What to do if your employer has not paid your superannuation in Australia

For working holiday makers, every dollar of unpaid super is a dollar lost from the DASP payment when leaving Australia. Recovering it before departure is far easier than chasing it from overseas.

How do you know if super has been paid?

Every employer must pay super to your nominated fund at least every three months, and the payment must appear on:

• Your super fund account statement
• The ATO super contribution record (visible through tax agent access)
• Your payslips, which must show the super accrued for each pay period

The most common pattern of underpayment is that the payslip shows super accruing, but the employer never actually transfers the money to the fund. The accrual on the payslip is not the same as the money arriving. The only proof of payment is the fund statement or the ATO record.

If three months have passed since the end of a quarter and no contributions have appeared in your fund for that quarter, the super is unpaid.

What does the law say about unpaid super?

The Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act requires every employer to pay 12% of ordinary time earnings into super for every employee, including casual workers, by the quarterly deadline. The deadlines are:

• 1 July to 30 September → paid by 28 October
• 1 October to 31 December → paid by 28 January
• 1 January to 31 March → paid by 28 April
• 1 April to 30 June → paid by 28 July

If the employer misses a deadline, they owe not just the contribution but a Superannuation Guarantee Charge, which includes interest and an administration fee. The ATO can pursue the employer for the full amount and pay it into your super account on your behalf. See our article on the Superannuation Guarantee Charge for the detail.

How do you recover unpaid super?

The recovery process has three stages:

1. Direct request to the employer. Some employers genuinely missed a payment and will fix it once asked. Make the request in writing (email is best) and reference the specific quarters that are unpaid.
2. Lodge an unpaid super enquiry with the ATO. If the employer does not pay after a written request, the ATO can investigate and recover the contributions through the Superannuation Guarantee Charge process.
3. Fair Work complaint for related wage breaches. Unpaid super is often accompanied by other wage breaches (underpayment, missing payslips, no records). A Fair Work complaint can address the broader pattern.

The ATO recovery process is the most effective for super specifically, because the ATO has audit and enforcement powers that an individual worker does not have. The investigation can take several months, but once the ATO assesses the employer, the contributions are paid into your super account along with interest.

What if the employer has gone out of business?

If the employer has gone into liquidation or simply closed up shop before paying super, recovery is still possible through the Superannuation Guarantee Charge process. The ATO becomes a creditor of the failed business and can recover contributions through the liquidation. In some cases the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, a federal government safety net, covers unpaid wages, but it does not cover super.

For working holiday makers, this can mean a delay of six to twelve months between leaving Australia and receiving the unpaid super, but the money is recoverable in most cases.

Why this matters more for DASP

When you lodge DASP, only the super that is actually in your fund is paid out. Super that the employer has not paid is not in your fund, so it is not part of the DASP payment. If you leave Australia with unpaid super still owed, you have to choose between:

• Delaying DASP until the ATO recovers the contributions
• Lodging DASP now for what is in the fund and pursuing the rest separately

Resolving unpaid super before you depart Australia avoids this split process.

How does our service handle unpaid super?

When you lodge a DASP through our service, our team:

• Reconciles the contributions that should have been paid (based on the wages reported to the ATO under Single Touch Payroll) against what is actually in your super funds
• Identifies any gaps where wages were reported but super was not paid
• Lodges unpaid super enquiries with the ATO on your behalf for any quarters where contributions are missing
• Coordinates DASP timing so that the maximum amount possible is included in your final payment
• Pursues unpaid super through the ATO even after you have left Australia

Unpaid super is often invisible to the worker until DASP is lodged and the numbers do not add up. Get in touch with our team to check whether your super contributions match what your employers were legally required to pay.

What about warning on super claims?

Be cautious of anyone outside a registered tax agent offering to "chase your unpaid super" for a fee. Scammers regularly target working holiday makers with offers to investigate super, collect identity documents, and then either disappear or use the documents to commit identity fraud. Never share your TFN or super fund passwords with anyone who is not a registered tax agent. A registered agent has a TAN number listed on the Tax Practitioners Board register.