Superannuation, or 'super', is money put aside by your employer over your working life for you to live on when you retire from work.
It is compulsory for your employer to pay a percentage of your earnings into your super account, and your super fund invests the money until you retire.
In Australia, there are measures to ensure that individuals don’t irreversibly lose their superannuation savings, even if an account has been inactive.
If your contact details have changed and the provider is unable to reach you, they are required to transfer the unclaimed super fund to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
ATO’s Deputy Commissioner Emma Rosenzweig explains what is considered lost super and what happens to it.
Lost super is super money that's held by superannuation funds, where the fund has lost contact with you and your account’s been inactive. So, it hasn't been receiving contributions. Super funds will hang on to that lost super until they find you. But they do report it to us so that we can try and help you find it through ATO online services as well. If they can't find you, then some lost super has to be transferred to us.
