10 ways myGov can help you master your super

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Knowing how much you have in your super account and if your employer has been making regular contributions are important pieces of information when it comes to managing your financial affairs.

That’s now much easier to do thanks to upgrades to the ATO’s online services and the government’s myGov portal.

By linking your myGov account to the ATO’s online service, lots of information about your super account is at your fingertips.

What’s happening?

Super funds are now required to report to the ATO via the Member Account Transaction Service (MATS) whenever an employer makes a contribution payment to a super fund.

In addition, extension of the government’s Single Touch Payroll (STP) system to businesses with 20 or less employees, means most smaller employers must now send tax and super information to the ATO directly from their payroll software each time they pay employees.

How to manage your super online with myGov

To find and manage your super using the ATO’s online services:

Log in (or create) a myGov account
Link your myGov account to the ATO
Select ‘super’.

You can then find all your super accounts, check your super information and consolidate super accounts if you want. For more information on myGov, read SuperGuide What is myGov, and how do I use it?

MyGov: What super-related information is available?

1. See your super accounts

Using myGov, you can view all super accounts reported to the ATO for you by a super fund, retirement savings account or SMSF. 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.

Details of a newly opened super account should be available soon after it opens, provided the super fund has reported it to the ATO.

Need to know

The super account balances displayed for you will reflect the most recent reported information provided by your super fund. Super funds do not report in ‘real time’, however, so this may not be your current super balance.

To find your current super balance, you will need to check with your super fund.

SMSFs are not required to provide their super information as regularly as large industry or retail super funds, so their contributions – and your account balance – won’t necessarily be up-to-date. You may need to check with your SMSF trustee for your current account balance.

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.

Need to know

The myGov information will not tell you how much you contributed to your super. Personal and non-employer contributions are not shown as part of your account information.

If you want to find out how much you contributed to your super fund, so you don’t exceed the super contribution caps, you need to contact your super fund (or funds if you have multiple accounts).

2. Check your employer’s SG contributions

With STP, most employers are now required to report information about reportable employer super contributions to the ATO. These include Superannuation Guarantee (SG), salary sacrifice amounts, voluntary employer contributions and award contributions.

By combining this with data from super funds, the ATO can now better identify if your employer is complying with its SG contribution obligations.

For more information, read SuperGuide articles Your simple guide to Superannuation Guarantee (SG) contributions and What to do if your employer doesn’t pay your super.

Good to know

The information your employer reports to the ATO through STP will be pre-filled into your myTax account if you prepare and lodge your own tax return.

3. Check for ATO-held super

If the government, your super fund or your employer can’t find an account to transfer your super to, the ATO holds the money on your behalf until you claim it.

ATO-held super includes lost member accounts; inactive low-balance accounts; unclaimed super for members aged 65 years or older, non-member spouses and deceased members; and super for temporary residents who have left Australia for six months or more.

For more information, read SuperGuide articles Protecting Your Super Package: What you need to know.

Good to know

Under new rules starting 1 July 2019, super funds must pay inactive low-balance super accounts to the ATO. However, the ATO will consolidate these accounts into your active super account if possible.

4. Check 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 account.

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.

For more information, read SuperGuide articles Life insurance through super: A definitive guide and Insurance inside super: A definitive guide.

5. Find lost super

It’s easy to lose track of your super if you have switched jobs, moved house or lived overseas for a period.

If you have unintentionally lost track of some super, you can now check where your super is – or any super accounts you may have forgotten about – using the ATO’s online services through myGov.

For more information, read SuperGuide article The easy way to find and consolidate your lost super.

6. Combine multiple super accounts

Tools on the myGov portal allow you to easily transfer (or rollover) money you have in multiple super accounts into a single super account of your choice.

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

Warning

Before consolidating your super accounts, always check with your fund to see if there are any exit fees, or if you could lose any valuable insurance cover. Some funds offer members insurance cover that can be difficult – and expensive – to obtain elsewhere.

7. View your total super balance (TSB)

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

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

For more information, read SuperGuide Definitive guide to the Transfer Balance Cap.

8. Pay your Division 293 bill

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.

For more information, read SuperGuide article How the Division 293 tax works: Super surcharge for high earners.

9. 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.

For more information, read SuperGuide article A super guide to understanding the bring-forward rule.

10. Apply for the First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme

If you are eligible, you will be able to apply for the FHSS scheme online. You can also apply for a FHSS determination and to withdraw your voluntary super contributions from the scheme.

For more information, read SuperGuide article How does the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) work?