Unclaimed super rises to $16b despite consolidation efforts

Around a quarter of Australians still hold two or more superannuation accounts despite efforts to consolidate accounts, with $16 billion sitting in unclaimed super, according to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

In a speech at the Conference for Major Superannuation Funds (CMSF) in Melbourne, ATO Deputy Commissioner Emma Rosenzweig said some 4.7 million accounts had been consolidated since November 2019 with a value of $7.1 billion. 

However, there was still $16 billion sitting in lost and unclaimed super accounts, a rise of $2.1 billion since the last financial year. 

“New data also shows almost one in four (23 per cent) Australians hold two or more super accounts, which can contribute to individuals forgetting about or losing super. Not to mention being at risk of paying more fees and charges,” Rosenzweig said.

VIEW ALL

View all

“Super funds play an important role in helping us reunite individuals with their super and reducing the number of multiple accounts. So please keep in contact with your members, remind them to update their details, and encourage them to check ATO online services so that some of this lost super may be found.”

A second matter for the ATO in 2023 was expanding the use of Single Touch Payroll to address non-compliance on super guarantee (SG) payments. The SG was currently 10.5 per cent and was scheduled to increase to 11 per cent from 1 July 2023.

Around 94 per cent of employers were compliant with SG, she said, but there was still a remainder who were “off track”.

Rosenzweig said: “The work we do to identify [an] SG shortfall is informed by STP data reported by employers to give us the SG liability, and member account transaction service contributions data reported by funds that shows us what SG has actually been paid.

“While we already utilise these data sets now, this priority initiative will deliver a technology uplift that will allow us to match the data more effectively and at a larger scale. By the end of this year, we hope to have the new functionality deployed and will start testing the outcomes.”