Ever had that feeling at the airport, thinking you’ve left something behind, well you probably have! Every year thousands of Working Holiday Makers leave Australia and forgot to claim their super. According to the Australian Taxation Office ( ATO), a whopping 540 million dollars of backpackers money is unclaimed, with an additional $20 million being forgotten each year. Now that’s a few buckets in Thailand!
Superannuation money becomes “unclaimed” and moves into the hands of the tax office, when an individual reaches 65 years of age, dies, or is a temporary resident has left Australia, which is what will happen if you don’t claim your super after completing harvest work in Australia. It’s estimated that upto 70% of backpackers are forgetting to claim their super! With the average refund being approximately $1500, this is simply ridiculous!
Now if you don’t know what “Super Annuation” is, well your employer is required to pay the equivalent of 9.25% of your wage to your “super fund” ( in addition to your wage). Say you earned $25,000 while in Australia, this means you would have had $2,127 contributed to your super fund. Depending on which what type of super investment account you chose you potentially could have made a profit on your super money. (Each individual funds performance will vary, but if in a cash fund you’d expect to make 3% “ )
How to stay on top of your Super Money
1. Keep detailed records of each super fund you sign up too, the super fund name, Acc No and employer you were with at the time are the important things to take down. Create an email or facebook thread to yourself, so when the time comes to leave Australia you have all the information ready to claim your super.
2. Try and stick to one Super Fund if you change jobs, this way it will be a lot simpler when making your claim as you only have one fund to worry about.
3. Set a Super Refund reminder so you don’t forgot to claim it. Setting this for 1-2 weeks after leaving Australia is a smart time.
Are you confused by Super?
Many companies provide a cheap and easy service to claim your super and do all the legwork for you. This can be a convenient option considering you would have already left the country and want to stay focussed on the good times.
Many providers have offices all over the world, with multilingual staff who can sort out your super refund for you, so if your english isn’t up to scratch it’s not the end of the world.
Get Your Super Refund Now
If paperwork is not your friend Taxback.com can get your super money to your bank account in no time.
