July is an opportune time to review and reset your self-managed super fund for the year ahead.
To someone working in finance, a new financial year is even more exciting than a new calendar year.
The same is true for anyone with an SMSF, and it’s a great time to reset and review.
As always, there are plenty of opportunities to take advantage of and things to consider with the right planning and support.
1. Update your salary sacrifice amount
A new financial year often means new contribution limits – and that’s true for 2026-27.
Anyone salary sacrificing into super now has a limit of $32,500 on their employer and personal (tax-deductible) contributions combined, instead of the $30,000 limit that applied last year.
Double-check your salary sacrifice contributions to make sure you’re taking full advantage of the new limit for these concessional contributions – you may need to adjust your salary sacrifice amount upwards.
Those making personal contributions for which they’re not claiming a tax deduction (non-concessional contributions) now have $130,000 a year to play with, up from $120,000.
This higher limit also flows through to those using the bring forward rules to make very large contributions.
As the name suggests, the bring forward rules allow you to use not just this year’s cap of $130,000 but also next year’s and even the year after. That’s $390,000 in total.
You’re only entitled to take advantage of these rules if your super balance falls below a particular threshold, but those have changed as well.
For 2026-27, your super balance (across all your super funds) needed to be less than $1.84 million at June 30, 2026, if you’re planning to use the bring forward rules to the greatest possible extent (that is, using up three years’ worth of non-concessional contributions caps in one year).
There are other rules to follow too. For example, you needed to be under age 75 at June 30, 2026, and you can’t have used these rules in the recent past – you can’t have already “brought forward” your 2026-27 cap by using these rules before.
But assuming you’re eligible, this is a great way of getting large amounts into super quickly.
2. Check your transfer balance cap if you're starting a pension
This financial year also sees a new pension transfer balance cap, up from $2 million to $2.1 million. The transfer balance cap is the lifetime limit on the amount that can be used to start a new pension, tax-free.
Often people with large balances delay starting pensions until the new financial year so they can take advantage of the highest possible transfer balance cap. If that’s you, now is the time to start your pension.
Remember, in an SMSF this is as easy as deciding to start a pension and getting agreement from the trustees. While there is important documentation that needs completing, including a form your accountant will need to lodge with the Tax Office, this can be done later.
3. Check you took enough in pension payments in 2025/26
For those who are already getting a pension from their super, July is also a good time to just double-check you took enough in pension payments out of your SMSF in 2025-26 to meet the minimum requirements.
This might seem crazy as it’s too late to do anything about it if you accidentally underpaid, but I’d still recommend you check. These days, failing to meet the rules has significant ongoing consequences for your pension until you stop it and start a new one.
Most significantly, the normal tax break available to an SMSF paying pensions – such as not having to pay tax on some of its investment income – doesn’t apply to a pension that has ever failed to pay out enough.
So if your pension failed to do so in 2025-26, the last thing you want to do is let your pension keep running until late 2026-27. Work it out now, contact your SMSF accountant or administrator about how to switch your pension off and start a new one that complies with the rules.
4. Review your investment strategy
You can save yourself time when it comes to your annual SMSF audit if you review your investment strategy now.
Your auditor will double-check your SMSF is investing how you said it would be, so if it’s not because you’ve changed how you want to manage the fund’s money, contact your accountant or administrator to update the documentation.
5. Review your 2025-26 contributions
Before you forget about 2025-26 entirely, have a quick think about whether you intend to do anything special with the contributions made to your super last year.
For example, some people can split concessional contributions with a spouse (effectively transferring some of them to their spouse’s super account). Others who made personal contributions in 2025-26 might want to claim a tax deduction for some or all of them.
You don’t have to finalise either of these right now, but it pays to think about them before the year is too far advanced, as there are some important timeframes.
For example, if you’re intending to claim a tax deduction for your personal contributions, you’ll need to get the right paperwork in place before you lodge your personal tax return for 2025-26. You’d also need to do this before you start any pensions from your super.
Get SMSF help when you need it with Heffron's Super Companion, an expert-written, online resource hub containing guidance, examples, and strategies for everything SMSF. Learn more here.