Key Highlights

  • Compassionate release applications climbed to 112,400 in 2024–25.
  • Dental requests rose sharply while mortgage relief remained difficult to secure.
  • Applicants must satisfy strict eligibility and evidence requirements.
  • Recipients must declare taxable super lump sums in their returns.

Applications to release super early on compassionate grounds are climbing, with the ATO receiving 112,400 in 2024–25, up from 90,700 the year before. Anyone who received a release during 2025–26 also needs to know it is taxed and must be included in their tax return, with the self-lodger deadline falling on 31 October 2026. The ATO has not yet published figures for 2025–26.

Applications are climbing, led by dental

ATO statistics last updated on 16 October 2025, 67,900 compassionate release applications were approved in 2024–25, allowing $1,416.0 million to be paid out. That compares with $1,040.4 million approved the previous year, an increase of about 36%.

Medical treatment or transport dominates. That category drew 93,500 applications in 2024–25, with 64,900 approved and $1,369.0 million released.

That is an approval rate of about 69% for the category, broadly in line with the ATO's later statement that 30% of medical-category applications were rejected.

Dental is the standout within it. The ATO recorded 47,630 dental applications and $817.6 million approved in 2024–25, up from 31,780 applications and $526.4 million in 2023–24. That is an increase of roughly 50% in applications and 55% in dollars in a single year.

Mortgage relief, by contrast, is rarely granted. In 2024–25, 12,500 applications to prevent a foreclosure or forced sale were received but only 1,200 were approved, fewer than one in ten, releasing $20.9 million. A further 810 funeral applications were approved for $10.0 million, and 1,100 disability-related applications for $15.5 million.

Across all categories, the $1,416.0 million approved works out at roughly $20,900 per approved application, a sizeable sum to remove from a retirement account.

The grounds, and who can apply

The ATO's rules, last updated on 8 July 2026, set out six grounds for compassionate release. They include medical treatment or medical transport, modifying a home or vehicle, palliative care, the death or funeral of a dependant, and preventing foreclosure or a forced sale of your home.

Applicants must be a current or former Australian citizen or permanent resident, or a New Zealand citizen. The expense must be unpaid, or paid with borrowed money that has not yet been repaid, and the applicant must be unable to meet it another way.

At least one supporting report must come from a relevant registered specialist, and reports must be less than six months old. Since 17 November 2025, the ATO has only accepted updated application forms.

Processing takes about 14 days for online applications and 28 days for paper applications, according to the ATO.

How released super is taxed

Released amounts are not tax-free. super released on compassionate grounds is taxed as a normal super lump sum, and the amount must be included in the recipient's tax return.

That means anyone who received a release during 2025–26 needs to declare it in their 2025–26 return. For people lodging their own returns, the deadline is 31 October 2026.