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Despite the ATO publicity campaigns urging Australians to check and claim lost super, the size of the nation’s lost super pile continues to mount in ghost accounts across the nation.
New ATO data released a month ago has found that Australians have an eye-watering $16 billion in lost or unclaimed superannuation—an increase of $2.1 billion since last financial year when the figure was $13.8 billion.
Officially, lost super occurs when a super fund has lost contact with you and your account hasn’t received a contribution or rollover for 12 months, or your account is inactive—i.e. your account hasn’t received a contribution or rollover in five years.
There are myriad situations in which your superannuation might have become lost or unclaimed. Anything that could prompt you to become uncontactable by a super fund, for example a name or address change, or moving overseas to live for a while, could result in you unintentionally losing track of your super.
And for some of us who have been working for more than a couple of decades, you may have forgotten about super funds accounts you had when you first started working.
Whatever the reason, some $16 billion is a sizeable amount of money and it’s worth doing some research to find out if any of it is yours.
Related: How to Retire at 60
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What Is Super Stapling?
Lost super has been a huge problem for some time now, and in the past most of us had to spend hours “rolling over” our super from the various funds of previous employers into the one account.
There have been some changes introduced recently that were designed to prevent so many superannuation accounts going missing. In the past, different employers had different default superannuation funds and if you didn’t provide your choice of super fund, you would have automatically been put into the employer’s chosen fund—potentially ending up with a different super fund for every job you ever had.
However, in late 2021 Super Stapling was introduced which meant that from 1 November 2021 if a new employee didn’t provide details of their chosen fund to their new employer, the employer had to check with an ATO database to see if the employee had a stapled fund, and pay the employee’s super into that stapled fund. If you’re unsure of how the best default, or MySuper funds stack up, read our guide to the Best Default Superannuation providers.
How To Find and Roll Over Lost Super
If you were employed before November 2021 it is still possible that you may have some lost or unclaimed super sitting in an account somewhere so it is worth having a look. Here is how to track down your lost super.
The ATO
The best place is to start with the ATO and your myGov account . If you haven’t already, link your ATO account to your myGov account. Once you have done this, click on the Super Tab and Fund details, if you scroll down it should list all your superfunds with how much you have in each one.
You can also complete a paper form and mail it to the ATO. Or you can ring the ATO’s lost super search line on 13 28 65 where you will be asked for details like your Tax File Number.
If you do have more than one super account and you want to consolidate your accounts, you will be able to do that via your linked ATO account under the Transfer Super option.
Contacting Former Employers
If you think you have lost superannuation but it doesn’t appear in your MyGov account it may be worth tracking down past employers to get the details of any superannuation money they might have paid on your behalf and into what superannuation accounts. If you have kept pay slips, these may have some details on them about or superannuation, or they should at least have the contact details of the employer.
Using a Superannuation Finder Service
There are companies that offer to find lost or unclaimed superannuation for you, and some may even offer to do it for a fee, but the best bet is still to start with the ATO and your MyGov account.
Unmatched Super Explained
Superannuation funds are required to transfer unclaimed super and some small lost superannuation accounts (lost accounts under $6,000) to the ATO. Once the ATO has the funds it will try and match them to people and if it can match your super it will appear in your myGov ATO account.
However, if the ATO doesn’t have enough details they may not be able to match the super, which means it will not appear in your MyGov account. If you believe you have superannuation that is unaccounted for use the information you have obtained from your former employers about these superannuation funds and contact the funds directly. If they don’t have funds in your name, ask them if they have transferred your funds to the ATO.
You will need details like your fund member number, the amount of super held in accounts (or transferred to the ATO), payment reference numbers and relevant dates. Once you have that information contact the ATO on 13 10 20.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What does rolling over super mean?
Rolling over superannuation refers to transferring superannuation from one fund to another fund.
How to claim lost super?
Once you have tracked down your lost super you can easily. consolidate your superannuation funds into one account via myGov ATO services. Contact the ATO for more information on 13 10 20.
What does ATO do with lost super?
The ATO is required to pay interest on ATO-held super at the point they process the claim. Interest is calculated using the consumer price index, which is currently at 7.8%.
What does stapling superannuation mean?
Superannuation stapling refers to ‘stapling’ a superannuation fund to an employee so that the find follows the employee from job to job. It is designed to reduce multiple superannuation accounts as employees shift roles over the course of their working life.
How do I find lost super for free?
While there are some companies that offer to help you find your super for a fee, the best place to start is with the ATO, where you can see your super accounts by logging into your MyGov account and clicking on the ‘Super Tab’ and ‘Fund’ details. You can transfer your super into the one fund via this MyGov service (remember that you pay fees on super so it’s best to only have one super account). If a super fund is missing from the list, or you think it may be, the next port of call is to contact the employer and see if they have transferred your super to the ATO. This is known as ‘unmatched super’ and happens when the ATO doesn’t have enough details to match you with the right super fund, and so it sits in a fund, accruing interest. Phone the ATO on their lost super search line (13 28 65) and make sure you have:
- your super fund’s name
- your member account number
- the unclaimed superannuation money (USM) that has been transferred to ATO
- the date your super fund paid the money to the ATO
- any payment reference numbers.
This will enable the ATO to connect you, or ‘match you’, with your lost super or USM.
How do I find lost super with my tax file number?
If you have your tax file number on hand, you can ring the ATO’s lost super search line on 13 28 65 and they will be able to help you.
