How myGov can help you keep track of your super

Knowing how much you have in your super account, where all your super is, and how much you and your employer have contributed is important when it comes to managing your financial affairs.

Keeping track of your super used to be a tricky task involving lots of phone calls and paperwork. But upgrades to the ATO’s online service and the government’s myGov portal mean it’s now just a few clicks away.

So, what super information is available from myGov and where can you find it?

Where can I find more information about my super?

Although most people only think about the ATO in relation to tax, the tax regulator also plays a big role in the super system.

Since the government extended its online Single Touch Payroll (STP) reporting system to all businesses, your employer is now required to send lots of tax and super information to the ATO directly from its payroll software each time it pays you.

Super funds are also required to report information about your account balance and all the transactions on your super account.

This allows the ATO to keep tabs on employer super contributions and super funds, so checking the information it holds can be an easy way to track and learn more about your super.

MyGov: What super-related information is available?

1. See your super accounts

Click the Super menu and choose Fund details to view all super accounts reported to the ATO for you by a super fund, retirement savings account (RSA) or SMSF and any super the ATO is holding for you. These include:

• Open accounts – flagged with a ‘yes’ indicator if they have received a super contribution in the past six months
• Closed accounts – accounts closed on or after 1 July 2018
• Inactive accounts – accounts with no contributions in the past six months or more
• Lost accounts – these are considered ‘lost’ because the super fund is not able to contact you
• Pension accounts
• Any ATO-held super – the ATO will proactively transfer this into your active super account if they can identify it.

Any account with a balance will appear here, so you may find some super you had forgotten about. Details of a newly opened super account should be available soon after it opens.

Defined benefit funds and some public sector superannuation schemes report differently, and members of these funds will only be able to see information from the latest annual reporting date.

Your SMSF account information will not be displayed if the SMSF:

• Is not a registered or complying super fund
• Has an outstanding SMSF annual return (SAR)
• Has not reported (or incorrectly reported) its Australian Business Number
• Has not correctly added your membership through the Australian Business Register.

2. Check your contributions

With the STP reporting system, employers regularly report to the ATO information about their reportable employer super contributions. These include Superannuation Guarantee (SG), salary-sacrifice amounts, voluntary employer contributions and award contributions.

By combining this with data it receives from super funds, the ATO can now better identify if your employer is complying with its SG contribution obligations. It also lets you see the amounts your employer has contributed to your super.

Go to the Super tab, select Information from the dropdown menu and click on Employer contributions. 

You may also view your total contributions (including amounts you have personally contributed) to keep track and ensure you do not exceed contribution limits. On the Super tab click Information and then Concessional contributions or Non-concessional contributions. This will display your total contributions for the financial year and the cap space you have remaining.

3. Check if you have your insurance cover

Using the ATO online service with myGov, you can view details of whether you have insurance cover as part of your super. When viewing your fund details, click the dropdown arrow on the right-hand side next to each fund. This will display the fund details, including whether it has recently received contributions and if you have insurance.

If you want to know more about how much insurance protection (death, total and permanent disability, and income protection) you have and the details of your insurance policies, you should contact your super fund.

4. Combine multiple super accounts

Tools on the myGov portal allow you to easily transfer (or rollover) money you have in multiple super accounts (or any ATO-held super) into a single super account of your choice. Select the Super menu and then Manage and choose the Transfer super option. This will only appear if you have more than one super account.

You can only transfer the full balance from one super account to another super fund using the online service. Partial balance transfers cannot be done online with myGov and you will need to contact the super fund directly.

5. View your total super balance (TSB) and transfer balance cap (TBC)

With myGov you can see your TSB as at 30 June of the previous year and view your transfer balance cap details.

Your TSB is important because it determines your eligibility to use super measures like carry-forward concessional contributions.

The ATO online service also allows you to make any elections associated with your transfer balance cap (such as commuting an excess TBC amount).

6. Pay super tax bills

You can also view, pay or elect to release money from your super account to pay for any super-related tax liabilities. These include a Division 293 tax bill and tax on excess concessional and non-concessional super contributions.

7. Check bring-forward arrangements

With myGov you can now see how much of your three-year bring-forward contribution cap balance remains if you have been making non-concessional (after-tax) contributions above the annual contributions limits.

8. Check unused carry-forward amounts

You can also check if you have any unused concessional contributions cap amounts available to carry forward this financial year.

Concessional contributions include employer Super Guarantee payments, salary-sacrifice arrangements and any personal contributions you make that you claim a tax deduction for. The annual cap for these contributions in total is currently $27,500 a year (not including any unused amounts from previous years).

Select the Super tab, click on Information from the dropdown menu then Carry-forward concessional contributions. You will find your total concessional contributions cap for the financial years since the carry-forward rule was introduced, your total concessional contributions during that period and the total amount of unused concessional contributions cap available to you.

This can be a useful way to increase your concessional contributions this financial year above the usual annual cap and receive a tax deduction for your efforts.

9. Apply for the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS)

Here you can apply to the ATO for a FHSS determination and to withdraw your voluntary super contributions towards the purchase of your first home, if you are eligible for the FHSS scheme.

Select the Super tab, click on Manage from the dropdown menu then First Home Saver.

10. Use the YourSuper comparison tool

The ATO’s YourSuper comparison tool also makes it easier to compare MySuper products and choose a super fund that meets your needs. It provides a table of MySuper products ranked by fees and investment returns and shows your current super accounts, with a prompt to consolidate your accounts if you have more than one.

By accessing the personalised version of this tool through ATO online services, you can view and compare your existing MySuper products alongside MySuper products from other super funds.