Unclaimed Super. Could Any Of It Be Yours?

Around $13.8 billion in Australians’ hard earned wages is waiting to be claimed, in the form of lost and unclaimed superannuation.

Data released by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the financial year ending June 2020 shows that the Morrison Government’s reforms have had a big impact, reducing unclaimed super by $7 billion compared to 30 June 2019. But there is more to be done.

Workers may have lost or unclaimed super if they have:

•               Changed their name

•               Moved jobs or changed addresses

•               Forgotten to update details with their super fund in the last few years

Lost superannuation refers to inactive super fund accounts and ones that have lost contact with their fund member. By law, the fund is required to transfer certain accounts to the ATO, which then becomes ‘unclaimed super money’.

Unlike super funds, the ATO does not charge fees, and thanks to reforms passed by the Morrison Government, proactively consolidates any unclaimed super into an eligible, active super account where possible. Those reforms have seen $7 billion already sent back to workers.

There is $50 million unclaimed in Groom- money that workers may not even know they are missing.

Member for Groom Garth Hamilton said, You may have hard-earned money waiting to be claimed. By logging into MyGov, and checking for lost super with the ATO, in a few clicks you could boost your super balance.”

Thanks to actions taken by the Morrison Government, $7 billion has already been reunited with workers, but with $13.8 billion still waiting it is worth taking the time to check.”

The Government’s Protecting Your Super reforms have resulted in the ATO proactively reuniting more Australians with their lost and unclaimed super. Since November 2019 almost 3.3 million accounts worth almost $4.3 billion has been proactively reunited and paid out to their rightful owners.

Further information about lost and unclaimed superannuation is available on the ATO website at https://www.ato.gov.au/About-ATO/Research-and-statistics/In-detail/Super-statistics/Super-accounts-data/Lost-and-unclaimed-super-by-postcode/