Over $1bn in super returns to nearly a million Aussies

Almost $1.1 billion in unpaid super has been returned to nearly 1 million Australians across 2024–25, the ATO has revealed.

In 2024–25, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) distributed a total of $1.1 billion in super guarantee charge (SGC) to the superannuation accounts of approximately 960,000 employees. In that financial year, $209 million was raised in penalties.

“Paying correct super entitlements on time is not optional,” ATO Deputy Commissioner Ben Kelly said.

Reminders and prompts

Through 120,000 employer reminders, 73,600 prompts to employers, and 15,350 audit cases, the ATO raised a total of $795 million in SGC in 2024–25.

Around 22,550 “firmer actions” were also taken against employers who were non-compliant with their super guarantee obligations by the ATO in the year.

These actions included the issuance of a total of 19,750 director penalty notices, SGC directions to pay, business tax debt disclosures, and garnishee notices, as well as 2,800 legal actions taken against non-compliant employers.

Compliance requirements

In Australia, there are about 942,500 employers who employ 14.9 million workers eligible for super. “Employers are required to pay superannuation for their eligible workers in full, on time and to the right fund,” Kelly said.

Due to improved access to “near-real-time” single-touch payroll and superannuation fund data, there are now better ways to detect and resolve non-compliance, the ATO said.

“The introduction of Payday Super will allow the ATO to detect unpaid super earlier and take action to help a business get back on track and stay on track,” Kelly said.

“For those businesses [that] don’t want to pay, the ATO will be able to take action faster to protect their employees’ super entitlements.”