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Organisations and individuals may hold money that is owed to someone else. Learn how to return unclaimed money to Revenue NSW on time.
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Who needs to return unclaimed money to us
Enterprises that operate in NSW and hold money for another person or body as at 30 June in any year must send the money to us by 31 October of that year, after having held it for the required period of time and having made reasonable attempts to contact the owner and return the money to them.
If you don’t lodge and pay unclaimed money that you hold, you may have to pay penalty tax and interest.
An enterprise includes a:
person
partnership
association
society
institution or other body, whether incorporated or not.
The types of unclaimed money you must return include:
money greater than $100 held in an account, even if there have been transactions on the account such as regular charges or interest, that has been inactive for at least 6 years under the Unclaimed Money Act 1995
money held in a trust account of a legal firm irrespective of the amount or time held, provided the legal firm has made reasonable efforts to locate the rightful owner(s) under the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014
money that forms part of an estate of which a trustee company is executor, administrator or trustee that has been held for at least 5 years under the Trustee Companies Act 1964.
A law practice is defined in the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW) No 16 as:
a sole practitioner
a partnership of Australian legal practitioners and/or Australian-registered foreign lawyers
a community legal service
an incorporated legal practice.
If a law practice cannot find the owner of money it holds in a trust account, it has 2 options:
The money may be paid to the Treasurer who is then responsible for returning the money to the rightful owner.
The money may be retained in the trust account until it can find the rightful owner.
The Unclaimed Money Act 1995 does not apply to this category of unclaimed money. This means a law practice can pay the money to the Treasurer at any time after it becomes aware that it cannot locate the owner.
If unclaimed money is paid to the Treasurer, the law practice is absolved from further responsibility for returning the money to the owner. However, it does not absolve its responsibilities to any other person who may have a claim on the money.
If the ownership of money held in a trust account is in dispute, it’s not unclaimed money and must not be paid to the Treasurer. It’s the responsibility of the law practice to determine the rightful owner. If disputed money is paid to the Treasurer, it will be returned to the law firm.
We hold unclaimed superannuation that was lodged with us between 1 July 1997 to 30 June 2007 and only collect unclaimed money from NSW public sector superannuation.
Superannuation becomes unclaimed in the following circumstances.
When a member of the superannuation provider:
is 65 years or older
has not made a contribution or received benefits in 2 years, and
has not been in contact with the provider for 5 years despite reasonable attempts to contact them.
For a non-member spouse, when:
there's a payment split as a result of a determination under the Family Law Act 1975
they (or if they have died, their legal representative) are entitled to be paid an amount
the superannuation provider, after reasonable efforts and time, is unable to ensure a person entitled to the superannuation benefit receives it.
When, in the case of a deceased member:
the superannuation provider determines that an immediate benefit (other than a pension or annuity) required to be paid
no contributions have been received or defined benefits accrued for 2 years
the superannuation provider, after reasonable effort and time, is unable to ensure the benefit is received by the person entitled to receive it.
Revenue NSW’s new enterprise dashboard allows you to login and return unclaimed money. When you register you will receive an email with instructions to activate your account using Okta. The Okta platform provides strengthened security and single-sign-on functionality to our systems.
You must keep a record of your unclaimed money return for 6 years. This is to help us verify a request from the owner if they make a claim.
From 18 November 2024 existing registered enterprises will receive an email from Okta and need to activate their account before they can lodge unclaimed money.
1. Register enterprise
If your enterprise is not an existing registered enterprise, please register.
You will need the following information to complete your registration:
company name
company ABN
company address etc.
2. Prepare your return
Your return must list all items of unclaimed money and provide complete and accurate information to identify the owner.
Mandatory information includes:
owner’s full name
total amount due to the owner
year the money became payable to the owner
type of money (for example dividend, interest or refund)
last address you have for the owner.
You can provide additional information to help identify the owner, such as:
date of birth
account number
email address
phone number.
You can type this information into a web form (up to 10 items) otherwise you must use the return file format and upload it in CSV or Excel file format.
Use the web form if your return has less than 10 items
If your return has less than 10 items, you can type the data into the web form located on your enterprise dashboard.
Select the Owner Type and the required name fields will be displayed.
Enter each item and click Save.
Review and edit the items before lodging your return.
New requirements apply from 18 November 2024.
For those enterprises previously using the return file format, please see return file specifications below for the new detailed information.
Return file specifications
If you have more than 10 items, you will need to use the return file template. Download the templates below or from your enterprise dashboard.
When you upload your return file, the system will validate the format and data. If there are any formatting errors, they must be corrected and the file re-loaded. You will not be able to lodge a file that contains errors. Data errors can be corrected on your enterprise dashboard or upload a new return file.
The owner’s name and address fields (columns G-I and N-T) are mandatory if known. If you do not have this information, leave the field blank. Please note, before you can lodge your return you will have to declare that you do not have this information.
