How to Find and Consolidate Lost Super
Real ATO figures on lost and unclaimed super, why it goes missing, how to find it through myGov, and the insurance check to do before consolidating.
By Timothy Hirou GaschereauPublished 7 min read
Try it yourself
Billions of dollars in Australian super sits unclaimed, not because it's been lost in any dramatic sense, but because it's scattered across old accounts nobody's checked in years. Finding it is genuinely simple, consolidating it needs one careful check first. This is part of a wider guide to retirement and FIRE on Snowball Invest.
Quick answer
As of mid-2025, the ATO held or tracked over $18.9 billion in lost and unclaimed super across nearly 7.3 million accounts, an average of $2,590 per account. Finding it through myGov is free and takes minutes. Consolidating multiple accounts into one saves on duplicate fees, but check for insurance cover attached to any account before closing it.
In this guide
- →How much lost and unclaimed super is actually sitting out there right now
- →Why super goes missing in the first place, including a specific 2019 law change
- →How to find it, and the one thing to check before consolidating
- →What duplicate accounts actually cost in fees, and unclaimed super in deceased estates
💰 How much is actually out there
The ATO's own figures, current as of 30 June 2025, put total lost (fund-held) and ATO-held super at just over $18.9 billion, spread across almost 7.3 million accounts, an average of $2,590 sitting unclaimed per account. In the months following, the ATO reported reuniting around 360,000 Australians with roughly $600 million of it, a reminder that finding lost super is a solvable, mechanical problem, not a permanent loss.
🕳️ Why super goes missing in the first place
🎯 The essential: One of the most common paths into "lost super" is actually a deliberate 2019 law change, not an accident.
The most common cause is simply changing jobs. Without actively providing your existing super fund details to a new employer, a default account is often opened with whichever fund that employer uses, on top of whatever account you already had. Moving house without updating your address with a fund, or a fund losing contact and eventually transferring an inactive low-balance account to the ATO, are the other two common paths.
That third path isn't accidental, it's a deliberate design choice. Under the federal government's Protecting Your Super package, in force since 1 July 2019, funds are legally required to automatically transfer any account that's been inactive (no contribution received) for 16 months and holds a low balance to the ATO, which then uses data-matching to try to reunite it with an active account under the same tax file number. The same package requires funds to cancel default insurance cover on an inactive account after that same 16-month window, unless the member has actively opted to keep it, which is precisely the mechanism behind the insurance-cancellation risk covered next.
🔍 How to find it
Log in to myGov, link the ATO if it isn't linked already, and go to the "Super" section under ATO online services. It lists every super account associated with your tax file number, including any ATO-held amounts, in one place, no need to guess which old employers might have opened an account on your behalf.
⚠️ Check this before you consolidate
Closing a super account usually cancels any default life, total and permanent disability (TPD), or income protection insurance attached to it, automatically and immediately. If you haven't already been accepted for equivalent cover in the fund you're keeping, you can end up with a genuine gap in cover, and new cover isn't guaranteed: it may cost more, carry new waiting periods, or be declined altogether based on your health history. This risk is highest for anyone with an existing medical condition or over 60.
The fix isn't avoiding consolidation, it's checking what insurance is attached to each account first, and confirming equivalent cover exists (or genuinely isn't needed) in the fund you're keeping before closing anything.
🔗 How to actually consolidate
Once you've checked the insurance point above, consolidating can be done directly through myGov's ATO online services (selecting the account to transfer into your preferred fund) or through your preferred fund's own app or website, most major funds have a "combine your super" flow that handles the transfer request on your behalf.
📊 How Much Super Should You Have?
See where a consolidated balance sits against real Australian benchmarks.
💸 What duplicate accounts actually cost
Most super funds charge at least a flat weekly or monthly administration fee regardless of balance, on top of any percentage-based fee. As an illustrative example, Australia's largest fund charges a flat $1 a week administration fee plus a small percentage of the balance, roughly $52 a year in fixed fees alone, per account. Someone with three open accounts from past jobs could be paying that fixed fee three times over, plus three sets of percentage-based fees, for exactly the same total balance a single consolidated account would hold.
Multiple accounts can also mean multiple lots of insurance premiums being deducted, on top of the fee duplication, which is precisely the trade-off worth weighing against the insurance-cancellation risk covered above before deciding which accounts to close.
🕊️ Unclaimed super and deceased estates
Lost and unclaimed super isn't limited to people who are still alive and simply haven't checked. A super account belonging to someone who has died without a nominated beneficiary being found, or without the account being claimed by their estate, can also end up sitting unclaimed for years. Executors handling an estate are worth reminding to check for super specifically, since it isn't automatically included in a standard asset search the way a bank account often is.
If any of the mechanics above felt unfamiliar, it's worth starting with the basics of what superannuation actually is.
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❓ Frequently asked questions
Is checking for lost super free?
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Yes, checking through myGov and the ATO's online services costs nothing, and lost super doesn't disappear or get forfeited, it sits with your fund or the ATO indefinitely until claimed.
Will I definitely have lost super if I've changed jobs?
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Not necessarily, but it's genuinely common. A new employer without your existing fund's details often defaults new starters into that employer's chosen fund, creating an extra account unless you actively provide your existing details.
Does consolidating always save money?
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Usually yes on ongoing fees, since each open account typically charges its own administration fee, but check for insurance cover attached to the account being closed first, that's the genuine risk, not the fee saving itself.
How long does consolidating take?
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Requesting a transfer through myGov or directly with your receiving fund is typically processed within a few business days to a few weeks, funds are legally required to action a valid transfer request within a set timeframe.
📚 Recommended reading
Super Made Simple
Noel Whittaker
A focused, up-to-date guide to actually understanding your superannuation, from one of Australia's most trusted finance writers.
Some links above are affiliate links. If you buy through them, Snowball Invest may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend books we'd suggest anyway.
Sources
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Timothy Hirou Gaschereau
Founder of Snowball Invest, not a financial adviser.
I write about what I'm learning myself, because nobody ever taught us how to take control of our own money. It's a skill, not a mystery, and it's never too late to learn it. The best day to start was yesterday, the second best is today.
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