When Can I Withdraw My Super? Preservation Age, 60, and 65

You can generally withdraw your super once you reach your preservation age and retire, or once you turn 65 whether you’re still working or not. If you were born after 30 June 1964, your preservation age is 60. Several other situations unlock access earlier, including severe financial hardship, terminal illness, permanent incapacity, specific compassionate expenses approved by the ATO, buying a first home under the First Home Super Saver scheme, and departing Australia permanently as a former temporary resident. Each pathway has its own rules, evidence requirements, and tax treatment.

Your Preservation Age

Preservation age is the earliest point you can start drawing on your super, provided you also meet a condition of release. It depends on your date of birth:

Before 1 July 1960: 55
1 July 1960 to 30 June 1961: 56
1 July 1961 to 30 June 1962: 57
1 July 1962 to 30 June 1963: 58
1 July 1963 to 30 June 1964: 59
From 1 July 1964: 60

Because everyone born from July 1964 onward has a preservation age of 60, that threshold now applies to the vast majority of working Australians. Reaching your preservation age by itself doesn’t release your super. You also need to satisfy a condition of release, most commonly retirement or ceasing employment after 60.¹

What Counts as Retirement if You’re Under 60

If you’re between your preservation age and 59 and want to access your super, you need to meet the legal definition of retirement. Simply resigning isn’t enough on its own. Your fund’s trustee needs to be reasonably satisfied that you’ve ended an employment arrangement and you don’t intend to work 10 or more hours a week again in the future.¹

That 10-hour threshold catches people out. If you plan to keep doing part-time or casual work above that level, you won’t meet the retirement definition, even if you’ve left your main career. Once the trustee is satisfied, your preserved benefits become unrestricted and can be taken as lump sums or as an income stream.

Ceasing Employment After 60

A more flexible rule kicks in once you turn 60. If you’re 60 or older and you cease an employment arrangement, the super you’d accumulated up to that point is released, even if you immediately start a new job somewhere else. You don’t have to declare you’re finished working for good.¹

The limit is that only the balance up to the point you left that job gets released. Contributions from your next employer stay preserved until you meet a fresh condition of release, such as leaving the new job or turning 65.¹

Turning 65

At 65 you have unrestricted access to your entire super balance. No retirement test, no need to leave a job, no conditions at all. You can take lump sums, start an income stream, or leave the money invested. This applies whether you’re working full-time, part-time, or not at all.¹

Transition to Retirement While Still Working

If you’ve reached preservation age but haven’t retired or left your job, you can still start drawing on your super through a transition to retirement income stream. This lets you top up your employment income with regular super payments, which is useful if you’re winding back to part-time hours or want to ease financial pressure before fully retiring.²

The main restriction is that the income stream is non-commutable while you’re still working. You can’t convert it into a lump sum. You receive regular payments instead, and the fund must make at least one payment each year. Once you meet a full condition of release, such as retiring or turning 65, the commutation restriction drops away.³

Early Access on Compassionate Grounds

You can apply to the ATO for early release of super to cover a defined list of expenses:

Medical treatment for a life-threatening illness, or to alleviate acute or chronic physical pain or acute or chronic mental illness, where the treatment isn’t readily available through the public system
Modifications to your home or vehicle to accommodate the needs of a person with a severe disability
Palliative care for a terminal condition
Mortgage assistance to prevent your lender from foreclosing on or forcing the sale of your home
Funeral and burial expenses for a dependant

The ATO assesses each application and, if approved, issues a letter specifying the amount that can be released. Your super fund then pays the money once it receives that letter. For mortgage assistance, you’ll need a default notice from your lender as part of your evidence.⁴

Severe Financial Hardship

If you’re under your preservation age plus 39 weeks, you can apply to your super fund directly for early release on severe financial hardship grounds. You need to satisfy both conditions: you’ve received eligible government income support payments continuously for 26 weeks, and you can’t meet reasonable and immediate family living expenses.⁵

The withdrawal is between $1,000 and $10,000, and only one withdrawal is allowed in any 12-month period. If your balance is under $1,000, you can withdraw whatever remains after tax. Hardship claims go to your fund, not the ATO.⁵

Terminal Illness and Permanent Incapacity

With a terminal medical condition, you can access your entire super balance at any age. Two registered medical practitioners, at least one of them a specialist in the relevant area, must certify jointly or separately that your illness or injury is likely to result in death within 24 months of the certification.⁶

Permanent incapacity is a separate pathway. Your fund’s trustee must be satisfied that because of physical or mental ill health you’re unlikely ever to engage in work you’re reasonably qualified for by education, training, or experience. This also requires certification from at least two medical practitioners. The benefit can be paid as a lump sum or an income stream.⁷

First Home Super Saver Scheme

The First Home Super Saver scheme lets you withdraw voluntary contributions to buy your first home. You can contribute up to $15,000 in a single financial year and $50,000 in total across all years. Eligible contributions include salary sacrifice amounts and personal voluntary contributions made on or after 1 July 2017.⁸

You must be 18 or older when you request a determination, and you must never have owned property in Australia, including investment property, vacant land, or commercial property. You also need to genuinely intend to live in the home for at least 6 of the first 12 months it’s available to move into. You don’t need to be an Australian citizen or tax resident to use the scheme.

When calculating the releasable amount, 100% of eligible non-concessional contributions count, but only 85% of concessional contributions (salary sacrifice or personal contributions you’ve claimed a deduction for) are included, plus associated earnings. The process runs through ATO online services via myGov: request a determination of your maximum releasable amount, then request the release, then sign a contract on a property within the required timeframe.⁸

Departing Australia as a Former Temporary Resident

If you’re a temporary resident who has left Australia and your visa has expired or been cancelled, you can claim a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP). You need to meet all of the following: you accumulated super while on a temporary visa issued under the Migration Act 1958 (excluding subclasses 405 and 410), your visa is no longer in effect, you’ve left the country, you don’t hold another active Australian visa, and you’re not an Australian citizen, New Zealand citizen, or permanent resident.⁹

The ATO suggests gathering your information and starting your claim before you leave, because the process is harder to manage from overseas. New Zealand citizens leaving Australia permanently may be able to transfer their super to a KiwiSaver scheme instead of taking a DASP.

How Much Tax You’ll Pay

What you actually receive depends on your age and whether the money comes from a taxed or untaxed fund.

Age 60 and Over

From 60 onward, withdrawals from a taxed super fund, which covers most private-sector funds, are completely tax-free. This applies to both lump sums and income stream payments. Money from an untaxed fund, typically certain public sector schemes, is the exception, and the taxable component of those payments attracts tax.¹⁰

Preservation Age to 59

Between preservation age and 59, tax depends on the components of your payment. The tax-free component is always tax-free. For the taxable component, the taxed element is tax-free up to the low rate cap and taxed at a maximum of 15% plus the 2% Medicare levy above the cap. The untaxed element is taxed at 15% up to the low rate cap and 30% above it, with amounts above the untaxed plan cap taxed at the top marginal rate. The low rate cap is indexed each financial year; check the ATO’s key superannuation rates page for the current figure.¹¹

Hardship and Other Early Withdrawals

Hardship withdrawals aren’t taxed on a special scale. They’re treated as ordinary super lump sums. Under 60, that typically means between 17% and 22% on the taxable component including Medicare levy. Over 60, the withdrawal is generally tax-free from a taxed fund.⁵

Terminal illness benefits are the notable exception: if you meet the terminal medical condition rules, the entire withdrawal is tax-free at any age.

How to Make the Claim

How you apply depends on the condition of release. For retirement withdrawals after preservation age or at 65, you deal directly with your fund. Contact them, fill out the withdrawal form, provide your tax file number and bank details, and the money is transferred once they’re satisfied you’ve met the conditions.

Compassionate grounds applications go through the ATO. You can apply online in myGov linked to ATO online services, or on paper. Online applications are typically processed within 14 days, and paper applications can take up to 28 days. If approved, the ATO issues a letter to you and your fund, and you then submit that letter with your fund’s withdrawal form to finalise the payment. Watch your myGov messages during the assessment window, because the ATO may ask for extra evidence and delays in responding will push out the timeline.¹²

Financial hardship claims go straight to your super fund, which assesses the eligibility criteria itself.

1
Australian Taxation Office. Conditions of Release
2
Australian Taxation Office. Transition to Retirement
3
Australian Taxation Office. Transition to Retirement Income Streams (TRIS)
4
Australian Taxation Office. Expenses Eligible for Release on Compassionate Grounds
5
Australian Taxation Office. When You Can Access Your Super Early
6
Australian Taxation Office. Access Due to a Terminal Medical Condition
7
Australian Taxation Office. Appendix 3 Definitions – Permanent Incapacity Benefit
8
Australian Taxation Office. First Home Super Saver Scheme
9
Australian Taxation Office. Departing Australia Superannuation Payment DASP
10
Moneysmart.gov.au. Tax and Super
11
Australian Taxation Office. Payments From Super
12
Australian Taxation Office. How to Apply for Release on Compassionate Grounds