Growing move to merge super accounts

Thousands of Australians are heeding the advice of the tax office and merging their superannuation accounts.

Workers are unnecessarily paying thousands of dollars in fees each year when they have multiple super accounts, usually the result of a job change.

However, the Australian Tax Office has made it easier to merge accounts through the myGov online portal.

During the second half of 2014, 250,000 accounts worth $1.13 billion were merged.

That was a 400 per cent increase over the same period in 2013.

In one case, 17 accounts were consolidated.

"It's now easier than ever to consolidate your super," ATO assistant commissioner John Shepherd said on Tuesday.

There are still about $5.8 billion worth of "lost accounts" in the system where people have lost track of their retirement nest egg.

That's possibly because they did not update their details after moving house.