ATO says unclaimed super could see you pocket up to $200

Photo by Julian Santa Ana on Unsplash

New data has revealed there is over $20.8 billion in lost and unclaimed superannuation across Australia.

Thanks to new legislation and consolidation from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Australians can be reunited with their lost super, without needing to take any action.

These amounts will be transferred into corresponding bank accounts if the lost amount is less than $200 or the member is over the age of 65.

Remaining amounts will be transferred directly into members’ super funds.

ATO Assistant Commissioner Graham Whyte said the ATO has published data online on lost and unclaimed super by postcode to help people find super they’ve lost touch with.

“Often people lose touch with their fund by simply changing jobs or moving home,” Mr Whyte said.

“It’s important to know that this doesn’t mean it’s lost forever, getting back in touch is easier than you think.”

The new legislation also requires super funds to report and pay ‘inactive low balance accounts’ to the ATO.

This includes accounts that have not received a contribution for 16 months and have a balance below $6,000.

The ATO last year found over 540,000 active, lost and unclaimed super accounts worth more than $4.4 billion were consolidated using MyGov online.

How many people will receive a payment?

“So far, we have reunited just over 841,000 accounts worth nearly $1.38 billion,” Mr Whyte said.

“This includes approximately 684,000 accounts worth $1.22 billion that have been transferred into an individual’s active super account and approximately 157,000 accounts worth $161 million directly to individuals’ bank accounts.

“With the ATO now able to reunite these inactive low balance accounts and previously unclaimed accounts, we’ve already started to see some incredible examples of people receiving meaningful boosts to their retirement savings.”

“We expect more than one million people will receive a direct repayment.”

ATO Assistant Commissioner Graham Whyte

Mr Whyte said one woman aged 68 will receive a direct payment of over $1.5 million while another 65-year-old woman who lost her home in a bushfire will be reunited with $600,000 of unclaimed super.

“In this case, it wasn’t until the woman reached out to us that she realised she had so much super.

“That’s why it’s great that we can now start proactively reuniting people with their super that they might not know about.”

The ATO said it will notify people should they be reunited with their super, and they should ensure their bank details are up to date on MyGov.

What states have the most lost and unclaimed super?

The ATO has published a report which outlines the amount of lost and unclaimed super by postcode, as well as a state and territory breakdown.

The amount of super missing or unclaimed in:

• The ACT is $438 million
• NSW is $6 billion
• The NT $258 million
• QLD is $2.8 billion
• SA is $1.4 billion
• TAS is $404 million
• VIC is $4.7 billion
• WA is $2.2 billion

Seven of the top ten postcodes for lost and unclaimed super are in NSW, with the remaining three from Victoria.

Liverpool takes out the top spot, with 13,251 accounts containing $81,085,282 of lost or unclaimed super.

Check out the table below to see if your suburb makes the top ten.

Ranking	Postcode	State	Total no. of accounts	Total value
1	2170 – Liverpool & surrounds	NSW	13,251	$81,085,282
2	3030 – Werribee & surrounds	VIC	9,966	$72,114,112
3	2560 – Campbelltown & surrounds	NSW	11,004	$63,231,975
4	2145 – Westmead & surrounds	NSW	8,807	$60,764,352
5	3977 – Cranbourne & surrounds	VIC	10,126	$58,918,901
6	3029 – Hoppers Crossing & surrounds	VIC	8,883	$57,248,692
7	2026 – Bondi & surrounds	NSW	8,105	$56,000,248
8	2000 – Sydney CBD	NSW	8,295	$55,984,758
9	2010 – Surry Hills & Darlinghurst	NSW	7,493	$55,732,148
10	2148 – Blacktown & surrounds	NSW	8,416	$52,828,249

Source: ATO

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