If you are a New Zealand permanent resident or citizen who worked in Australia and was eligible for superannuation payments, an amount may have been paid on your behalf into an Australian super fund account.
In some circumstances, Australian super funds are required to pay certain accounts to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as Unclaimed Super Money (USM). This may occur when the super fund can no longer locate your contact details, or your account is deemed an inactive low balance account.
Changes to the law in December 2020 mean that if you have permanently emigrated to New Zealand or are a New Zealand citizen and you have ATO-held USM, you may be eligible to apply to transfer an amount to your KiwiSaver account or have it directly paid to yourself where certain conditions are met. Tax may be payable on direct payments.
The ATO have guidance on the process here, and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us.