How to Find and Claim Unclaimed Superannuation?

A forgotten super account doesn’t always stay visible, especially when it becomes unclaimed superannuation.

Retirement savings can still be affected. A brief myGov search can show whether any unclaimed super belongs to the holder of a forgotten account. The ATO holds billions of dollars in superannuation that nobody has claimed.

Key Takeaways

Across Australia, almost $19 billion sits in super accounts that are lost or unclaimed.

• Australia has almost $19 billion held in lost or unclaimed
• A free search is available through myGov, or you can ask
• Bringing accounts together can lower fees and make your
• Holding several super accounts may mean duplicate
• Your super is invested rather than simply left untouched,
• Balances left behind by earlier employers may become

Use the free myGov search, or ask your super fund to look for unclaimed amounts that belong to you.

Putting your accounts together can cut fees and make retirement savings simpler to track.

Several super accounts may leave you with repeated administration fees and multiple insurance premiums.

Because your super is invested, rather than sitting untouched, it can build compound interest over time.

Forgotten super from previous employers may become much larger over 10, 20, or 30 years.

Understanding Lost, Unpaid, and Unclaimed Superannuation

What is Lost Superannuation?

Changing jobs, living overseas, or updating your name or address can leave super harder to follow. This can happen at any point in your working life.

Under Australian super laws, an account and the money in it cannot technically be ‘lost’. For a lost member, the money stays with the fund or is transferred to the ATO as ‘unclaimed’. A Tax File Number can confirm identity. It can generally be tracked down and claimed this way, because the money has not disappeared.

A super account can be classed as lost when:

• You cannot be contacted and no contribution or rollover has entered the account for a year.
• No contributions or rollover amounts have been received for you in the past five years.
• The account arrived from another fund as a lost member account, and a new address has not been located.

Put plainly, lost superannuation funds are held in an account that has slipped off the member’s radar or cannot be followed anymore. It might be money the member never knew about, or did not realise was there.

How Does Super Become Unclaimed?

Your super can also be marked ‘unclaimed’ and held by the ATO on its Unclaimed Super Money (USM) register.

The ATO looks for the owner first. When it cannot make contact, the money stays on the register until it is claimed.

Super funds must provide details of unclaimed money and remit it twice yearly whenever any of these situations applies:

• The account is lost or inactive and has a balance under $6,000.
• A lost member account has been inactive for a year and the owner cannot be contacted.
• The owner is aged 65 or over, has made no contribution in two years, and has not been contactable for five.
• The account owner has died and the super fund has been unable to pay the new rightful owner.
• The money belongs to a former temporary resident.
• Money is owed to an ex-spouse who cannot be contacted after a divorce.

What separates them is the money’s location. Lost super stays with a fund that cannot contact its member, while unclaimed super has gone to the ATO and remains there until it is claimed.

How Super Gets Lost or Goes Unclaimed

Before 2021, a job change could give workers several super accounts. Workers could pick a fund for a new role or go with the employer’s default fund. Since 2021, an active account follows its member as ‘stapled super‘.

A new employer must send contributions there. These rules reduce duplicate accounts and make forgotten super less likely.

Super can become harder to find as a working life changes. A new job, a spell overseas, or a different name or address can leave some superannuation difficult to identify.

After a move home or name change, a fund may no longer be able to contact its member. Update the fund’s records, or its letters and account details may not reach the member without current contact details.

Here are common situations that may lead to lost or unclaimed super:

• Working in a casual or part-time position
• Moving between full-time employers several times
• Relocating without notifying your super fund of your new contact details
• Leaving several super accounts separate because you forgot to consolidate them

Job changes, personal detail updates and separate accounts can make your retirement savings harder to track.

How to Find Unclaimed Superannuation

For guidance on how to find unclaimed superannuation, consult how to find lost superannuation australia before searching.

Which Method Should You Use?

For almost everyone, myGov linked to the ATO is the first place to look.

• For almost everyone: Begin through myGov linked to the ATO. It is free, quick and gives you the broadest view of your super.
• If you prefer your current fund to do the work: Use your super fund’s search tool to find other accounts and arrange consolidation.
• If you can’t use online services: Call the ATO on its super search line, with your TFN ready if possible.
• If you’re trying to piece together old history: Contacting past employers can uncover earlier accounts when other searches have failed.

Finding your super does not require paying a third party. Both the Australian Taxation Office and the super fund you currently use provide free search options.

Using myGov to Access ATO Online Services

Use myGov to reach the Australian Taxation Office search. Once linked, it shows your super accounts and the balance in each.

The ATO app gives you the same search access. Sign in, select Super, then Fund details, to view lost and active super accounts.

You can also begin in linked myGov. Choose ‘Manage my super’, where the matching process uses your Tax File Number to find lost and unclaimed super money.

Results list every super account found for you, plus any super money the ATO is holding.

It matches your TFN with records across every super fund in Australia. That makes myGov linked to the ATO the quickest and broadest way to search.

Once connected, you can:

• View every super account associated with your tax file number
• Consolidate multiple accounts
• Transfer balances into your preferred fund

Asking Your Current Super Fund to Search

A current fund can run a search as well. If you already have a preferred super fund, ask it to look for other super accounts.

The request is usually made in the fund’s online portal. You may have to complete identity checks and allow the fund to use your Tax File Number.

Many funds have free consolidation services and can arrange a transfer. Before agreeing, confirm whether the fund automatically puts found super into your active account, effectively consolidating the money.

Fees still matter here (annoyingly). Before moving other accounts into your current fund, compare performance, fees and other features carefully.

Contacting Past Employers or Funds Directly

Old work records can close some gaps. If you remember the employer but not the fund, contact its payroll department and ask which fund received your payments.

A particular fund may still have an account in your name. If you think you held one there, including with large retail or industry funds, ask if it is linked to your TFN.

What to Do After You Find Your Super

Check with the ATO to learn whether it found your super and where it sits. Your money could be held either by the ATO or by a super fund.

If the ATO holds the money, it will set out how to claim it. If a super fund has it, contact that fund directly. Use the web address supplied by the ATO and follow the fund’s claim steps.

Proof of identity is required before the money can be released, whether the ATO or a fund holds it.

Once you have found the money, you can transfer it to another active account. If you meet a condition of release, withdrawing it may also be possible.

Proving Your Identity

Identity verification is required to access your super, helping prevent someone else from claiming your money.

Common ID documents include a driver’s licence, Medicare card or proof of age card.

Missing ID, or details on your ID that do not match your super records, will not always prevent you proving who you are. Ask the fund which documents it accepts if this applies to you. Contact the fund after you know where the money sits. Requirements vary between funds, so check first.

Other evidence may also be used, including government agency letters, membership cards, community ID, or a statement from someone you trust who knows you, such as a health worker, teacher, Elder or community leader.

Be careful before you send personal details or upload ID documents. Make sure you are on the fund’s genuine website, look closely at the URL, and watch for copycat sites.

Consolidating Your Accounts

If you find more than one super account, consider combining them soon. That includes any account you had no idea was there.

The transfer can be arranged in two ways.

Option 1: Let your chosen super fund handle the transfer

Once you provide signed approval, your chosen superannuation provider can ask other super accounts for their balances. Those balances can then move into the account you want to keep.

Option 2: Do it yourself via the ATO

The transfer can also be handled through myGov. Choose the super fund you plan to keep first, then nominate it during the process.

The ATO service linked to your myGov account can also locate your super. It shows both fund-held accounts and super held by the ATO. The portal then tells you which funds the money leaves and which fund receives it.

Before transferring anything, compare your current funds with the one you want as your main account. Look closely at fees, performance and insurance.

1. Fees: Review yearly administration and investment charges. When fees are lower, a larger share of your money can remain invested.
2. Performance: Examine investment returns over the long term, including 5-10 years. Earlier results cannot promise what happens next, but they can still offer a useful point of comparison.
3. Insurance: Identify the kind and price of any life, TPD, or income protection insurance linked to each account. Valuable cover may be difficult or impossible to replace, so do not cancel it without checking first.

Check whether the account you are moving money from charges termination or exit fees. Also check for existing insurance attached to the account you plan to close.

Before you move lost super, consider speaking with a superannuation advisor or qualified financial planner who can help you determine if:

Important Considerations Before Consolidating Super

A high balance alone doesn’t settle your fund choice. Before keeping one account, line up its fees, insurance and past performance. Go through every cost before deciding which fund stays.

Returns don’t stay set. As Markets rise or fall, past performance can help you compare funds, though it can’t reliably predict future results.

Before moving any money, find out if the account you’re leaving has exit fees. Check whether closing it will remove valuable insurance.

Putting accounts together can cut paperwork, make your super simpler to manage and stop duplicate fees. But if your health has changed, an older account’s lower-cost insurance might be difficult to get again. You may be unable to get it on the same terms.

How to Check Your Insurance Cover

Look in your latest annual statement or the online portal for your super fund, where your cover details should appear. Then read the section called ‘Insurance’ or ‘Insurance Cover’.

• Type of Cover: Check whether the account includes Life (Death), Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD), and/or Income Protection.
• Cover Amount: Confirm the dollar value of the protection provided.
• Premiums: Check the annual or monthly amount taken from your super balance to pay for cover.

Health conditions you already had can leave insurance in an older fund impossible to replace, either on matching terms or at all. If you intend to cancel that cover, speak to a super financial advisor before doing so. They can explain what you could lose.

Your current employer can put contributions into whichever super fund you select. Before choosing the account to keep, check its costs, investment history and exit fees. Then look at the insurance connected to every account.

Use the free ATO search to look for unclaimed superannuation, then decide which account you want to keep. Before you move anything, look at fees, investment options, investment history, insurance and exit costs. These checks show what to review before transferring anything. Once those details are compared, choose that preferred account and check that your current employer can send contributions into it.