Legislation has been passed which will subject any lost and unclaimed superannuation money held by the Western Australian public sector superannuation schemes to be transferred to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).  This will affect superannuation funds such as GESB which had been previously exempt from these rules.

Earlier this week, GESB confirmed it will be forced to close accounts and transfer superannuation balances to the ATO if a member is classified as lost, meaning uncontactable or inactive.

  • Uncontactable means there is no address on the superannuation account or two pieces of mail have been returned to GESB as undeliverable, and the account has not received any contributions over the last 12 months.
  • Inactive means that a member’s account has not received any contributions in the past 5 years. This may affect many individuals who are no longer working or contributing to superannuation and are not drawing a regular income from their superannuation.

Robert Zammit, financial adviser at RSM Financial Services Australia, said, “This may have unintended consequences for many West Australians as once a GESB West State account is closed it cannot be reopened.’ ‘GESB West State is a unique super scheme which can provide substantial retirement planning opportunities owing to its status as a constitutionally protected fund.

“Although individuals may believe their accounts are small and insignificant they may also have life and disability insurance cover within the accounts. This cover may be lost and irreplaceable once the account is closed.

"GESB will attempt to contact affected members over the next few weeks, and individuals will need to elect to be excluded from any transfers before the 27th February 2015. However, these warnings may prove futile for uncontactable clients. If people are unsure whether they will be affected they should seek personal financial advice.”