Donnybrook residents have more than $23 million in unclaimed superannuation languishing in Australian Tax Office (ATO) coffers.
And they’re not the only ones. Mickleham and Sunbury/Wildwood residents also have about $23 million in lost superannuation, according to the ATO.
The tax office received a huge windfall last May when a new law came into effect that forced superannuation fund providers to transfer untouched super accounts with balances of less than $2000 to the ATO. The move was designed to protect the money from being eroded by fees and charges.
Superannuation accounts usually become “lost” when a person changes their name, address or job. “Unclaimed” super occurs when an account holder becomes eligible to receive the money but is unable to be contacted by the fund manager.
In Whittlesea, there are almost 15,000 “lost” super accounts and about 11,500 in Hume. Other suburbs with large sums of unclaimed money are Mill Park with more than $16 million, Bundoora
($13 million-plus), South Morang (more than $11 million) and Gladstone Park/Tullamarine (more than $10 million).
Victoria has the second-highest amount of lost super in the country, totalling more than $3 billion. The ATO is urging Australians to claim their lost super and to combine multiple accounts into one single active super fund to avoid unnecessary fees.
ATO deputy commissioner for superannuation, Alison Lendon, said claiming lost super could give retirement savings a significant boost. “If you found $50 in the pocket of your old coat, it would make your day. But 1.9 million Australians have an average of $8368 waiting to be found and claimed – which is a lot more than a forgotten banknote.”
Senior financial planner at South Morang-based Phalanx Financial Services, Stuart McGilvray, said the lost super figures were “shocking but not surprising”.
“Typically people do have a number of jobs, and if you’re not a money-oriented person, you focus on what you’re doing. It can be a case of out of sight, out of mind,” he said.
