Notice of Intent to Claim a Deduction (NAT 71121) — EOFY 2025-26 Deadline (ATO)
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Primary tax-year context: 2025-26
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General information only. This is not tax or financial advice. Consult a licensed financial adviser or registered tax agent for advice specific to your situation.
Making a personal super contribution and claiming it on your tax return is one of the cleanest EOFY tax moves available — but every year thousands of Australians have the deduction denied because they never lodged the Notice of Intent to Claim a Deduction (ATO form NAT 71121) with their fund. No Notice, no deduction. The contribution sits in super as a non-concessional amount and your tax return is re-issued without the benefit.
This article walks through who needs to lodge a Notice of Intent, the exact deadline for 2025-26, the paperwork sequence, and the five traps that void the deduction even when the money is already in super.
What a Notice of Intent Actually Does
When you put personal money into super, it defaults to a non-concessional contribution — paid from your after-tax income, no deduction, no 15% contributions tax. That’s the right answer for many people. But if you want to claim that money as a tax deduction instead, you have to legally re-classify it as a concessional contribution by lodging a Notice of Intent with the fund that received it.
Your fund then applies 15% contributions tax to the amount, acknowledges receipt of the Notice in writing, and issues you an acknowledgment you can use when lodging your tax return. Without that acknowledgment, the ATO will not accept a deduction at label D13 on your return.
The form is a one-pager — either the ATO’s paper PDF (NAT 71121) or your fund’s equivalent online form. Most big funds (AustralianSuper, Rest, HESTA, ART, UniSuper) let you lodge it inside the member portal in about two minutes.
The EOFY 2025-26 Deadline — The One That Catches People
The Notice of Intent has to be lodged with your fund and acknowledged before the earliest of:
- The day you lodge your 2025-26 income tax return; or
- 30 June 2027 (the end of the financial year following the contribution year); or
- You cease to be a member of that fund; or
- The fund begins paying a super income stream based in whole or part on the contribution; or
- You make a withdrawal or rollover that includes any part of that contribution.
Rule 1 is the one that bites. If you lodge your return on, say, 1 August 2026 without first submitting the Notice to your fund, the deduction is gone — even though the legislative outer deadline (rule 2) is still a year away. The ATO’s position is clear: the Notice must be in before you lodge, not “in before the end of next FY.”
Practically this means:
- If you’re using a tax agent, tell them the personal contribution is coming and get the Notice sorted before your agent files the return.
- If you’re self-lodging via myTax, finish the Notice process with your fund first, then wait for the written acknowledgment, then lodge.
- Don’t rely on the fund processing the Notice instantly. AustralianSuper quotes “up to 10 business days” in busy periods; SMSFs depend on the trustee’s own turnaround.
The Paperwork Sequence
Here’s the order of operations for an EOFY 2025-26 personal deductible contribution. Skip a step and the deduction is at risk.
| Step | What to do | Watch |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Contribute the money into your super fund so it arrives in the fund’s bank account by 30 June 2026. | Clearing houses and BPAY can take 5–7 business days. Send early. |
| 2 | Confirm the fund has allocated the contribution to your account (not a suspense account). | SMSFs: trustee must allocate within 28 days. |
| 3 | Lodge Notice of Intent (NAT 71121 or the fund’s online form) for the amount you want to claim. It can be less than the contribution — you can leave part of it as non-concessional. | Some funds require you to nominate the specific contribution receipt; have your confirmation number. |
| 4 | Wait for the written acknowledgment from the fund. Store it with your tax records. | No acknowledgment = no deduction. |
| 5 | Claim the deduction at label D13 on your 2025-26 tax return. | Do not lodge the return until step 4 is complete. |
If you later realise you over-claimed (e.g. it pushed you into excess concessional contributions), you can lodge a Variation Notice of Intent to reduce the claimed amount — but only before the same deadlines in the list above.
Worked Example — Priya’s $30,000 Catch-Up
Priya, 42, earns $160,000 and is on a 37% marginal rate (plus 2% Medicare levy = 39% effective). Her employer pays 12% super on her salary. On 15 May 2026 she transfers $30,000 from savings into her AustralianSuper account, intending to claim the full amount.
Her paperwork sequence:
- 15 May 2026: Contribution hits fund.
- 16 May 2026: Email confirmation of allocation to her accumulation account.
- 18 May 2026: Lodges online Notice of Intent for $30,000 via the member portal.
- 22 May 2026: Receives written acknowledgment email from AustralianSuper. Files it.
- 1 August 2026: Lodges 2025-26 tax return claiming $30,000 at D13.
Tax outcome:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Personal deductible contribution | $30,000 |
| Tax deduction saves (39%) | $11,700 |
| 15% contributions tax inside super | $4,500 |
| Net tax saving | $7,200 |
Priya’s super ends up $25,500 larger (the $30k net of contributions tax) and her refund is $11,700 larger — a net cash cost of $18,300 for $25,500 in super.
If she’d lodged the return on 1 July 2026 without doing the Notice of Intent first, the deduction would have been refused. The $30,000 would sit in super as a non-concessional contribution and she’d owe the ATO the $11,700 refund back.
Model your own numbers on the personal super contribution deduction calculator or the super contribution optimiser.
Five Traps That Void the Deduction
Trap 1 — Lodging the return before the Notice. The most common failure. Once the tax return is lodged, the Notice deadline for that year has passed regardless of what date the calendar says.
Trap 2 — Rollover or withdrawal after contributing. If you contributed to Fund A in January and then rolled your whole balance to Fund B in April, you cannot lodge a Notice of Intent with Fund B for the Fund A contribution — and Fund A no longer holds your money. The deduction is dead. Always lodge the Notice with the original fund before any rollover.
Trap 3 — Pension started from the contribution. If you’ve started drawing an account-based pension and the contribution got absorbed into the pension phase, the Notice will be rejected. Keep contributions in accumulation phase if you want to claim them.
Trap 4 — Wrong fund acknowledgment. Some funds issue a generic “contribution received” email that is not the same as a Notice of Intent acknowledgment. Look for wording that specifically confirms “acknowledgment of notice of intent to claim a deduction under s 290-170” or your fund’s equivalent language.
Trap 5 — Over-claiming above the concessional cap. Your deduction is limited to your available concessional cap for the year. For 2025-26 the standard cap is $30,000, plus any unused carry-forward you qualify for (TSB under $500,000 on 30 June 2025). Claiming more than your available cap triggers excess concessional contributions tax.
Do You Even Need to Do a Personal Deductible Contribution?
For most PAYG employees, salary sacrifice is simpler — the employer diverts pre-tax pay to super, the fund treats it as a concessional contribution automatically, and no Notice of Intent is required because the money arrived already classified as concessional. The Notice of Intent process only exists for money that left your after-tax bank account.
Personal deductible contributions make sense when:
- You missed a salary sacrifice arrangement and it’s too late to set one up for this FY.
- You received a one-off lump sum (bonus, inheritance, property sale proceeds) and want to convert some of it to a super deduction.
- You’re self-employed and can’t technically salary-sacrifice (sole traders don’t have an employer to sacrifice with).
- You’re using carry-forward unused concessional cap and need to deposit a large amount quickly before the oldest year expires.
Compare the two routes side-by-side in the salary sacrifice vs personal super contribution scenario.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can I lodge a Notice of Intent for a prior year’s contribution? Only within the legislated window. For a 2024-25 contribution, your Notice had to be in before you lodged your 2024-25 return or by 30 June 2026 — whichever came first. If you missed it, the deduction is permanently lost.
Q: My fund asked me to sign the Notice after I lodged my return. Does that work? No. The Notice must be acknowledged by the fund before the return is lodged. A retrospective Notice is invalid.
Q: Can I split a Notice of Intent across two funds? Yes, provided the contribution actually went to both funds. You lodge a separate Notice with each fund for the portion that went there.
Q: What if my fund rejects the Notice? Common reasons: the contribution was rolled out, you’ve started a pension, the amount exceeds what you contributed, or the fund didn’t receive the money. Contact the fund, fix the issue if possible, then re-lodge.
Q: Does the ATO also need a copy of the Notice? No — the Notice goes only to the fund. The fund reports the contribution and deduction election to the ATO directly. You keep the acknowledgment as your evidence if the ATO ever queries the D13 amount.
Sources
- ATO — Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal super contributions (NAT 71121)
- ATO — Claiming deductions for personal super contributions
- ATO — Concessional contributions and cap history
- Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, s 290-170 (Notice of intent requirements)
Get the Notice of Intent right before 30 June 2026
Model the tax impact with the personal super contribution deduction calculator, check your available cap with the super carry-forward calculator, or compare salary-sacrifice vs personal contribution on the super contribution optimiser. The paperwork takes 10 minutes. The deduction is worth thousands.