As part of the most significant suite of reforms to superannuation in nearly 30 years, the Morrison Government is helping to safeguard Australians’ retirement by ensuring their superannuation follows them when they change jobs.
From 1 November 2021, where an employee has an existing superannuation account, that account will be ‘stapled’ and follow them when they change jobs. This means employers will now pay super contributions into their new employee’s existing super account unless the employee nominates a different account.
These changes will end the creation of unintended multiple accounts every time individuals change jobs. Every year around 850,000 duplicate accounts are created. Treasury has estimated that stopping the creation of millions of unintended multiple accounts over the next decade will boost balances in super by about $2.8 billion by avoiding duplicate fees and lost returns.
Employers can find out more about their new obligations and how to comply at the ATO website.
These changes also implement recommendation 3.5 of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry and build on measures already introduced through the Your Future, Your Super reforms, including the annual performance test and the YourSuper comparison tool. The tool can help new employees to compare the performance and fees of MySuper products and choose the fund that is right for them.
The Your Future, Your Super reforms are estimated to save Australian workers $17.9 billion over 10 years. Through these reforms, the Morrison Government is strengthening the superannuation system and making it work harder for all Australians by reducing waste and maximising retirement incomes.