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First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) Calculator
First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) Calculator
Voluntary Contributions
Salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions. Counted at 85% (15% contributions tax).
After-tax contributions, counted at 100%.
Combined voluntary contributions capped at $50,000 per year; FHSSS release capped at $50,000 of counted contributions.
Earnings & Tax Assumptions
The ATO uses the 90-day bank bill rate + 3% each quarter. Recent determinations have sat near 3–5%.
Taxable amounts are taxed at this rate less a 15% offset. Add 2% if your rate excludes the Medicare Levy.
Estimated Release Amount
$44,132
FHSSS Analysis
After 4 years of voluntary contributions, your estimated FHSSS release is $44,132: $40,800 of counted contributions plus $3,332 of deemed earnings. Tax at your 37% marginal rate (less the 15% already paid on concessional amounts) takes $8,976, leaving $35,156 for your deposit. Salary-sacrificed concessional contributions are the engine of the scheme — they enter super taxed at 15% instead of your marginal rate, and the deemed earnings ride along for free.
Educational tool. Deemed earnings are set by the Australian Taxation Office each quarter using the 90-day bank bill rate plus 3% — the rate you enter is an assumption, not a guarantee. Release amounts also depend on ATO determination processes, and scheme rules and caps can change. Not financial or tax advice; confirm eligibility with the ATO before contributing.
What the First Home Super Saver Scheme Is
The First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) lets you build a first-home deposit inside superannuation, where contributions are taxed at 15% instead of your marginal rate — potentially 45%. Since its introduction in 2017, it has become one of the most efficient deposit-boosting tools available to Australian first home buyers, precisely because the super wrapper shields your savings from top marginal rates during the accumulation years. The scheme works through voluntary contributions only: your employer's Super Guarantee does not count. Concessional contributions — salary sacrifice or deductible personal contributions — are counted at 85% of their face value after the 15% contributions tax; after-tax (non-concessional) contributions are counted at 100%. The ATO then adds a standardised 'deemed earnings' amount based on the 90-day bank bill rate. You can release a maximum of $50,000 of counted contributions — and up to around $50,000 of voluntary contributions per financial year counts — plus deemed earnings, with tax applied on release. Because the money is inside super, it is locked away until you are ready to buy, which imposes a welcome discipline on impatient savers. The catch: it only assists genuine first home buyers intending to live in the property, so it is not a scheme for property investors buying rentals.
How the Release Amount Is Calculated
The release amount equals your counted contributions plus deemed earnings. Counted contributions are concessional contributions multiplied by 85% — reflecting the 15% contributions tax — plus non-concessional contributions at 100%. Only voluntary contributions made after 1 July 2017 count, and only the first $50,000 per financial year of voluntary contributions is eligible; anything above that is simply not counted. The ATO applies a hard $50,000 lifetime cap on the counted contribution element, so contributing for longer than three or four years at high rates eventually stops adding to your releasable pot. Deemed earnings are the value add the ATO manufactures. Each quarter, the ATO determines a rate based on the 90-day bank bill yield plus 3%, and applies it to each dollar in the FHSSS pot from the date it is counted. The tax on release is applied to the taxable portion — the 85% concessional slice — at your marginal rate less a 30 percentage-point offset (reflecting the tax already paid). So a 37% marginal-rate taxpayer pays an effective 7% tax on the concessional component at release, and 0% on anything already taxed at 15% or below the tax-free threshold. Non-concessional amounts are not taxed again on release.
Expert Insights
FHSSS Is Arbitrage, Not Magic
The scheme's real power is the tax delta between your marginal rate and super's 15%. A 45% marginal-rate taxpayer saves 30 cents of every concessional dollar versus saving outside super; a taxpayer on the 16% rate saves effectively nothing. Before going hard on FHSSS, work out where your income sits in the tax brackets — the arbitrage only kicks in above roughly $45,000 taxable income.
The $50,000 Cap Is the Real Limit
Most people underestimate how quickly they hit the lifetime cap. At $25,000 of concessional contributions a year, the 85%-counted rule means roughly $21,250 counts annually; the $50,000 cap is reached in about two and a half years. After that, further FHSSS contributions add only a sliver of deemed earnings — you are effectively parking money in a low-tax but low-return wrapper. Once you hit the cap, redirect the savings to outside-super vehicles or wait and release.
Timing the Release Is Part of the Strategy
You must apply to the ATO before signing an unconditional contract to buy. The ATO determination and fund release typically takes several weeks to a few months — factor that into settlement timelines. And if the purchase falls through, you can re-contribute the released amount (subject to rules) — one of several reasons professional advisers treat FHSSS as a planning tool, not just a savings account.
Actionable Tips
- 1
Start With a Determination Check
Before making significant contributions, log into the ATO website via myGov and request an FHSSS determination to see your current counted contributions and estimated release amount. The ATO provides a formal figure after each contribution, which is the authoritative number to build your deposit plan around — not an estimate.
- 2
Salary Sacrifice Rather Than Lump Sum
Directing a slice of each pay cycle to concessional contributions builds the pot steadily and avoids lump-sum timing mistakes. Set up an automatic salary sacrifice arrangement of around $500–$1,000 per fortnight and treat it like a fixed bill — the discipline is as important as the tax saving.
- 3
Pair FHSSS With the First Home Guarantee
FHSSS accelerates the deposit; the First Home Guarantee (FHBG) can then reduce the deposit you actually need by avoiding LMI at high loan-to-value ratios. Used together, they compress the time to purchase dramatically — FHSSS builds the cash, and the FHBG lets you buy before you have saved a full 20%. Run this calculator first, then model the combined strategy in the First Home Owner Grant & FHBG Calculator on this site.
Real-World Examples
Amelia Salary Sacrifices Her Way to a Deposit
Amelia, a 27-year-old designer earning $95,000, began salary sacrificing $800 a fortnight into super. After three years she had contributed $62,400 concessionally — $53,040 counted after the 85% rule — plus deemed earnings of roughly $6,500. Her release came to about $59,500 before tax. At her 32.5% marginal rate the tax bite was only around $5,500, leaving her with roughly $54,000 toward a $65,000 deposit. Outside super, her savings would have been taxed at 34.5% along the way.
The Chens Max the Cap in Two Years
The Chen couple, both in the top tax bracket, each contributed the maximum $50,000 of voluntary contributions over two financial years via salary sacrifice. Each hit the $50,000 counted cap, and as a couple they built roughly $100,000 before deemed earnings. The strategy effectively turned $117,647 of pre-tax income into $100,000 in the FHSSS pot — and then the ATO released both amounts after tax, giving them a deposit head start that took ordinary savers five years to match.
Jake Learns the Cap Lesson
Jake, 31, contributed $30,000 a year for three years — $90,000 total, of which only $50,000 was counted. His fourth year of contributions barely moved the releasable amount. Realising he had already hit the cap, he released $50,000 plus deemed earnings of about $7,000, and redirected subsequent savings to an investment ETF. The calculator helped him see the cap coming in advance, saving him from a year of dead money.
Glossary of Terms
- FHSSS
- First Home Super Saver Scheme — allows first home buyers to release voluntary super contributions and deemed earnings to fund a deposit.
- Deemed Earnings
- A return amount the ATO applies to each FHSSS dollar, based on the 90-day bank bill rate plus 3%, to approximate what the money would have earned in super.
- Counted Contributions
- The portion of voluntary contributions that counts toward the FHSSS release cap — 85% of concessional contributions plus 100% of non-concessional contributions.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Ivy Sinclair-Wren
Financial Chaos Analyst
Ivy Sinclair-Wren is a Financial Chaos Analyst covering investing, AI, wealth psychology, and the emotional consequences of opening finance apps during market crashes. Based in Melbourne, she specializes in demystifying the Australian tax code and helping users navigate the intersection of spreadsheet logic and human irrationality.