial considerations to think about here.  In some cases you might be better off claiming the spouse contributions tax offset this opens in a new window  or even claiming a personal super contributions this opens in a new window  deduction and then splitting those contributions.  Your fund, a registered tax professional or financial adviser will be able to tell you what’s best in your situation.