How to find lost super

Here’s a list of steps you could consider to help you find and recover any lost super you may have.

Here’s a list of steps you could consider to help you find and recover any lost super you may have.

What is lost superannuation?

If you’ve ever switched jobs, lived overseas, or changed your name or address during your working life, you may have lost track of some of your superannuation along the way. According to the Australian Tax Office (ATO), your super fund will report you as a ‘lost member’ if any of the following situations apply:

They have not been able to contact you.

They have not received any contributions or rollover amounts for you in the past five years.

Your account was transferred from another fund as a lost member account and no new address has been found.

The ATO stresses that it is technically super members who can become ‘lost’ under Australia’s super laws, not their accounts or the money in them. This means that if a member confirms their address or tells the fund they want to continue being a member, then they generally wouldn’t be considered lost, even if they’re no longer paying money into the account. This also excludes self-managed super fund (SMSF) members from being considered lost.

The money in a lost member’s super account is generally held by their super fund until they claim it, unless it totals less than $6,000. In that case, the fund typically must pay the balance of these ‘small lost member accounts’ to the ATO instead, and the money is considered ‘unclaimed’ rather than lost. There are also a range of other conditions under which the fund would transfer super to the ATO.

What is unclaimed superannuation?

Unclaimed super is different to lost super in that the person it belongs to isn’t necessarily inactive or uncontactable, and that it sits with the ATO rather than with individual super funds. Super funds generally have to report and pay unclaimed super money to the ATO twice a year. The ATO then adds the money to its Unclaimed Super Money (USM) register, and holds onto it until its owner claims it.

According to the Association of Super Funds of Australia’s Super Guru website, unclaimed super can include super belonging to:

members aged over 65

non-member spouses (where a person’s super has been split following breakdown of their marriage or de facto relationship).

deceased members

former temporary residents

lost members with ‘small’ account balances of less than $6,000

lost members with ‘insoluble’ accounts, meaning their super fund didn’t have enough information about them to verify they were entitled to the money.

The good news is that unclaimed and lost super is still considered to be owned by the member it belongs to, and it may be easier than you think to claim it. On the other hand, consolidating your super can mean you avoid paying multiple sets of fees and insurance premiums, but if your lost super is still tied to a super fund and has insurance associated with it, you may want to consider whether you still need this insurance. You can compare Life Insurance through Super on Canstar’s database.

How does super get lost or go unclaimed?

Some examples of why super becomes ‘lost’ and goes unclaimed, include:

You’ve changed jobs before 2021: Rules introduced in 2021 mean that your active super fund is ‘stapled’ to you, and a new employer must pay super into that account. However, if you changed jobs before 2021, you needed to tell your employer what super fund you wanted to be in, or if you wanted to go with the employer’s default fund. The ‘stapled super‘ rules are designed to prevent people from having multiple super accounts, thereby decreasing the risk of losing track of super.

Your super fund can’t find you: You may not have updated your contact details with your super fund (or funds) when you moved house or changed your name.

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