A senior industry executive has predicted the superannuation contribution thresholds will have the indexation measure applied to them once more on 1 July 2026.
“So the concessional contribution cap is expected to index to $32,500, which means the non-concessional cap will index to $130,000,” BT head of financial literacy and advocacy Bryan Ashenden forecast during a BT Academy webinar held yesterday.
“Those [figures] are based on movement in AWOTE (average weekly ordinary time earnings) and the most recent movements that were published. [These figures] have already put us above the threshold we need to get to for those caps to index.
“Technically we actually have to wait for the figures to be released, they come out in early February, around AWOTE to get the official confirmation because it is based on a particular quarter, but again for them to not index you’d actually have to see wage growth go backwards, which we think is highly unlikely.
“So while we say it’s not guaranteed yet, it is pretty much expected that we will see the indexation of those caps from 1 July 2026.”
According to Ashenden, it is unlikely the general transfer balance cap and total super balance thresholds will be indexed at the commencement of the 2027 financial year, but there is more chance this action will occur on 1 July 2027.
“They’re based on [the] CPI (consumer price index) [and the] CPI has been running higher than what people thought it would be,” he noted.
“There is a remote possibility, I stress it’s remote, that when we get the CPI figures released, and they come out towards the end of January next year, there is a very remote possibility that they could be high enough to cause an indexation to the general transfer balance cap and total super balance thresholds from 1 July next year.
“But we would still say it’s highly unlikely that’s going to occur. It’s probably [going to happen] 12 months down the track.”
