Almost $13.8 billion in Australians’ hard-earned wages is waiting to be claimed, including $47 million in the New England, in the form of lost and unclaimed superannuation.

Member for New England Barnaby Joyce said data released by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the financial year ending June 2020 shows that Australian Government reforms have reduced unclaimed super by $7 billion compared to 30 June 2019. But there is more to be done.

Workers may have lost or unclaimed super if they have:

•               Changed their name

•               Moved jobs or changed addresses

•               Forgotten to update details with their super fund in the last few years

Lost superannuation refers to inactive super fund accounts and ones that have lost contact with their fund member. By law, the fund is required to transfer certain accounts to the ATO, which then becomes ‘unclaimed super money’.

Unlike super funds, the ATO does not charge fees, and thanks to reforms passed by the Federal Government, proactively consolidates any unclaimed super into an eligible, active super account where possible. Those reforms have seen $7 billion already sent back to workers.

“This is money that people may not even know is missing,” Mr Joyce said.

“You may have hard earned wages waiting to be claimed. By logging into MyGov, and checking for lost super with the ATO, you could boost your super balance.

“Thanks to actions taken by our Government, $7 billion has already been reunited with workers, but with $13.8 billion still waiting it is worth taking the time to check.”

The Government’s Protecting Your Super reforms have resulted in the ATO proactively reuniting more Australians with their lost and unclaimed super. Since November 2019 almost 3.3 million accounts worth almost $4.3 billion has been proactively reunited and paid out to their rightful owners.

(ENDS)