The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) holds an estimated $2.7 billion in unclaimed superannuation in more than 4 million unclaimed super accounts.
The problem is it stays unclaimed. People join a new fund and more often than not forget to transfer the balance.
Now the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA), Australia’s peak superannuation body, is calling on the Federal Government to take the next step and amend the Superannuation Act to enable the ATO to reunite the money with its original owners.
The ASFA has called for the change in its pre-budget submission.
It cites an example of a 25 year old with $4000 of superannuation from various part time jobs while studying with the money held by the ATO as unclaimed super. The ASFA estimates that if the money was transferred into an active superannuation account, their superannuation balance would be $14,640 higher at retirement.
ASFA CEO Dr Martin Fahy said consolidation into an active account could mean thousands extra in retirement.
“Fund members with missing or lost accounts are more likely to generate earnings with their balance in a super fund, rather than with the ATO where balances only attract interest at a current rate of 1.5 per cent per year,” Dr Fahy said.
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