Five tax planning actions for individuals before 30 June 2026
The majority of individual taxpayers approach tax planning retrospectively — gathering documents in July or August, lodging a return, and accepting the outcome. The difficulty with this approach is that most of the decisions that determine a tax outcome must be made before 30 June, not after it. By lodgement time, the year is closed.
With less than two months remaining in the 2025–26 financial year, these are the five actions that are most likely to produce material tax outcomes for individual taxpayers.
1. Maximise concessional superannuation contributions
Concessional contributions — employer super guarantee contributions, salary sacrifice contributions, and personally deductible contributions — are taxed at 15% inside the superannuation fund. For most working Australians, the marginal tax rate on employment income exceeds 15% by a substantial margin. The difference is a direct tax saving.
The concessional contribution cap for 2025–26 is $30,000, inclusive of all employer contributions received during the year. For individuals who have not reached that cap, contributing additional amounts before 30 June — either through salary sacrifice arrangements with their employer or as a personal contribution claimed as a deduction — reduces assessable income by the contributed amount.
For individuals whose total superannuation balance was below $500,000 on 30 June 2025, unused concessional cap amounts from the previous five years may be available under the carry-forward rules. This allows a contribution significantly above the standard $30,000 cap in a single year — a valuable mechanism for those who took time out of the workforce, experienced a period of lower income, or simply did not maximise contributions in earlier years.
Timing is critical: the contribution must be received by the superannuation fund by 30 June 2026 — not merely initiated — to count in the 2025–26 year.
2. Timing of capital gains and losses
Capital gains realised before 30 June fall into the 2025–26 income year. Capital gains realised after 1 July fall into 2026–27. For individuals who have already realised significant capital gains this year — from the sale of shares, investment property, or other assets — there may be value in reviewing whether any assets currently held at a loss can be sold before 30 June to offset those gains.
This is commonly called tax-loss harvesting. The loss must be genuinely realised — the asset must be sold — and the ATO's wash sale rules apply: selling an asset solely to crystallise a loss and repurchasing it immediately afterwards is a practice the ATO actively monitors and may disallow.
Equally, individuals holding assets with significant embedded gains who are not compelled to sell this year may find it preferable to defer the disposal to 2026–27, smoothing the income over two years and potentially allowing the gains to be realised in a year of lower income. And for any asset held for less than 12 months, the question of whether waiting until the 12-month mark would attract the 50% CGT discount is always worth asking before a sale proceeds.
3. Review work-related deductions
The ATO has flagged work-related expenses as a priority compliance area for 2025–26. Legitimate deductions are worth claiming in full. Invented or inflated ones are not, and the ATO's data matching capability has expanded significantly.
The working from home fixed rate — currently 70 cents per hour — requires a contemporaneous record of hours worked from home. A log maintained throughout the year is the strongest form of evidence; a reconstruction from memory in July is weaker and may not satisfy an ATO inquiry. If you have been working from home and have not been maintaining a log, it is worth starting now.
Deductions for work-related equipment, tools, professional development, subscriptions, and memberships are available to the extent they relate to producing assessable income and have not been reimbursed. Items with both work and private use require apportionment. Receipts are required for claims above $300; below that threshold, the ATO allows claims without receipts provided the amounts are reasonable and genuinely incurred.
4. Private health insurance: confirm your position
The Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) applies to individuals, families, and single parents who do not hold appropriate private hospital cover and whose income exceeds the relevant threshold — $93,000 for singles in 2025–26. The surcharge is between 1% and 1.5% of income depending on the income level, and it applies in addition to the standard Medicare Levy.
For individuals whose income is approaching or exceeding this threshold, the cost of holding appropriate private hospital cover should be compared with the MLS that would otherwise be payable. In many cases, the premium for a basic hospital policy is less than the surcharge — making the policy economically rational on tax grounds alone, before any health benefit is considered.
Additionally, individuals who do not hold appropriate private hospital cover by 1 July of the year they turn 31 become subject to Lifetime Health Cover loading — a 2% loading on premiums for each year without cover after that date. This loading is permanent. The practical implication is that delaying the purchase of private health insurance beyond age 30 increases the cost of obtaining it later.
5. Spouse contributions and other splitting strategies
For couples where one partner has a lower income or a lower superannuation balance, spouse superannuation contributions and contribution splitting are worth examining before 30 June.
A spouse contribution — made from after-tax funds into a low-income partner's superannuation account — can generate a tax offset of up to $540 where the receiving spouse's income is below $37,000, tapering to nil at $40,000. The contributing spouse must have met their own superannuation obligations for the year.
Superannuation contribution splitting allows a member to transfer up to 85% of concessional contributions made in the prior financial year to their spouse's superannuation account. This is a mechanism for equalising superannuation balances between partners over time — which may be relevant both to the impact of the Division 296 tax on balances above $3 million and to longer-term estate planning.
Neither strategy is complex. Both require attention before 30 June or before the lodgement of the relevant tax return.
If you would like to work through your individual tax position before year-end, we welcome the conversation.
Corinne Kirk
Partner, Accountant
1300 102 542 | 0405 106 401
corinne@egu.au
Sources
Australian Taxation Office — Concessional contributions cap: https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/super/growing-and-keeping-track-of-your-super/how-to-save-more-in-your-super/concessional-contributions-cap
Australian Taxation Office — Capital gains tax: https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/investments-and-assets/capital-gains-tax
Australian Taxation Office — Working from home expenses: https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/income-deductions-offsets-and-records/deductions-you-can-claim/working-from-home-expenses
Australian Taxation Office — Medicare Levy Surcharge: https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/medicare-and-private-health-insurance/medicare-levy-surcharge
Australian Taxation Office — Spouse super contributions: https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/super/growing-and-keeping-track-of-your-super/how-to-save-more-in-your-super/spouse-contributions
Private Health Insurance Ombudsman — Lifetime Health Cover: https://www.privatehealth.gov.au/health_insurance/surcharges_incentives/lifetime_health_cover.htm
This is general advice. It does not take account of your objectives, financial situation, or needs, and is not a substitute for advice that does. Before acting on anything in it, consider whether it suits your circumstances, and consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement.