How is the FHSS release taxed?

Concessional contributions are taxed at your marginal rate minus a 30% offset. Non-concessional contributions are not taxed on release as you already paid tax on them.

What happens if I don't buy a home?

If you don't sign a contract within 12 months, you can apply for an extension, re-contribute to super or pay FHSS tax on the released amount.

Can I use FHSS with other first home buyer schemes?

Yes. FHSS can be combined with the Australian Government 5% Deposit Scheme (the renamed Home Guarantee Scheme), state stamp duty concessions and the First Home Owner Grant where eligible. For the deposit scheme the condition that usually decides it is the property price cap, which is set per state and territory and differs by area within them — check the current cap for your area with Housing Australia.

First Home Super Saver (FHSS) Calculator

Estimate how much you can withdraw from super for your first home deposit

See your maximum releasable amount and 30% tax offset under the FHSS scheme

FHSS Contributions

Enter your eligible First Home Super Saver contributions. Cap $50k total, $15k per year.

Concessional contributions ($)

Salary sacrifice or personal contributions you claimed a deduction for. 85% is releasable.

Non-concessional contributions ($)

Personal voluntary contributions (no tax deduction). 100% is releasable.

Assumed earnings rate (% per year)

Used to estimate associated earnings. ATO uses a prescribed rate; this is an estimate.

Average years in scheme

Your FHSS Estimate

Maximum amount you may be able to release for your first home

Total eligible contributions$15,000

Releasable contributions$13,500

Estimated associated earnings$2,229

Maximum releasable amount$15,729

30% FHSS tax offset$3,219

Only the concessional contributions released plus associated earnings are assessable income — you receive a 30% tax offset on that portion, reducing the tax you pay. Non-concessional contributions are returned tax-free, since you already paid tax on them.

This is an estimate only. You must request an FHSS determination from the ATO before buying. Eligibility and actual amounts depend on your circumstances. See the ATO First Home Super Saver Scheme for full rules.

This calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product. Before you make a financial decision, consider obtaining advice from someone who holds an Australian Financial Services Licence. We do not, and we cannot advise you.

How to Use This Calculator

1Enter your total concessional (before-tax) FHSS contributions
2Enter your total non-concessional (after-tax) FHSS contributions
3Adjust the assumed earnings rate if needed
4Enter how many years your contributions have been in super
5See your maximum releasable amount and estimated tax offset

What Is the First Home Super Saver Scheme?

The First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme lets first home buyers save a deposit inside super, where contributions grow faster due to lower tax rates. You can then release most of those voluntary contributions plus deemed earnings to buy your first home.

Up to $15,000 of voluntary contributions from any one year, and $50,000 in total, can count toward FHSS. What you actually release is different: 100% of your eligible after-tax contributions but only 85% of your eligible before-tax ones, plus the earnings the ATO deems on them. Someone who saved entirely through salary sacrifice therefore releases well under $50,000. Released amounts are taxed at your marginal rate minus a 30% offset, which still makes it more tax-effective than saving outside super.

FHSS Eligibility and Limits

Maximum release: Not $50,000 — that is the cap on contributions that count. You release 100% of eligible after-tax contributions plus 85% of eligible before-tax ones, plus associated earnings. The calculator above works out yours.
Annual limit: Up to $15,000 of voluntary contributions per financial year count toward FHSS.
Concessional contributions: Salary sacrifice or personal deductible contributions (taxed at 15% going in).
Non-concessional contributions: After-tax contributions (not taxed going in, not taxed coming out).
Deemed earnings: Set by the ATO at the shortfall interest charge rate, not your fund's actual return. It is 7.43% for July to September 2026 and changes every quarter.
First home only: You must never have held a freehold interest in Australian property, a long-term lease, or a company title interest — including an investment property you never lived in. The ATO can waive this where it determines you have suffered financial hardship.
18 or over to release: You can make eligible contributions at any age, but you must be 18 or older when you request the release.
One release, once: An FHSS release can be requested once. Anything left in super after it stays there until a normal condition of release.
You have to live there: You must move in as soon as practicable and occupy the property for at least 6 of the first 12 months you can. Vacant land does not qualify unless you build on it.

Using FHSS Effectively

•Concessional contributions are taxed at 15% going into the fund rather than at your marginal rate, and on release they are taxed at your marginal rate less a 30% offset. Non-concessional contributions are taxed on neither leg, having been taxed already. Which produces more depends on your marginal rate, and only 85% of a concessional contribution is releasable.
•Request a determination from the ATO before applying for release to know your exact releasable amount
•You have 12 months from the release to sign a contract to buy or build, or re-contribute the funds
•Both members of a couple can use FHSS separately, so $100,000 of contributions can count between you — the amount released is less, and each of you is assessed on your own contributions

Frequently Asked Questions

Official Sources

ATO First Home Super Saver Scheme

Estimates only. Not financial or tax advice. Full disclaimer for your rights and our limitations of liability.

About this calculator

This calculator exists to show you the arithmetic. It applies published Australian rates, thresholds and formulas to the numbers you enter and shows the working, so you can check it. That is all it does — it produces a number and describes what the number is. It does not recommend anything and it holds no opinion about any financial product.

What can move this result

It only knows the figures you type in. Offsets, deductions, prior-year losses, other income, your partner's position and anything you have not entered are not in the result, and any of them can move it a long way.
Rates and thresholds change, sometimes mid-year and occasionally with retrospective effect. Each calculator shows the financial year and the verification date it is working from — outside that year the result is wrong rather than approximate.
Assumptions are set to a reasonable default and every non-statutory one can be changed. Defaults are not predictions, and a small change to a growth or inflation assumption compounds into a large change in a long projection.
Where a result reaches two or more years into the future it is shown in today's dollars as well as future dollars, because a future-dollar figure overstates what the money will actually buy.
It is a generic calculator. It is not built around any particular product, it does not compare the market, and it cannot tell you whether a product is suitable for you.

Why these default assumptions are reasonable

Deemed earnings rate: the ATO's shortfall interest charge rate. This is not an assumption of ours and never was. FHSS associated earnings are a notional amount the ATO calculates at the shortfall interest charge rate — the 90-day Bank Accepted Bill rate plus a 3% uplift — regardless of what the fund actually earned. The field defaulted to 5% while the published rate was 7.43%, presenting a legislated figure as a user preference and understating the maximum releasable amount, which is the one number this calculator exists to produce. It now reads the published rate. The rate changes quarterly, so it stays editable for anyone modelling a different period. Source · You can change this input.

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About this calculator

What can move this result

It only knows the figures you type in. Offsets, deductions, prior-year losses, other income, your partner's position and anything you have not entered are not in the result, and any of them can move it a long way.
Rates and thresholds change, sometimes mid-year and occasionally with retrospective effect. Each calculator shows the financial year and the verification date it is working from — outside that year the result is wrong rather than approximate.
Assumptions are set to a reasonable default and every non-statutory one can be changed. Defaults are not predictions, and a small change to a growth or inflation assumption compounds into a large change in a long projection.
Where a result reaches two or more years into the future it is shown in today's dollars as well as future dollars, because a future-dollar figure overstates what the money will actually buy.
It is a generic calculator. It is not built around any particular product, it does not compare the market, and it cannot tell you whether a product is suitable for you.

Why these default assumptions are reasonable

Deemed earnings rate: the ATO's shortfall interest charge rate. This is not an assumption of ours and never was. FHSS associated earnings are a notional amount the ATO calculates at the shortfall interest charge rate — the 90-day Bank Accepted Bill rate plus a 3% uplift — regardless of what the fund actually earned. The field defaulted to 5% while the published rate was 7.43%, presenting a legislated figure as a user preference and understating the maximum releasable amount, which is the one number this calculator exists to produce. It now reads the published rate. The rate changes quarterly, so it stays editable for anyone modelling a different period. Source · You can change this input.