In Australia, your superannuation preservation age is the earliest age at which you can start drawing on your super, and it sits between 55 and 60 depending on when you were born. Reaching it is only the first step. To actually withdraw your money, you also need to meet a “condition of release” — usually retiring, ending a job after you turn 60, or simply reaching 65.
Preservation Age by Birth Year
The Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 set preservation age on a sliding scale. If you were born before 1 July 1960, your preservation age is 55. If you were born after 30 June 1964, it is 60. Everyone in between steps up one year at a time:
- Before 1 July 1960: 55
- 1 July 1960 – 30 June 1961: 56
- 1 July 1961 – 30 June 1962: 57
- 1 July 1962 – 30 June 1963: 58
- 1 July 1963 – 30 June 1964: 59
- After 30 June 1964: 60
By 2026, anyone still actively working will almost certainly fall into the 59 or 60 bracket, because the earlier cohorts have already passed their preservation ages.1Department of Veterans’ Affairs CLIK. Preservation Age
Reaching Preservation Age Is Not Enough
Turning your preservation age opens the door. To walk through it, you need to satisfy a condition of release. Three age-based conditions cover almost every situation, and they work quite differently.
Retiring After Preservation Age
If you have reached your preservation age and permanently leave the workforce, you can access your entire super balance with no restrictions. “Retirement” under the regulations means your fund trustee is reasonably satisfied you do not intend to work 10 or more hours per week again. Your fund will typically ask you to sign a declaration confirming that.2Australian Taxation Office. Conditions of Release
Ending an Employment Arrangement After Age 60
Once you turn 60, a more flexible pathway opens. You can access all benefits accumulated up to that point simply by ending one employment arrangement, even if you keep working in another job or start a new one later. This catches most people by surprise: you do not have to permanently retire at 60, just finish up with one employer. Someone who leaves a salaried role at 61 to take up part-time consulting elsewhere can still withdraw the super they had built up.2Australian Taxation Office. Conditions of Release
Turning 65
At 65, all restrictions fall away. You can withdraw any amount at any time, as a lump sum or an income stream, whether you are still working or not. Nor are you required to draw down your super at 65. You can leave it in the fund indefinitely.3Australian Taxation Office. Conditions of Release – Section: Turning 65
Drawing on Super While You Keep Working
If you have reached preservation age but want to keep working, a Transition to Retirement income stream lets you start drawing from your super without meeting the full retirement test. It is the main tool people use to wind down gradually, cutting hours at work while topping up their income from super.
Two limits shape how much you can take. You must withdraw at least 4% of your account balance each financial year if you are under 65, and you cannot withdraw more than 10%. The minimum rises with age: 5% between 65 and 74, 6% between 75 and 79, and up to 14% at age 95 or older.4Australian Taxation Office. Payments from Super
You also cannot take a lump sum from a transition to retirement pension. The money must flow as a regular income stream until you satisfy a full condition of release, such as permanently retiring or turning 65. At that point the 10% cap lifts and the pension converts to a standard account-based pension with no maximum drawdown restriction.5Australian Taxation Office. Income Stream (Pension) Rules and Payments
While you are drawing this pension, your employer still pays the Super Guarantee (12% in 2025–26) on your wages. New contributions flow in at the same time as old money flows out. Whether that saves you tax depends on your marginal rate and the size of your balance. It is not a universal win, particularly for people on lower incomes.
Tax on Super Withdrawals
What you pay in tax when you withdraw depends almost entirely on your age at the time. The system rewards people who wait until 60.
From Age 60
Lump sums and income stream payments from a taxed super fund are completely tax-free once you reach 60. No tax is withheld, and you do not need to include the payments in your tax return. That covers both the tax-free and taxable components of your benefit. For most Australians in accumulation-phase funds where the standard 15% contributions tax has been paid, everything comes out tax-free after 60.4Australian Taxation Office. Payments from Super
Between Preservation Age and 59
If you access your super after reaching preservation age but before turning 60, the taxable component of a lump sum is taxed on a tiered basis using a lifetime threshold called the low rate cap. For the 2025–26 financial year the low rate cap is $260,000. The first $260,000 of taxable component (taxed element) you withdraw over your lifetime is tax-free. Anything above that is taxed at 15%, plus the 2% Medicare levy.4Australian Taxation Office. Payments from Super
The tax-free component of your benefit, which comes from non-concessional (after-tax) contributions you made yourself, is always tax-free regardless of your age. The low rate cap only applies to the taxable component.
Getting to Your Super Before Preservation Age
The system is designed to keep your super locked away until retirement, but the law carves out narrow exceptions for genuine emergencies and specific life events. Each pathway has its own eligibility test and limits.
Terminal Medical Condition
If two registered medical practitioners certify that an illness or injury is likely to result in your death within 24 months, and at least one of them is a specialist in the relevant field, your entire super balance becomes unrestricted. Any amount withdrawn within the 24-month certification period is paid as a tax-free lump sum, provided the certification has not expired at the time of payment or within 90 days of receiving it.6Australian Taxation Office. Access Due to a Terminal Medical Condition The regulatory definition sits in Regulation 6.01A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994.7AustLII. REG 6.01A Meaning of Terminal Medical Condition
Permanent Incapacity
You can access your super if your fund trustee is satisfied that your ill health makes it unlikely you will ever work again in a role you are reasonably qualified for by education, training, or experience. This does not require a life-expectancy prognosis, but it does require evidence that you cannot return to any suitable work, not just your previous job.2Australian Taxation Office. Conditions of Release
Severe Financial Hardship
If you are under your preservation age plus 39 weeks, you can apply to your fund for a hardship release of between $1,000 and $10,000, but only if you have been receiving eligible government income support payments for at least 26 continuous weeks and cannot meet reasonable, immediate living expenses for your family. Only one hardship withdrawal is allowed in any 12-month period.8Australian Taxation Office. When You Can Access Your Super Early
A different rule applies once you have reached preservation age plus 39 weeks. If you have received government income support for a cumulative total of 39 weeks after reaching preservation age and are not currently employed, there is no cap on the amount you can withdraw.8Australian Taxation Office. When You Can Access Your Super Early
Compassionate Grounds
The ATO can approve an early release to pay for specific expenses you cannot cover any other way. The eligible categories are medical treatment or transport for a life-threatening illness or injury (or to alleviate acute or chronic pain or mental illness) where treatment is not readily available through the public system; disability modifications to your home or vehicle; palliative care for you or a dependant with 24 months or less to live; death or funeral expenses for a dependant; and payments to stop a lender foreclosing on your home.
You apply to the ATO rather than your fund, and you will need supporting documentation, typically a specialist medical report and a quote or invoice for the expense. The amount released is capped at the cost of the specific expense and is taxed as a normal super lump sum.9Australian Taxation Office. Expenses Eligible for Release on Compassionate Grounds
First Home Super Saver Scheme
The First Home Super Saver scheme lets you withdraw voluntary super contributions to put toward a first home. You can contribute up to $15,000 in any single financial year and $50,000 across all years. When calculating your maximum release, 100% of non-concessional contributions and 85% of concessional contributions count, along with associated earnings calculated by the ATO. Only voluntary contributions are eligible. Your employer’s standard Super Guarantee payments cannot be withdrawn under this scheme.10Australian Taxation Office. First Home Super Saver Scheme
Preservation Age Is Not Age Pension Age
These two ages are governed by different laws and serve different purposes, but people conflate them constantly. Your preservation age (55–60) determines when you can touch your private super savings. The Age Pension age (currently 67) determines when you become eligible for the government-funded pension. There can be a gap of seven years or more between the two, and the system offers no bridge.
Eligibility for the Age Pension depends on meeting both an income test and an assets test, not just turning 67. As of March 2026, a single homeowner can hold up to $321,500 in assets and still receive the full Age Pension. The full-pension threshold for a homeowner couple is $481,500 in combined assets. Part pensions taper off above those limits and cut out entirely at $722,000 for a single homeowner or $1,085,000 for a couple.11Services Australia. Assets Test for Age Pension
Super balances count toward the assets test once you reach Age Pension age. Someone who retires at 60 and draws on their super for seven years may find the remaining balance still pushes them over the threshold at 67. Someone else who spends down aggressively in their early 60s might qualify for a part pension but have little private savings left. The interaction between these two systems is where most retirement income planning happens.12Services Australia. Who Can Get Age Pension