If I was to sell my entire Vanguard Portfolio of approx.. $1.3M to put into super at the age of 60 – when selling this I will get CGT right? I am trying to get an idea of what you mean by negating the CGT between 60 -65.
Why do you have $1.3million outside super? How much do you expect to need each year after you have retired early?
There are several numbers related to superannuation contributions:
Concessional Contributions
Each year you can put maximum of $25,000 into super as a concessional (before tax) contribution. This number includes what your employer contributes (the 9.5% super guarantee). As there are huge fines if you put in too much, you need to be very careful as you reach the full amount. You can put in extra yourself, or you can get it directly docked from your wages as a salary sacrifice. But it must not exceed $25,000 or whatever the government decided this year you can put in. You can now put in more the following year if you didn't reach the limit in the preceding five years -
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Super/Super-changes/Change-to-concessional-contributions-cap/From 1 July 2018, you will be able to 'carry-forward' any unused amount of your concessional contributions cap. You will be able to access your unused concessional contributions cap on a rolling basis for five years. Amounts carried forward that have not been used after five years will expire.
The first year in which you can access unused concessional contributions is 2019–20.
You will only be able to carry-forward your unused concessional contributions cap if your total superannuation balance at the end of 30 June of the previous financial year is less than $500,000.
Non-concessional Contributions
You can put up to $100,000 per year into super as an after tax contribution if you have less than $1.6million inside super. Again, there are penalties if you get it wrong and put in too much. There is a bring-forward rule, where you can put in 3 years worth at once, but then no more for a few years - this is useful if you are about to turn 65, or have a year when you have a much lower income than normal and you are incurring CGT to move the money into super.
Contributions Cap
$1.6million.
So, if you want to put $1.3million into superannuation, I suspect that you can't. You certainly can't do it in one hit - it would take a minimum of 11 years to transfer that amount into superannuation - thus the reason for my initial questions. If you don't need much during your early retirement, you should be putting more into super now.
Secondly, if you have more than $300,000 in super already, you can never put the whole $1.3million into super. You will be able to put in as many full $25,000 concessional contributions as you want to, but you won't be able to add any non-concessional contributions after you have hit the contributions cap.
Note: all the above assumes that you aren't already doing some of this stuff. The non-concessional contribution limits (for example) have been reduced from $180000 last year to $100000 this year, so people who have already started the "bring forward" before this year have the ability to do things that are different to what I have said.
Also, you really have to watch when your employer contributions arrive into your superannuation account, if you are trying to put the maximum concessional contribution in, as they have the option of depositing your contribution up to about three months after your pay slip (legally), and some are more behind than that.