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The Transfer Balance Cap (tax-free super limit)

There's a lifetime limit on how much super you can move into a tax-free pension. Above it, the excess stays in accumulation and its earnings are taxed at 15%.

The Transfer Balance Cap (TBC) limits how much super you can move into the tax-free pension phase — currently around $2 million per person. Anything above the cap has to stay in accumulation phase, where earnings are taxed at 15% (still low, just not free).

How the planner handles it

For larger balances the model tracks super as two pools — a tax-free pension pool up to the cap and a taxed accumulation pool above it — and taxes each correctly. It also matters for the means test: super in accumulation phase is treated differently before Age Pension age. Most people never hit the cap, but for high balances it materially changes the after-tax result.

Related concepts

See it in your own plan

Model your super, the Age Pension and how long your money lasts — free, in today's dollars.

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