Legal requirements
Early access to super on compassionate grounds is only available in limited circumstances to pay for certain expenses. You must:
- meet all eligibility rules
- provide the required evidence, including whether you can pay for part or all of the expense by other means.
It is illegal to access your super early unless you meet a condition of release under superannuation law.
If you access your super or attempt to access it without meeting the rules, you could face serious consequences.
Inappropriate behaviours
We have identified and stopped attempts to inappropriately access super early on compassionate grounds. Examples of inappropriate behaviours include:
- fabricating or changing documents to indicate eligibility
- attempting to access super through illegal promoter schemes
- providing inaccurate information in documents, such as medical reports
- not using super on the approved expense
- creating falsified ATO approval letters to present to super funds.
You should be cautious of registered agents, health practitioners and other people that promote you can access your super early. Where these entities act inappropriately regarding your application, you can be liable for any consequences including penalties for making a false or misleading statement. Examples where this could occur include:
- if you provide your myGov sign-in details to a registered agent or another person and they provide us with inaccurate information
- if your health practitioner provides you a medical report that is inaccurate (such as incorrectly advising cosmetic treatment is necessary) and you provide us with that report.
If a third party is assisting you to apply, it is important that you review your application and any documents you intend to provide us before you submit your application, to ensure they are accurate.
Consequences of inappropriate access
If we find an approved application included falsified documents or incorrect information, we will cancel the approval letter we gave you. This means you may be charged extra tax on the super payment at your marginal tax rate instead of the concessional rate.
We may correct your income tax return to ensure the payment and withholding tax are accurate. This could involve amending your return or issuing a default assessment, which may result in:
- additional income tax due to how the payment is reported
- tax shortfall penalties for making false or misleading statements when lodging your return
- interest charges on any shortfall.
Anyone making false or misleading statements when accessing their super on compassionate grounds may face penalties. Health practitioners or other parties who facilitated the application may also face penalties.
We may also prosecute anyone that promotes a scheme to illegally access super. This can result in civil and criminal penalties, including significant fines and imprisonment.
Before submitting an application, you need to ensure that all the information you are providing is accurate, including the content within medical reports.
Read the outcome where a Western Australian woman was jailed for exploiting hardship superannuation support.
myGov access
You should never share your myGov sign-in details with anyone, including:
- health practitioners
- registered tax agents.
Doing so:
- is a breach of the myGov terms of useExternal Link
- compromises the security of your records
- can result in your myGov account being locked, suspended, or deactivated permanently.
Remember, if you share your myGov details with a third party, you are responsible for everything they do with your account.
Voluntary disclosure
If you have inappropriately accessed your super, you can make a voluntary disclosure to inform us of:
- the error you made, or
- false or misleading information you provided.
You can make a voluntary disclosure to us:
- in writing, or
- by phone.
Making a voluntary disclosure may result in a reduction of any penalties or interest that would otherwise apply.
How to report concerns
We encourage members of the community to make a tip-off if they are aware of and have concerns about:
- individuals who have inappropriately accessed their super, or
- health practitioners or registered agents who have assisted individuals to inappropriately access their super.
We review all tip-offs for early access to super and take action where necessary.
We also encourage anyone with concerns about:
- a specific medical practitioner to report this to the relevant health regulatorExternal Link
- others providing unlicensed advice to report this to the relevant financial regulatorExternal Link.