Aussies missing out on easy tax, junk insurance and super claims

There’s some simple ways to get your hands on thousands – but hurry as one deadline looms at the end of October.

Aussies could score an easy $11,000 by the end of October by chasing up a few simple things, according to consumer campaigner Joel Gibson.

He said finding out if you’re entitled to a junk insurance refund, lodging your tax return and claiming lost super could net someone thousands.

Rockdale resident Paul, who did not want his surname used, recently received a massive $9878 refund for junk insurance on a car loan.

“I was completely unaware that I was paying for these add-on insurances on a car loan I took out,” he said.

The NSW man just happened to catch an advertisement on TV that mentioned some of the insurance and recognised the names. He then used a service called Remediator to hunt the refund down for him.

“Car dealers must have played this trick on thousands of other people out there just like me. Enough is enough,” he said.

NSW man Paul received almost $10,000 back from junk insurance. Picture: Supplied

The average refund for junk insurance was $2179 for people that used the Remediator service, with one family scoring up to $17,000.

“Junk insurance is the name we’ve given to a range of dodgy ‘add-on insurance’ products that most banks and credit card providers sold for a decade in Australia, until ASIC and the Banking Royal Commission blew the whistle,” explained Mr Gibson.

“Our research suggests about 600,000 Aussies have already got refunds on their junk insurance premiums, but there are still as many as 5 million policies that haven’t been refunded. That’s one in four adults.”

Another easy win is filing your tax return by the end of the month, Mr Gibson added.

The average Aussie got a refund of $2574 last year and filing on time also helps you avoid a fine of between $222 and $1100.

Consumer campaigner Joel Gibson. Picture: News Corp Australia

Meanwhile, unclaimed superannuation is still a major oversight for many Australians with over $20 billion just sitting there, Mr Gibson revealed.

“If you’ve got lost super, not only could you be missing out on thousands of dollars of your money, but you might be paying multiple sets of fees and frittering away your balances. It’s a double whammy,” he said.

The average refunds from junk insurance, tax and super add up to a total $11,307 but there could be more on offer as tax refunds are expected to be bigger this year.

This is because the low and middle income tax offset was introduced, adding up to $1080 to an individual tax return.

“With lockdowns ending and Christmas arriving it’s more important than ever to claim what’s yours,” he said.