The figure comes despite more than 540,000 active, lost and unclaimed super accounts worth more than $4.4 billion have been consolidated using ATO online via myGov last year.
“Often, people lose touch with their fund by simply changing jobs or moving home,” said commissioner Graham Whyte.
“It’s important to know that this doesn’t mean it’s lost forever – getting back in touch is easier than you think.”
Liverpool and surrounding suburbs have the most unclaimed superannuation, with 13,251 members missing out on $81,085,282 in unclaimed or lost superannuation, the ATO has flagged.
Mr Whyte highlighted how superannuation accounts with balances under $200 or that are owned by members over the age of 65 can have their unclaimed or lost superannuation deposited directly into their bank account.
Mr Whyte even explained how “a woman was previously reunited with over $600,000 of unclaimed super after losing her home in a bushfire”.
“As she was over 65, we were able to pay that money directly to her and she is now able to use this money to rebuild her life,” Mr Whyte said.
New legislation
Under new legislation, the ATO indicated that it is working to reunite low and inactive members with their retirement nest egg.
This law will require superannuation funds to report inactive and low balances to the Tax Office if they have been untouched for 16 months and have a balance below $6,000.
The ATO said it has already reunited just over 841,000 accounts worth nearly $1.38 billion with their owners.
This includes approximately 684,000 accounts worth $1.22 billion that have been transferred into an individual’s active super account and approximately 157,000 accounts worth $161 million directly to individuals’ bank accounts.
“With the ATO now able to reunite these inactive low balance accounts and previously unclaimed accounts, we’ve already started to see some incredible examples of people receiving meaningful boosts to their retirement savings,” Mr Whyte said.
nestegg has an interactive map to help Aussies see what suburbs hold the most in lost superannuation
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