The first home super saver scheme (FHSS) allows you to save money for your first home inside your super fund and allows you to take advantage of the concessional tax treatment of superannuation.
About the FHSS scheme
You can make voluntary concessional (before-tax) and voluntary non-concessional (after-tax) contributions into your super fund to save for your first home.
You can then apply to release your voluntary contributions, along with associated earnings, to help you purchase your first home. You must meet the eligibility requirements to apply for the release of these amounts.
You can use this scheme if you are a first home buyer and both of the following apply:
You either live in the premises you are buying, or intend to as soon as practicable.
You intend to live in the property for at least six months within the first 12 months you own it after it is practical to move in.
You can apply to have a maximum of $15,000 of your voluntary contributions from any one financial year included in your eligible contributions to be released under the FHSS scheme, up to a total of $50,000 contributions across all years. You will also receive a number of earnings that relate to those contributions.
Superannuation guarantee contributions made by your employer and spouse contributions cannot be released under the FHSS scheme.
Eligibility
You can start making super contributions from any age. However, you must be 18 years old or older to request a determination or a release of amounts under the FHSS scheme.
Also, you must have:
- Never owned property in Australia – this includes an investment property, vacant land, commercial property, a lease of land in Australia, or a company title interest in land in Australia (unless the Commissioner of Taxation determines that you have suffered a financial hardship),
- Not previously requested the Commissioner to issue an FHSS release authority in relation to the scheme.
Eligibility is assessed on an individual basis. This means that couples, siblings or friends can each access their own eligible FHSS contributions to purchase the same property. If any of you have previously owned a home, it will not stop anyone else who is eligible from applying.
