Treasury has released draft legislation on the launch of a new electronic portability form that will provide members with a simplified method of consolidating their lost super into one account.
There is currently more than $18.8 billion in lost super accounts.
"$18.8 billion in lost super is a waste of money that people could be investing for a better future," the Minister for Superannuation Bill Shorten said.
"This initiative complements the significant reforms we are making over the next four years to transform our superannuation system and help Australians save for a comfortable retirement," Shorten said.
The current process for consolidating lost super requires members to post certified copies of their identification to their fund once they have located the lost super.
The new process will enable members to visit the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website, fill in a simple form and click a button to consolidate their super.
The ATO will apply a verification process using data supplied by the member.
This should make it simpler and easier for people to claim their lost super and funds can streamline the actioning of these requests, Shorten said.
The introduction of the new form will require amendments of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act) and will see the transfer of responsibilities from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) to the ATO.
Under the current law, APRA has responsibility for the general administration of the portability arrangements.
Under the proposals, APRA will retain the general administration responsibilities, but the ATO will be responsible for administration of the electronic portability scheme and related tax file number (TFN) provisions.
The ATO is currently not allowed to disclose or request a member's TFN to a fund trustee in relation to transferring account balances, but the proposals seek to give the ATO this right.
The ATO will also be able to require a TFN to be included on the transfer request.
