Transferring your monies to the Australian Tax Office

When we must transfer your money to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) 

There are some instances where we must transfer your money to the ATO, unless you instruct us that you would like the money to stay with Resolution Life. Please see below for more information. 

Lost members 

We will treat you as a lost member if you are inactive or uncontactable:

a) uncontactable, meaning that: 

• we have never had an address for you or 
• two written communications to your last known address are returned to us unclaimed and
• you have not contacted the fund within the last 12 months of your membership of the fund; and
• you have not accessed information about your superannuation in the last 12 months and 
• we did not receive a contribution or rollover for you within the last 12 months or

b) inactive, meaning that:

• you have been a member of the fund for at least 2 years, and
• when you joined the fund, you joined through your employer’s superannuation arrangement, and
• the fund has not received any contribution or rollover into your account within the last 5 years.

There are some other limited circumstances where the fund will consider you as a lost member and must transfer your balance to the ATO.

If you are considered a lost member at any time, we’re legally bound to report this to the ATO. The ATO maintains a lost member register. We will also need to tell the ATO if we subsequently find you, or if you transfer to another superannuation provider. Additionally, if you are lost and your account balance is less than $6,000, we must transfer your account balance to the ATO. 

If we transfer your account, you will no longer be an account holder of the Superannuation Fund and any insurance cover that you may have in place will cease. If your account transfers to the ATO, you will be able to reclaim your money from the ATO at any time. 

You may elect to remain as a member of the fund by contacting us and indicating that you wish to continue to be a member of the fund. This can be done either by calling us, providing your instruction in writing or by logging into the My Resolution Life portal. 

Unclaimed benefits 

In some circumstances, your benefits in the Superannuation Fund may become subject to unclaimed superannuation benefit laws. Superannuation money may become unclaimed if: 

• you have reached age 65 and 
  • no contributions have been received by you, or for you, for at least two years and 
  • the trustee has not had contact with you for five years, after which time reasonable efforts to make contact were unsuccessful or 
• you die and the trustee determines that an immediate benefit (other than a pension) is payable and the trustee cannot find the person entitled to the benefit after making reasonable efforts to do so and after the passing of a reasonable period or
• you cease to hold a temporary visa and leave Australia and the ATO requires us to transfer your benefit to them.

The trustee will transfer unclaimed benefits to the ATO. Where the trustee transfers your benefits, you should direct any request for payment to: 

Unclaimed Super Money Australian Taxation Office 

PO Box 3578 

Albury NSW 2640 

You can also contact the ATO on 13 10 20. Alternatively, you can do an online search by logging on or creating a myGov account at my.gov.au 

Transfer of inactive low-balance accounts to the ATO

Superannuation accounts with balances of less than $6,000 that have been inactive for 16 months must be identified at 30 June and 31 December each year and reported to the ATO by the following 31 October and 30 April respectively. 

The balances of those accounts must then be transferred to the ATO, unless a member has given notice that their account is not to be treated as an inactive low-balance account, and they wish to remain with their Superannuation Fund. After payment to the ATO, we are discharged from any further liability for payment of the benefit. 

Your account will be inactive if none of the following transactions have occurred on your account over a continuous 16 month period: 

• any type of contribution payment into your account 
• a rollover into your account 
• a switch of your investment options
• elected to maintain insurance on the account
• given us a written notice electing not to be a member of an inactive low-balance account
• a change of your insurance cover or 
• a binding beneficiary nomination has been made or amended on your account. 

Within 28 days of receiving your money, the ATO will try to transfer it to an active superannuation account (an account where ongoing contributions are being made) if you have one, and the transfer would take your total balance to $6,000 or more. Your retirement savings are safe with the ATO and should attract interest while held with them, based on the consumer price index.

Departing Australia Superannuation payment (DASP) 

If you are a temporary resident and have not requested a DASP benefit within six months of the latter of either your temporary visa expiring and you leaving the country, we may be required to pay your account balance to the ATO, under Division 3 of part 3A of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999. In these circumstances you will no longer be a member of the Fund and you will lose any insurance cover. You will also no longer be invested in your chosen investment option(s). We are not obliged to notify you or give an exit statement to you in this circumstance, as allowed by ASIC Class Order 09/437. Once your account balance has been transferred to the ATO, you may claim your benefit via the online application system or by downloading a DASP application form on the ATO website, or by calling on 13 10 20. Non-residents have the right to make an application to the Commissioner of Taxation to claim unclaimed superannuation under Division 4 of part 3A of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999. 

Trustee Voluntary payments (TVP) 

The trustee may transfer to the ATO, under Division 1 of part 3D of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999, any amount otherwise payable into your superannuation account if the trustee reasonably believes that paying the amount to the ATO is in the best interests of you or your non-member spouse.

If you think you might have lost or unclaimed super, log in or create a myGov account via the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), or contact your previous employers to find out which super funds they may have paid contributions to on your behalf.