Unclaimed money is administered under the relevant Unclaimed Money ACT and administered by the ACT and the state laws relevant to the specific administering authority, as well as relevant banking laws, deceased estate regulations, superannuation legislation, etc. The complexity of the regulations creates the need for consumer assistance & support via our association as well as via the services of professional unclaimed money agents.

There have recently been changes to the laws regarding unclaimed money in Australia, updated by the Commonwealth Government in December 2012. The new laws state that bank accounts, which are deemed ‘inactive’ (meaning that the customer has not used the account to make any transactions within the last three years), must be reported and transferred to the government unless the account meets the qualifications for exemption. Up until December 2012, the unclaimed monies regime applied to bank accounts without activity for more than seven years.

Once the report and transfer are made, the money goes to the Commonwealth of Australia Consolidated Revenue Fund and the information about the account is held by ASIC. There are also changes to lost superannuation accounts, stating that lost super accounts worth less than $2,000 will now be transferred to the tax office after one year, instead of five.