We’re selling the family home — can we each put $300,000 into super?

The four-bedroom house has been quiet for a few years now. An apartment closer to the grandchildren costs less than the house will sell for, and the obvious home for the difference is super — except that the contribution caps are the first thing anyone mentions, and at this age the caps are exactly the problem.

There is a rule written for this situation. A downsizer contribution lets an eligible person put up to $300,000 of the sale proceeds of their home into a complying super fund, and it does not count towards either the concessional or the non-concessional contributions cap. The ATO updated its downsizer statistics on 15 September 2026, and the scale is not small: 19,700 individuals contributed $5.236 billion this way in 2025–26.

What the rule actually allows

If you are 55 years old or older at the time you make the contribution, you may be able to contribute up to $300,000 from the proceeds of the sale — or part sale — of your home. The limit is per eligible person, so each spouse can contribute up to $300,000 and a couple can reach $600,000 between them. The one arithmetic constraint is that total downsizer contributions cannot exceed the total proceeds of the sale. The ATO’s own example: a couple receive $400,000 for their home, so between them their downsizer contributions cannot exceed $400,000 — within that, they might split it $300,000 and $100,000, or any other way they choose.

Whose name is on the title does not decide who can contribute. In another ATO example, a couple sell for $600,000 with only one of them on the title; because both meet the other conditions, both can each make a downsizer contribution of up to $300,000.

The eligibility list — and the condition that isn’t on it

All of the following must be true. You are 55 or older when the contribution is made. The home was owned by you and/or your spouse for 10 or more years before the sale. It is a residential building in Australia — not a caravan, houseboat or mobile home. The sale qualifies, fully or partially, for the main residence capital gains tax exemption, or would have if the home had been a CGT asset in the case of a home bought before 20 September 1985. You have not previously made a downsizer contribution from the sale of another home, or from the part sale of this one. You give the approved form to your super fund before or at the time you contribute. And you contribute within 90 days of receiving the sale proceeds, which is usually settlement.

What is not on that list is any requirement to buy another home, or to buy a smaller or cheaper one. ‘Downsizer’ describes the situation the rule was written around, not a condition you have to satisfy.

It is also strictly once. The ATO illustrates this with a couple who sell 20% of the equity in a home worth $500,000 and receive $100,000: they can contribute up to $100,000 between them, and if they later sell the rest of their interest, they are not eligible to contribute again — the scheme can only be accessed in relation to one disposal, in this or any other home.

The paperwork step that cannot be fixed afterwards

The Downsizer contribution into super form (NAT 75073), or a fund’s own equivalent containing the same information, has to reach the super fund before or at the time the contribution is made. In a note to tax agents published on 5 June 2026 the ATO stated it without qualification: superannuation funds can’t accept a downsizer contribution notice after the contribution’s been made. Money first and form second is not a late form — it is not a downsizer contribution, and there is no retrospective repair.

Three practical consequences follow. The form goes to the fund and never to the ATO. If the contribution is made in several payments, each one needs its own form. And it is worth contacting the fund before any of this to confirm it accepts downsizer contributions at all — not every account does, and opening one that does is easier before settlement than after.

The 90 days runs from receiving the proceeds. An extension can be requested, by phone only, on 13 10 20, and should be sought as soon as possible after the proceeds arrive — ideally within the 90 days. If that period has already passed, do not make the contribution until the extension has been approved. Extensions cannot be granted to get someone over the age requirement: in the ATO’s example, a person whose settlement and 90-day window both closed before her 55th birthday was refused, and the sale proceeds went in as an ordinary non-concessional contribution instead.

What happens when it turns out not to be eligible

If the ATO becomes aware that a contribution does not meet the requirements, it tells the fund, and the fund assesses whether the amount can be accepted as a different type of contribution. Where it is accepted as an after-tax personal contribution, it counts towards the non-concessional contributions cap — which is the exact outcome the downsizer route existed to avoid. Where it cannot be accepted at all, the fund returns it. Penalties may apply for making a false and misleading statement where eligibility is incorrectly declared.

It is worth checking that the contribution was recorded the way it was meant to be. Funds other than SMSFs have 10 business days to report the contribution to the ATO, and in ATO online services it appears under Super, then Fund details, as ‘Proceeds of primary residence disposal’. If it does not appear, or appears as a different contribution type, the ATO says to contact the fund promptly, because the alternative is excess contributions and extra tax.

Outside the caps is not the same as invisible

A downsizer contribution sits outside the contribution caps, but it is not outside the system. It is included in your total superannuation balance when that is next calculated at 30 June, which may affect your future eligibility under some superannuation rules and entitlements. Like other contributions, it counts towards your transfer balance cap when the money moves into a retirement phase account.

And it reaches beyond tax. Selling your home and making a downsizer contribution may affect income support payments such as the age pension — a home you live in and a super balance are treated differently, and Services Australia is the source on that side. The ATO’s own page says selling your home and making a downsizer contribution are significant decisions and suggests considering independent financial advice before proceeding.

This is general information current as at 20 September 2026, not advice about any particular sale, and the numbers here describe a scheme rather than any individual outcome. For scale: across 2018–19 to 2025–26, New South Wales residents made up 32.73% of everyone using the scheme, with an average contribution of $268,000, the highest of any state. The 2025–26 figures above are current as at 16 July 2026 and the ATO notes they remain subject to substantial change while funds continue reporting.

One thing usually needs settling before the contribution question, and it is a tax question rather than a super one: whether the main residence exemption covers the whole period of ownership, or only part of it because the house was rented out for some years or the owners spent time overseas. Our earlier pieces on the main residence exemption when you live overseas and on selling a property that was rented for part of the time cover that ground. Individual tax returns and property investor tax are two of our four service areas, and the income tax calculator on this site can show what the year of the sale looks like on the income side.