Whenever the federal government introduces tax cuts, the extra income it generates will attract headlines. The same applies when there is a reduction in mortgage interest rates.

But not many super savers are aware of their personal power to create more generous tax breaks than the government or a reduction in interest rates provide. The power exists in the scope to make salary sacrifice super contributions.

While no one would complain about the extra income flowing from a government tax cut or the savings an interest rate cut can bring, making a salary sacrifice contribution easily outshines them.

For example, if someone earning taxable income of $120,000 wants to invest $10,000 in a non-super asset, it will cost about $17,000 in before-tax income. This means about $7000 of this will be tax.

If one can buy exactly the same investment through a super fund, it will cost less than $12,000. "There's no question that you get a much bigger bang for your buck through super," says Peter Crump of Adelaide-based Portfolio Planning Solutions.

And when you combine a tax break with a salary sacrifice strategy, notes Peter Hogan of Avenue Capital Management, you get a double tax whammy.

The first break comes from the official reduction in tax on your salary and the second when you reduce your tax rate to 15 per cent by salary sacrificing into super.

With salary sacrifice, says Hogan, instead of taking all your money as salary, you come to an arrangement with your employer to direct part of it to your super.

Even though you will approach your employer and ask that part of your salary is directed to your super, the formal process should be made by your employer to you.

The offer is to contribute some of your salary into super as an employer contribution. Hogan says that when it reviews salary sacrifice arrangements, the Australian Taxation Office generally likes to see a written agreement.

He says that most employers don't mind sacrifice arrangements - they get the same tax deduction for the contribution as they do for an employee's salary.

The next step in a salary sacrifice arrangement is formal acceptance by the employee of the offer. All salary sacrifice arrangements should be properly documented, advises Hogan.

This confirms that an arrangement is prospective in nature. They can apply only to future salary, says Hogan; you can't backdate them.

Hogan says there are some things to watch for in a salary sacrifice arrangement.

One is making sure sacrifice contributions don't reduce your super guarantee entitlement. All employers are required to contribute 9 per cent of your salary to super.

However, salary sacrifice is viewed as an employer contribution.

You need to be aware that a salary sacrifice contribution can actually satisfy an employer's super guarantee obligation. This means making sure that any salary package arrangement doesn't lead to an employer ceasing to make super guarantee contributions.

It would be a mean employer, although there is nothing to stop them, who would agree to a salary sacrifice request and then count the money as part of the super guarantee.

Another trap for the unwary is the scope for an employer to reduce the super guarantee contribution because the 9 per cent can be based on after-super salary. The SG definition doesn't include salary sacrifice contributions.

Hogan says that while most employers treat their employees fairly when it comes to sacrifice arrangements, it is still worth asking questions about their approach.

With salary sacrifice arrangements, Hogan says that most employers will generally require that they be paid into the same fund that receives the super guarantee contributions. For those who wish their super to go into a DIY fund, it is important that this be nominated. Under choice of fund, employees can nominate the fund they want all the contributions to go into.

While a few very flexible employers will permit a contribution to be split between more than one fund, Hogan says employees usually have the opportunity to nominate only one fund on an annual basis. Where an employer does permit contributions to be split, Hogan says there is nothing stopping this from happening, if the employer is willing.

According to Hogan, the tax advantages offered by salary sacrifice make it a very worthwhile strategy.

In the current environment, it can be employed to build up a fund's cash so as to be ready to make investments when market conditions are more favourable.