ATO Claws Back $1.1 Billion in Unpaid Super for 900,000 Workers
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recovered more than A$1.1 billion in unpaid superannuation over the past financial year, money that has gone into the retirement accounts of more than 900,000 workers. Superannuation, or super, is the compulsory retirement savings employers must pay on top of wages in Australia.
The ATO released the figures on Thursday. The money came from employers who had failed to pay what they owed their staff.
Well above last year
The tax office raised more than A$1.1 billion in super guarantee charge liabilities. That is the penalty-bearing bill employers face when they miss their super payments. Last year's total was A$795 million.
Not every dollar needed enforcement. Many employers paid up after a prompt from the ATO and disclosed A$467 million in unpaid super themselves.
Firmer action for those who ignore warnings
ATO Deputy Commissioner Ben Kelly said most employers meet their obligations. He put the share of super guarantee obligations met with no ATO involvement at "nearly 93 per cent".
A small group did not respond when the ATO contacted them, and Kelly said it used firmer compliance action against them.
A wider debt drive
The super recoveries sit inside a larger collection push. ATO Commissioner Rob Heferen has said collectable tax and super debt stands at more than A$50 billion. It includes unpaid employee super, tax withheld from wages and GST collected but not passed on.
Heferen said the office is concentrating its firmest efforts on 22,000 taxpayers who owe A$11 billion. They are about 1 per cent of debtors but account for 20 per cent of the collectable debt.
The ATO has also issued 21 departure prohibition orders since July 2025, more than in the whole of 2024–25. The orders stop taxpayers leaving the country when they can pay but deliberately avoid doing so.
"Paying the super workers are entitled to is non-negotiable," Kelly said.
