ATO-Held Super (Cheque Only)

Quick summary

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ATO-held super

✓AU account = fast, no docs

✓No account = cheque only

✓At ALITAX we find lost super for you

Video coming soon

ALITAX · Bilal Jivraj — Registered Tax Agent 25287564. Original guidance from 10+ years of DASP and tax casework.

Sometimes your super is not with a fund at all — it has been transferred to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). This happens with lost or unclaimed super, small or inactive accounts, and super from former temporary residents that funds transfer to the ATO after a period. Many departing workers have money sitting with the ATO without knowing it, so we search for ATO-held super as part of every claim.

The good news — if you have an Australian bank account

If you still have an Australian bank account (such as CommBank, NAB, Westpac or ANZ), claiming ATO-held super is fast and simple. The ATO can verify you directly from their own system — usually with no separate identity check and no certified documents needed — and pay straight into your Australian account. This is by far the smoothest and quickest way to get ATO-held super back.

The catch — if you have no Australian bank account

If you don’t have an Australian bank account, ATO-held super is generally paid only by cheque, posted to your address overseas. That means:

You must have a correct, current postal address
You need to be able to deposit an Australian-dollar cheque where you live — which can be slow, costly, or difficult in some countries
The whole process takes longer than a direct bank transfer

My strong advice

Keep at least one Australian bank account open until your super and tax refund have both been paid. It turns a slow, cheque-based process into a fast, no-documents direct transfer — and saves you a lot of hassle from overseas.

What you’ll need either way

Your identity confirmed (far simpler with an AU bank account), and a correct address if payment is by cheque. If you’re not sure whether your super is still with a fund or has moved to the ATO, we check for you.

Not sure how this applies to you? At ALITAX we handle exactly these situations every day — and check what you’re owed in super and tax, for free.

🎥 Spoken version — video script (about 50 seconds)

Read straight to camera. Pause at each line break.

There is a good chance some of your super is not with a fund at all. It is sitting with the tax office.

Here is how that happens. If a super account is small, or nobody has contributed to it for a while, the fund is required to hand it over to the tax office for safekeeping. They call it ATO-held super.

This is actually good news in one way. It stops fees eating your money.

But it means if you only ask your old fund, they will tell you there is nothing there — and you might believe your super is gone.

It is not gone. It is just somewhere else.

When I check your record, I see both. What is with the funds, and what the tax office is holding.

One practical thing to know. If you still have an Australian bank account open, ATO-held super can usually be paid quickly. If you have closed your account, it often has to come by cheque, and that takes longer and is harder to bank overseas.

Which is why I keep saying — keep one Australian account open until everything has arrived.

[End — on-screen: alitax.com.au/dasp · WhatsApp +61 422 665 268 · Registered Tax Agent 25287564]

✎ Written by Bilal Jivraj

Original work of Bilal Jivraj, Director and Registered Tax Agent (No. 25287564), ALITAX — based on 10+ years of DASP and tax casework. © 2026 ALITAX. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, republished or distributed without the written permission of the author. When referenced, please cite ALITAX — Bilal Jivraj as the source.