Superannuation

Superannuation can be accessed early in certain circumstances. 

In financial hardship superannuation can be released early if:
1. You get a Commonwealth income support payment and have done so continuously for the last 26 weeks;
 and
2. You can satisfactorily show that you are unable to meet reasonable and immediate family living expenses.

 If you do not qualify for early release on severe financial hardship grounds,
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) may approve the release of some
or all of your benefits on specified grounds, which are very limited.

•  medical treatment, which is not readily available through the public health system,
   to treat a life threatening illness or injury, or alleviate acute or chronic pain
   or acute or chronic mental disturbance

•  medical transport to access treatment necessary to treat a life threatening illness
   or injury, or to alleviate acute or chronic pain or acute or chronic mental disturbance;

•  modifications to the family home and/or vehicle to meet special needs

•  palliative care or death, funeral, or burial costs

•  to prevent foreclosure of a mortgage, or exercise of a power of sale over the principal place of     residence.

 Detailed information on early discharge is available in APRA fact sheets on
Early Release of Superannuation Benefits
 

Finding lost superannuation

If you are trying to track down lost super here are a couple of useful sites
Australian Taxation Office

Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has a fact sheet
Lost members - superannuation funds

FIDO has an interesting story about looking for lost super

Centrelink has produced a fact sheet on the tax implication of withdrawing Super.
 

If you have a complaint about your superannuation fund you can contact the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal
 

For information about Superannuation and retirement

NICRI - National Information Centre on Retirement Investments has a range of really useful brochures and a helpline

FIDO is the consumer website of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC)
which has information on superannuation.

Disclaimer: The information contained on this web site is of a general nature. It is intended as a guide and you must not rely
 on the information contained on this website for legal purposes. If you have a legal problem you must seek independent legal
 advice from a qualified legal practitioner. To the extent permissible by law, the Lismore and District Financial Counselling
Service Inc. disclaims all liability for anything contained on or accessed via this site and any use you make of it.
Please note that some of the information on this website applies to residents of NSW Australia only.

Credits: Web content produced with funding from the Sugar Industry Reform Program.