A senior sector stakeholder has confirmed if an SMSF member fails the work test requirement it will not invalidate their notice of intent to claim a tax deduction for a personal contribution and emphasised this fact should not be confused with other eligibility conditions for this type of activity.
“What’s the eligibility criteria for claiming a deduction for a personal contribution? Contributions can be made to a complying fund, it can’t be a downsizer contribution, it can’t be a recontribution, [or pertaining to] the first home super saver scheme, or [related] to COVID relief, and there has to be a valid notice of intent to claim [a deduction],” Heffron SMSF technical and education services director Leigh Mansell told delegates at the SMSF Association Technical Summit 2026 in Sydney today.
“[But] validity of a notice of intent to claim [a deduction for a personal contribution] is a separate issue and there [are many] criteria you have to meet to be eligible to claim a deduction. One of the [elements] is age-based rules for people who are under 67 and it’s a completely different [legislative] section to validity of notices.”
Mansell stressed clients cannot use this as a reason to no longer claim a deduction for the contribution when it has been decided they are ineligible to do so.
“If [the client] was to say to you: ‘My notice [of intent] is invalid because I didn’t meet [the work test,’] that is not how it works. [They will] still have a valid notice, it’s just that [they] don’t meet the age-based rules so [they are] not eligible to claim a deduction for [the] personal contribution,” she said.
“[Not satisfying the work test] does not invalidate [they’ve] got a notice [of intent] and it is valid.
“One does not wipe the other one out. It does not work that way.”
Darin Tyson-Chan
Editor
Darin is the founder and publisher of Benchmark Media, an independent publishing house whose mastheads include financialobserver, selfmanagedsuper and smstrusteenews. He has been covering the financial services space for over a decade and in this time he has worked for a variety of trade publications. Darin has also written for the Money section published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Articles by Darin