Frequently Asked Questions

Worked in Australia anytime since 1992?

If you have then you will have an Aussie Super account you are able to bring that money home and invest it in your KiwiSaver account.

Why bring your Aussie Super home?

There are a lot of good reasons to bring your Aussie Super home:

Potential for lower fees - You are probably paying at least two sets of fees. Consolidating your super with one KiwiSaver provider could reduce the total cost. It is also possible that you might have more than one super account in Australia if you changed jobs when you were there.

Visibility - Having all your retirement savings in one place makes it easier to keep track of your savings and what is happening with it.

Certainty - If you are planning to retire in New Zealand, you probably want to know what your nest egg is worth in New Zealand dollars.

Important:

Once you have transferred your superannuation savings to New Zealand you cannot reverse the decision unless you decide to permanently move back to Australia.

You can only transfer Australian funds back into KiwiSaver in your name.

You cannot access any Australian funds transferred to New Zealand until age 60 and you satisfy the Australian definition of retirement at that age. However, there may be exceptions in the case of significant financial hardship and serious illness, if you meet the criteria.

Transferred Australian funds cannot be used to assist with the purchase of a first home, nor can they be transferred to another country.

There is no tax to pay on the transferred balance prior to it being invested in your KiwiSaver account, however, once it is invested the balance will be subject to New Zealand tax just like your current KiwiSaver earnings are. Investments in New Zealand are taxed differently to those in Australia. Australia generally has a flat rate of 15% on earnings from superannuation schemes. New Zealand's tax rate can range from 10.5% to 28% depending on your own Prescribed Investor Rate (PIR). However, Australia taxes capital gains in superannuation schemes on equities whereas New Zealand currently does not tax capital gains on New Zealand equities and most Australian equities. International shares are usually taxed as if they earned 5% per annum. If you require further information, we recommend that you seek independent advice on taxation from an expert.

There may be other benefits specific to your Australian super scheme that are not provided by KiwiSaver Schemes. If you are unsure of the impact of transferring to the Generate KiwiSaver Scheme we suggest you seek more in-depth financial advice.

Not sure where your Aussie super is?

It is estimated there is over $5 billion of Kiwis' money sitting ‘lost’ in Aussie Super. You can contact the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to help you find 'lost' Aussie Super. Instructions are available here.

Read more about transferring your Aussie Super from the ATO here.

Read more about transferring directly from an Aussie Super provider here.

Contact us or call us on 0800 855 322 so we can assist you to bring your Aussie Super home.

PLEASE NOTE: When the rollover is processed by the Australian providers, most will send the funds to Generate’s bank account that you will provide as part of your application. These funds can be subject to a hold period of 21 days, this period may also vary from time to time.

Once Generate has received the money in the account, and has the rollover documents provided by the Australian provider, it is expected that these funds will be cleared and allocated into your KiwiSaver within 10 business days.

This processing time is unfortunately out of Generate's control. We can assure you that we will be allocating these funds into your KiwiSaver account as soon as the money is cleared. You will be informed by email once we receive the deposit, and again once the funds are cleared and allocated into your KiwiSaver account.

If your money is held with the ATO, Trans-Tasman account transfers (between the ATO and New Zealand IRD) are processed twice each year. Usually, the cut-off is around early January and early July. How long the transfer takes may depend on when in the bi-annual cycle you initiate the request. As soon as we get notice from the ATO, we’ll be in touch with a progress update.