As of 30 June 2020, $13.8 billion was held by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as lost or unclaimed superannuation in accounts across Australia. Could some of that be yours?
ATO-held super refers to the money in super that (the ATO) holds for you. This includes amounts paid by employers, super funds, retirement savings accounts (RSA) providers or the government on your behalf.
Generally, super money will be transferred to the ATO from super providers for any of the following:
- unclaimed super for members aged 65 years or older, non-member spouses and deceased members
- small lost member accounts and insoluble lost member accounts
- inactive low-balance accounts
- super for temporary residents who have left Aus for six months or more
- accounts held in eligible rollover funds that are transferred to us before they wind up
- amounts your fund transferred to us on a voluntary basis when it determined this was in your best interest.
If the ATO holds your super, you can consolidate or claim it from them once you’ve met certain conditions.
To find out if you have ATO-held super, you can use the ATO’s online services for individuals. You will need a myGov account linked to the ATO. Once you have linked the ATO to your MyGov account, you will need to select “Super” to see if you currently have any unclaimed super and will then be able to nominate a super account for your balance to be transferred to.
