If you’re currently working and meet certain conditions, you should be paid super at least quarterly. Your super is your money, and it can add up to be one your most valuable assets in retirement – so it’s important you are paid your entitlements. Follow the steps below to understand whether you qualify, how much you’re entitled to, check to see what you have been paid and help you track down any unpaid amounts.
1. Confirm you’re eligible
Your employer should pay you super when you are:
- 18 years old or over, or
- Under 18 years old and working more than 30 hours per week, or
- Considered a private or domestic worker working more than 30 hours per week
It doesn’t matter if you work full time, part time or casual, or if you’re a temporary resident of Australia.
For full details, see the ATO entitlement calculator.
2. Check how much you should have been paid
Pay periods and super pay periods may not align, which can make working out your super entitlements for a certain timeframe tricky. To help make sense of it all, the ATO has developed a handy calculator to help you work out an estimate of your entitlement. By law, employers are required to pay their staff who are entitled, a minimum super contributions of 11.5% of their salary/wage (excluding overtime).
3. Check what you have been paid
Login to Member Online or the Australian Retirement Trust app to view your account history. From there you can see what has been paid into your account and check that it aligns with your entitlement estimates that you have calculated. Super contribution transaction history in Member Online is only available from 1 July of the previous financial year but you can find transactional history for earlier years in your Annual statements.
Log in to Member Online
Register for Member Online access
Access the Australian Retirement Trust app
If you’re having trouble accessing Member Online, you can call us on 13 11 84 or request a call back.
4. If there’s a gap, talk to your employer
Where you identify a discrepancy between the amounts, it’s important to firstly check what super details your employer has on file for you. It could be that your super contributions have been going to another fund nominated by your employer or there’s been another easily explainable reason.
Working through your unpaid super concerns with your employer can be your best option. However, if you’re unable to discuss with your employer directly, you can submit an enquiry with the ATO who will follow up your concerns on your behalf. You‘ll need to provide your personal details including your TFN, the period of your enquiry and your employer details including their ABN.