Super tips at tax time

For GESB Super and West State Super members

It’s that time of the year when you start getting your finances in order and submit your tax return. It’s also a good opportunity to take a look at your super and make sure it’s working for you.

Here are some things you could consider at tax time.

Consolidate your super

If you’ve had more than one job, you may have more than one super account. Consolidating your super helps reduce your paperwork, stops you from paying multiple sets of fees, and protects your money from becoming lost – which happens more than you think. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has $16 billion¹ in lost and unclaimed super.

Combine your super

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Review your contributions

Take a look at your concessional (before tax) and non-concessional (after tax) super contributions for the year to make the most of the potential tax benefits.

Super is generally taxed at 15% when you make your contributions, which is generally less than the tax you pay on your income, or your ‘marginal tax rate’. If you have a West State Super account, tax only applies once you access your benefit.

There are limits on the amount of contributions you can make to super per year, depending on the type of contribution and the account you’re contributing to.

Your Member Online account features a concessional contributions cap tracker so you can easily see how much you’ve contributed for the financial year.

If you want to make additional contributions, you can use our contributions calculator to figure out how best to contribute.

Use contributions calculator

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Split contributions with your spouse

By splitting contributions, single-income families can make use of the same tax incentives available to dual-income families.

If you’re a GESB Super member, you can split up to 85% of your employer contributions (including salary sacrifice) and personal deductible contributions from a prior year with your spouse.

If you’re a West State Super member, you can split 100% of your employer contributions (including salary sacrifice).

The amount you can split is subject to the contribution limits, or caps, for each financial year.

Learn more about contribution splitting

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Review your insurance

Your life may have changed in the past 12 months, so now might be a good time to consider if your insurance needs have changed.

Changes like starting a new job, having children, buying a house, or new family and household circumstances may require you to review the level of insurance cover you have.

You can change your insurance details through Member Online, by navigating to the insurance section and clicking on the ‘Change your insurance’ button.

Review your insurance in three steps

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Check, or set up, your binding death nomination

A binding death nomination is a written direction from a member to their super fund directing the fund how the member wants some, or all, of their superannuation death benefits to be distributed when they pass away.

Having a valid binding death nomination in place when you pass away allows GESB to pay your death benefit directly to people you have nominated without need for formal Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. If you don’t have a valid binding death nomination when you pass away, we will pay your death benefit to your estate.

If you’ve already set up a binding death nomination, now’s a good time to review your nomination to make sure it’s still valid.

If you haven’t set one up yet, it might be suitable to do so while you’re getting your finances in order for the end of the financial year.

Binding death nominations

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Review your investment plan

It might be a good time to check that your investment plan is still right for you, especially if you’re nearing retirement. The type of plan that might suit you will depend on how long you’re investing for, how comfortable you are with risk and what your goals are.

We offer a range of investment plans targeting different levels of risk and return, designed to give you a choice in how your money is invested.

You can use our online tool to help you choose which plan might be best for you.

Try the Selecting your investment plan tool

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Update your contact details

Make sure your contact details are up to date, especially if you’ve moved house, updated your email address or phone number, or changed your name recently.

You can check and update your personal details through Member Online by clicking the person-shaped icon on the top right of the home screen, once you’ve logged in.

Login to Member Online

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1 As at 27 February 2023, Australian Tax Office data.