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Find your lost pension in Australia

Australia has no public rule linking an employer to the fund they paid into, and the government record only opens behind your own myGov login. We identify what is in your name and hand you the contact details and every contact route, ready to use. $99, full refund if we find nothing material.

Find my pensions in AustraliaSee a sample report
  • ICO registered
  • No percentage, no commission
  • Refund if nothing material

A$17.8B

Lost & ATO-held super (ATO, 2024 to 2025)

Since 1992

Mandatory employer SG contributions

1 in 3

Accounts inactive

If you worked in Australia and moved on, changed employers, or lost the paperwork years ago, you are in the right place. Pensions are rarely gone. Most of the time the scheme simply lost track of you.

Australians who changed jobs frequently, Working holiday visa holders and backpackers, and Australians who lived and worked abroad.

Why Australian super goes missing, and what a Pension Identification Report finds

Australia has no public rule linking an employer to the fund they paid into. Your super went wherever the paperwork sent it, sometimes into a fund you never chose and no longer remember. The government portal shows your accounts, but only behind your own myGov login and tax file number, and only the super the tax office can already see: an account under a former name, or one an old employer opened for you, can sit outside that view entirely.

A PensionHunter Pension Identification Report works from your actual work history, employers, dates, the jobs you can still name, and identifies the funds your Australian employment points to, from anywhere in the world. One fixed fee, one clear picture to take forward, and a refund if we find nothing material.

What we search

  • ATO lost super register
  • APRA-registered super funds (200+ funds)
  • MySuper default accounts
  • Inactive low-balance accounts
  • Industry funds (REST, Australian Super, Hostplus etc.)
  • Retail funds

Worked in Australia on a working holiday visa?

If you worked in Australia on a 417 or 462 visa, your employer was required to pay super contributions for you. Most backpackers have no idea this money exists. We identify your super accounts, even if you've already left Australia.

What your Pension Identification Report delivers

Nobody sits between you and your pension. You act the moment the evidence lands.

Honest access-map for Australia pensions

For Australia, the central record is not publicly searchable from your employment history alone. Your Pension Identification Report delivers the honest access-map: what exists, where your record sits, the deadlines and traps that affect your entitlement, the exact route in, and your entitlement position. In Australia, the pension follows the individual, not the employer, so no service can identify your specific fund from your work history. The access-map is the honest deliverable.

Identification & research only, no financial advice

Start here

$99

Country Pension Identification Report, Australia

Within 24 to 48 hours

Average lost or ATO held super account, about A$2,590 (Source: ATO lost and ATO held super, 30 June 2025), the Pension Identification Report is $99.

Find my pensions in Australia

Full refund if we find nothing material.

Enhanced Pension Identification Report ($499): your Action Pack, a complete request pack for every fund we identify, written in your voice and ready to send, delivered within five working days of your intake form. Global Pension Identification Report ($799): the same across every country you worked in, up to all 41 we cover, within ten working days. Full refund if we find nothing material, decided at identification.

At the Country Report you contact the administrators yourself, using the routes in your report. On Enhanced and Global: We stay with your case after delivery. If an administrator asks you a question, refuses, or simply does not reply, send it to us and we will tell you exactly what to send next. That continues until every fund we identified has answered you, or the route is exhausted and we say so plainly.

Your Australia report, see the full sampleAUSTRALIA SAMPLEThis is the Australia sample, produced by the same methodology that runs every real case.Open the sample

PensionHunter is a team of pension researchers working across 41 countries. We do not touch your money, we take no percentage, and every report is reviewed by a human before release.

How we workAbout us

Doing it yourself in Australia, the honest position

We do not show a do it yourself comparison for Australia, because the central record is not a slower road you can walk on your own. It sits behind a wall.

The wall: myGov / TFN, HIGH for departed expats (SMS 2FA to a dead Australian number)

From abroad: Workarounds exist for departed expats locked out of myGov, but they are slow, paper-based or phone-based, and there is no official pre-departure checklist (a confirmed gap)

Identification only. We do not open credential-protected accounts, and we do not transfer, negotiate, or make decisions regarding any pension.

Verified country facts

Every line below is drawn from the verified country dossier. We never fabricate facts; candidate items are gated out of customer-facing copy.

Why it matters

AUD 18.9bn across 7.3m lost/ATO-held accounts (30 Jun 2025, avg ~A$2,590), claimable forever with no time limit, but earning only CPI; and the myGov wall (SMS 2FA to dead Australian numbers) locks departed expats out of the very reunification system.

If you do nothing

Lost super is claimable forever but CPI-eroded at the ATO; the Age Pension is the single most expensive do-nothing, no backdating, every unclaimed fortnight permanently gone, and non-agreement-country expats who never return may be permanently unable to lodge.

Deadlines that matter in Australia

  • Temp-resident sweep: 6 months post-departure/visa-expiry → super swept to the ATO (DASP itself has no deadline)
  • Inactive low-balance: 16 months → ILBA sweep + insurance auto-cancel
  • Proof-of-life (80+ overseas): 2-year cycle (13-week window → suspension → cancellation)
  • Pre-age claim: Age Pension claimable up to 13 weeks before age; no backdating
  • Temporary-resident transfer to the ATO: Unclaimed super of former temporary residents transfers to the ATO six months after departure and visa expiry.Official source, checked 21 August 2026
  • ATO-held super without myGov: ATO-held super can be claimed without myGov, by phone on 13 28 61 or on paper form NAT 74880.Official source, checked 21 August 2026
  • DASP before departure: A departing Australia superannuation payment application can be started before leaving Australia.Official source, checked 21 August 2026

How records are reached

Personal-record access wall: myGov / TFN, HIGH for departed expats (SMS 2FA to a dead Australian number)

The state runs the reunification register (ATO Lost Super), but it is myGov-walled; no employer→fund mapping exists

From abroad: Workarounds exist for departed expats locked out of myGov, but they are slow, paper-based or phone-based, and there is no official pre-departure checklist (a confirmed gap)

Cross-border

AU↔NZ trans-Tasman; AU↔UK (terminated-agreement, highest-misinformation corridor); IE, ZA.

Primary sources: ato.gov.au (lost super / DASP) · servicesaustralia.gov.au (Age Pension)

Australia counts what others do not

Of the 46 national systems in our transparency scoreboard, Australia is the only one that publishes a figure for members who left the country. The ATO told us on the record that as at 30 June 2025 it held just over 1 million unclaimed accounts worth almost A$1.1 billion for former temporary residents alone. Australian citizens and former permanent residents living overseas are not in that number, so the true figure is higher. If you worked in Australia on a temporary visa and left, part of that A$1.1 billion may be yours. The ATO holds it until you claim it. There is no deadline that extinguishes it, but nobody will write to you first. Source: written response from the ATO Media Unit to PensionHunter, 11 August 2026, attributable to an ATO spokesperson.

Worked in more than one country? One Global Pension Identification Report covers every country you worked in, up to all 41 we cover.

See all countries

International workers in Australia

Country and cohort-specific guidance for people who built super entitlements in Australia and have since moved on, or who came to Australia from abroad to work. More cohorts coming soon.

Whether anyone officially counts unclaimed pensions in Australia is a question with a published answer, and we keep it on one page: the Australia row on our pension scoreboard.

For pension schemes and trustees with members in Australia, see our cross-border member tracing services

Questions people ask before they start

Can I claim super if I've left Australia?

Yes. Non-residents can apply for a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP).

How far back can you search?

Super has been compulsory since 1992. We use available public information about Australian superannuation and prepare a complete request pack for each identified administrator as part of the research.

What if I don't know my Tax File Number?

We can still search without it, though it speeds up the process if you have it.

Do backpackers really have super?

Yes. If you worked in Australia for any employer, they were legally required to contribute 11% of your salary to superannuation.

How do I find a forgotten pension in Australia?

To find a lost superannuation account in Australia, start by checking the ATO's lost super register via your myGov account. If you have left Australia or cannot access myGov, PensionHunter uses public information about Australian super to identify likely funds from your employment history; at Enhanced Pension Identification Report ($499) and Global Pension Identification Report ($799), we prepare a complete request pack for each fund we identify, written and ready to send under your signed Information Request Authority (IRA). Country Pension Identification Report ($99) is identification-only and does not require an IRA. Where eligible, we also assist with ATO SuperFund Lookup processes. Every Australian employer has been required to contribute to super since 1992, so if you worked in Australia, even briefly on a working holiday, you almost certainly have money waiting. Country Pension Identification Report: 24 to 48 hours. Search and Global: full report within five working days of your intake form. Full refund if we find nothing material.

Australia expat guides

Specific situations we cover. For expats, returning citizens and cross-border workers.

Find a lost Australian super from abroad

How lost and ATO-held super is identified when you live outside Australia.

Read guide

The same kind of guide, other countries

See also

Last reviewed: · Facts verified against the dossier-pipeline gate.

Free: The Complete Guide to Finding Forgotten Pensions Abroad

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Some clients order a Pension Identification Report for themselves. Many order it to get their affairs in order: one document their family can find, whatever happens.

We identify what is in your name in Australia and hand you the contact details and every contact route, ready to use. $99, full refund if we find nothing material.

Find my pensions in Australia

Important Information

PensionHunter is a research and administrative assistance service only. We search pension registries and employer records to identify whether pension entitlements may exist in your name, we do not provide financial advice, manage pension funds, arrange pension transfers, or assist with claiming or accessing pension funds.

PensionHunter is not regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) or any equivalent financial-services or pensions regulator in Australia. Our service is limited to research and information provision. We charge a fixed research fee paid in advance, Full refund if we find nothing material.

All decisions about your pension, including whether to contact providers, transfer funds, or take any other action, remain entirely yours. We strongly recommend consulting a qualified independent financial adviser regulated in your jurisdiction before making any decisions about any pension we locate.