How to check your superannuation balance as a working holiday maker

Why does checking your super balance matter?

Super accumulates in a separate account that does not appear on your bank statements:

• It is paid by your employer on top of your wages
• It goes directly into your super fund
• Easy to forget about or lose track of
• Critical to know before you leave Australia

If you do not check, you may miss:

• Missing or underpaid contributions
• Multiple accounts across different funds
• Significant total balances you can withdraw before leaving

Most working holiday makers we help have accumulated more super than they realised - often several thousand dollars from a year of work.

How is super paid by employers?

Australian employers pay super on a quarterly schedule:

• Q1 (July-September): due by 28 October
• Q2 (October-December): due by 28 January
• Q3 (January-March): due by 28 April
• Q4 (April-June): due by 28 July

Contributions appear in your fund within a few days of these dates. If a quarter has passed and nothing has appeared, your employer may not be paying what they owe.

How do you access your super fund account?

When you started work, your employer asked for your super fund details:

• If you nominated a fund, contributions went there
• If you did not, an account was opened with the employer's default fund

Your fund sends member details when your account is opened:

• Member number
• Password or login details
• Welcome documents with account information
• Usually by email; sometimes by post

If you cannot find these details:

• Search your email for the fund's name (HostPlus, REST, AustralianSuper, etc.)
• Check your payslip for the fund name and number
• Get in touch with our team and we will locate the account

How can you check your balance online?

Once you have your login:

1. Go to your super fund's website
2. Log in using your member number
3. View your current balance
4. Review contribution history (each employer contribution should be listed)
5. Check the dates contributions appeared

You can see exactly what each employer paid and when. This is critical for identifying missing or underpaid contributions.

What if you do not know which fund you are with?

Common for working holiday makers who have changed jobs:

• Multiple employers may have opened different default funds
• Old super may have been transferred to the ATO as unclaimed money
• You may have super you did not know existed

Our team can locate every super account associated with your TFN:

• Search across all major Australian super funds
• Check ATO records for unclaimed super
• Identify every balance you can claim through DASP

Send us your details and we will run a comprehensive search. This is part of our standard DASP service.

How can you check for unpaid super?

If contributions are missing from your fund:

1. Check the quarterly schedule (above) to confirm the timing is right
2. Compare against the super line item on your payslips
3. Raise the issue with your employer first
4. If unresolved, get in touch with our team

Our team can pursue unpaid super through the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) process. We have recovered significant unpaid super for working holiday makers, especially in hospitality and agriculture industries.

What should you check before applying for DASP?

Before submitting your DASP super withdrawal:

• Confirm all expected contributions have appeared
• Make sure the final quarter has been paid (if you left after a quarter's end)
• Locate any accounts you may have lost track of
• Recover any unpaid super before lodging DASP

We run this check as part of every DASP application we lodge. It ensures no money is left behind.

What records help us check your super?

To help locate every account:

• Your TFN
• List of all Australian employers you worked for
• Approximate employment dates
• Any super fund letters or emails you remember
• Payslips showing super line items

Even with partial information, we can usually locate every account through the ATO records linked to your TFN.