The findings have big implications, not only in terms of lost revenue, as people could become more reliant on the age pension.

Industry Super and Cbus released research earlier this year found employers failing to make compulsory superannuation payments are pocketing $3.6 billion per year from 2.4 million workers. For the average worker this represented $1489 or four months' worth of savings.

New ISA research being unveiled on Wednesday as part of the first hearing of a Senate inquiry into unpaid Superannuation Guarantee in Melbourne, shows across all ages and all salaries, those Australians who were underpaid their super had balances $19,709 or 47 per cent lower than those who had received it.

And people aged 60 to 64 on salaries ranging from $50,000 to $75,000 who weren't correctly paid their super in the 2013-14 year, had overall super balances $35,089 or almost 40 per cent less than those who were.

Under the Superannuation Guarantee, employers are required to contribute 9.5 per cent in superannuation towards every worker over the age of 18 earning more than $450 (gross) a month.

Government short-changed

Industry Super public affairs director, Matt Linden, said some employers were "deliberately dodging their super obligations".

"It is disturbing that compliance systems are allowing it to go unchecked year after year," he said.

"It leaves government short-changed on tax revenue and affected Australians with little chance of a decent retirement."

But the Australian Taxation Office, which released its own submission ahead of the inquiry, says that Industry Super may be overstating the cost of unpaid super.

The ATO submission does not give a dollar estimate of what the actual cost may be – it says such a figure will be delivered as part of its "tax gap" analysis. It was supposed to be released as part of its annual report last year, but has been delayed.

It said in 2014-15 about 880,000 employers made payments of $85.7 billion on behalf of about 11.7 million employees.

Nearly 30 per cent of these employers had paid the required SG to their employee, but a shortfall was identified in the remaining 10,000 cases (just 1 per cent of the estimated 880,000 employers).

11,000 workers dob in bosses

In addition, many people dobbed in their employers. In the year to December 31, 2016, the ATO received 10,759 reports about unpaid superannuation.

The ATO suggested that apart from getting reports from employees, it had stepped up efforts to chase down employers dodging obligations.

"In recent years we have increased our focus on non-employee notification cases, increasing from 544 cases in 2011-12 to 1,330 cases completed in 2015-16," the agency's submission said.

It added: "Since 2012 we have completed approximately 15,000 employer cases per year. We identified that SG had not been paid in an average of 65 per cent of cases. With average adjustments made of $25,000 per employer."

​For 2015-16, ATO compliance action resulted $670.4 million Superannuation Guarantee charge raised (including penalties and interest) with $341.3 million Superannuation Guarantee charge collected by the ATO.

The ATO submission said the accommodation and food services, construction, manufacturing and retail sectors were especially likely to not comply. These four industries represent about 50 per cent of the cases undertaken. 

Debt hard to pursue

But some 28 per cent of reports do not progress to an audit due to various factors such as the employee withdrawing the report or the employer being declared insolvent/bankrupt leaving the ATO is unable to pursue the debt.

The submission noted that the "ATO does not currently have visibility or a timely way to monitor the reporting or payment of SG by an employer".

"Super funds report member contributions to the ATO on an annual basis and as a result ATO has no visibility of payment information for up to 15 months after the start of a year," the submission said.

"This means non-compliant employers can be difficult for the ATO to identify in timely manner."

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