What Changes About Contributions Once You Turn 67
Turning 67 does not stop you contributing to super. What it changes is that a personal contribution for which you want a deduction requires you to have worked at least 40 hours in any 30 consecutive days during the financial year. Non-concessional contributions, salary sacrifice and employer contributions are not subject to it, which is the distinction most summaries miss.
- The answer: From 67, claiming a deduction for a personal contribution requires 40 hours of gainful employment within 30 consecutive days in that financial year.
- The trap: The test is about the deduction, not the contribution. Non-concessional contributions can be made without meeting it, subject to the caps and your total super balance.
- The recommendation: If you are retiring and want a final deductible contribution, check the work test exemption — it allows one more year after the year you last met the test.
Where the AI summary above gets this wrong
"Once you turn 67 you have to pass the work test to contribute to super."
That's surface-true. Here's what it misses:
- The test applies to one kind of contribution — Only personal contributions for which a deduction is claimed. Non-concessional contributions, downsizer contributions, salary sacrifice and employer contributions are all outside it.
- There is a one-year exemption most people never hear about — Someone who met the test last year, has a total super balance under the threshold, and has not used the exemption before can claim a deduction this year without working at all.
01 What the work test requires
Gainful employment for at least 40 hours within any 30 consecutive days in the financial year in which the contribution is made. Gainful employment means employed or self-employed for gain or reward, which excludes volunteering however substantial.
The 30 days do not have to be at the start of the year and the 40 hours do not have to be with one employer. The test is satisfied the moment the condition is met, and it applies to the year of the contribution rather than to the year the work happened.
The order matters in practice: the work must be done before the contribution is made, in the same financial year. Contributing in August and working in May does not satisfy it, even though both fall in the same year.
02 What the test does not apply to
Non-concessional contributions can be made from 67 without meeting the work test, subject to the contribution caps and to your total super balance being below the general transfer balance cap. That is the route most people over 67 actually use.
Downsizer contributions have no work test and no upper age limit, and sit outside the non-concessional cap entirely — the conditions are in the downsizer guide.
Employer contributions, including salary sacrifice, are also outside the test, because the employment that generates them is self-evidently work. Someone still employed at 70 continues to receive Superannuation Guarantee contributions as before.
Shows: the contribution room available to someone over 67, split between the concessional amount that needs the work test and the non-concessional amount that does not. Ignores: your total super balance, which can reduce the non-concessional cap to nil, the bring-forward rule, and the age at which the fund stops accepting contributions.
03 The exemption, and the end date
A work test exemption allows one further year of deductible personal contributions for someone who met the test in the previous financial year, has a total super balance below the threshold at the previous 30 June, and has not used the exemption before. It is available once in a lifetime.
It exists for the person who retires mid-year and wants to make a final contribution in the following year, which is a common and sensible thing to want to do. Using it is a matter of meeting the conditions rather than applying for anything.
Contributions stop being accepted altogether after a point tied to the month in which you turn 75. The deadline is expressed in days after the end of that month rather than as a birthday, and leaving a final contribution to the end of the financial year is how people miss it.
The exemption is the piece worth knowing, because it is available once and nobody is told about it. If you are stopping work this year and expect a deductible contribution to be worth making next year — a redundancy, a final bonus, a business sale — that is exactly what it is for, and it disappears if you use it on something small.
FAQ
Can I contribute after age 67?
Yes. Non-concessional contributions, downsizer contributions and employer contributions including salary sacrifice can all be made without a work test. Only a personal contribution for which you claim a deduction requires it.
What are the work test requirements?
Gainful employment for at least 40 hours within any 30 consecutive days in the financial year, completed before the contribution is made. Volunteering does not count because it is not for gain or reward.
How do contributions work once I turn 67 and have to meet the work test?
The test applies only to personal deductible contributions. There is also a one-off work test exemption for someone who met the test last year, has a total super balance under the threshold and has not used the exemption before.
Sources
Regulator references
- ATO — Personal super contributions · Australian Taxation Office · 2026Personal super contributions and the notice of intent required to claim a deduction.Last verified: 2026-09-07
- ATO — Non-concessional contributions cap · Australian Taxation Office · 2026The non-concessional contributions cap and the bring-forward arrangement.Last verified: 2026-09-07
Calculator unit tests · the assertions this page's worked example is checked against, and their last result
Changelog
- 2026-09-07 — initial publish (new format)
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Jordan Reeves
Founder of Talk Through Wealth. A software engineer for over a decade before turning to retirement planning, Jordan built the projection engine after watching family members get fragmented, country-by-country advice that never reconciled. He writes about retirement the way the engine computes it: month-by-month, lifetime-long, and skeptical of any rule of thumb that hasn't been run through the math.