Keeping track of your super

Your super is your savings for retirement. It’s important to be aware how much is being contributed, what super accounts you have and what insurance they provide.

If you've ever changed your name, address or job, you may have lost track of some of your super. Having several super accounts could mean that multiple fees and charges are reducing your overall super investment.

Check your super

You can check, consolidate, find lost super and keep track of your super online by creating or logging in to your myGov account.

You need to know how much you have contributed into your super fund to ensure you do not exceed the superannuation contribution caps.

Working overseas

If you take up an Australian employer’s offer to temporarily work overseas, your employer must continue to pay super contributions for you in Australia.

ATO-held super

ATO-held super includes amounts paid to the ATO by employers, super funds or the government on your behalf that needs to go into your super. If your super fund can't contact you or the ATO are unable to find an account to transfer the money to, the ATO will hold it for you.

To find out if you have ATO-held super, use the online services for individuals. You will need a myGov account linked to the ATO.

You can use these online services to:

• View details of all your super accounts, including any you have lost track of
• Combine multiple super accounts by transferring your super, including ATO-held super, into your preferred super account – if this is a fund-to-fund transfer it will generally be actioned within three working days
• Withdraw your ATO-held super and put it into your bank account, if you meet certain conditions.

Where ATO-held super comes from

ATO-held super may be made up of super guarantee payments, government super payments or unclaimed super from your lost super fund.

A special account is used to hold the amounts that may be owed to you.

Super guarantee

Super guarantee is the super that your employer must contribute to your super account if you are an eligible employee. If your employer has not paid the right amount of super for you, they have to pay the gap to the ATO and they will hold it on your behalf.

Government super contributions

There are two types of government contributions:

• The super co-contribution – the government helps low- and middle-income earners boost their super savings by matching some or all of their personal contributions each year.
• The low-income super contribution (LISC) – a government payment to help low income earners save for their retirement. LISC is worked out on 15% of the concessional (before tax) super contributions you or your employer make. The maximum payment is $500 and the minimum is $10.

Unclaimed super from super funds

Your super fund must report and pay your lost super to the ATO if you are:

• Over 65 years old, haven't made a contribution for the past two years and have been uncontactable by your fund for five years
• Deceased and your fund has been unable to pay the benefit to the rightful owner
• A former temporary Australian resident and it has been six months since you left Australia or since your visa expired
• Entitled to be paid your ex-spouse’s super in a divorce and the fund is unable to contact you
• A lost member whose account balance is less than $4,000
• A lost member whose account has been inactive for 12 months and your fund does not have the information needed to make a payment to you.

If you are a beneficiary of a deceased person, you may be able to claim their unclaimed super money.

From 1 July 2013, interest will be payable on all unclaimed super the ATO hold. The ATO will pay the interest when they process your claim. Generally, you do not have to pay income tax on these interest payments.

Superannuation holding account (SHA) special account

The SHA special account is a holding account designed to protect your small super amounts until they can be transferred into a super fund or retirement savings account. It is not a trust fund or super fund.

The ATO deposit co-contributions or super guarantee payments that have not been paid to a fund, into the SHA special account.

Up to 30 June 2006, the SHA special account also accepted payments on your behalf from employers who could not find a super fund to accept their contributions.

If there has been no account activity for 10 years, it becomes an inactive account

Transferring ATO-held super to your super account

If the ATO are holding unclaimed super for you, you can transfer the money to your super account by:

• Using the online services for individuals
• Completing the form to Rollover initiation request to transfer whole balance of superannuation benefits between funds
• Completing the form to Rollover initiation request to transfer whole balance of superannuation benefits to your self managed super fund

The fund you transfer your money to must be a complying super fund.

Withdrawing your ATO-held super

You may be able to withdraw your ATO-held super by electronic funds transfer (EFT) or cheque, if you meet certain conditions.

There are two ways to see if you are eligible and withdraw your super – use the online services or complete a paper form.

Use the online services for individuals

You can use the online services to check if you're eligible and, if so, withdraw your ATO-held super and put it into your bank account.

Temporary resident claims

If you worked in Australia as a temporary resident, you may be eligible to claim your super after leaving Australia. If you haven't claimed it from your super fund, it may have been transferred to the ATO.

Statement of accounts for ATO-held super

You may receive a statement of account (SOA) for your ATO-held super.

Your SOA provides a list of transactions processed during the statement period. It shows your current account balances and any amounts due and payable for each super type or role within your ATO super account.

Temporary resident claims

If you worked in Australia as a temporary resident, you may be eligible to claim your super after leaving Australia. If you haven't claimed it from your super fund, it may have been transferred to the ATO

Statement of accounts for ATO-held super

You may receive a statement of account (SOA) for your ATO-held super.

Your SOA provides a list of transactions processed during the statement period. It shows your current account balances and any amounts due and payable for each super type or role within your ATO super account.

Australia Income Tax Guides and Supporting Articles