417 Working Holiday Visa
ALITAX · Bilal Jivraj — Registered Tax Agent 25287564. Original guidance from 10+ years of DASP and tax casework.
The 417 Working Holiday visa (and the similar 462 Work and Holiday visa) lets young travellers work while holidaying in Australia. Tax for working holiday makers has its own special rules.
The working holiday maker tax rate
Income earned as a working holiday maker is generally taxed under a special "backpacker tax" schedule from the first dollar, at a set rate on your working-holiday income. This is different from ordinary resident rates, and it means your refund is calculated differently — so a return prepared as if you were an ordinary resident can be wrong.
Residency and the NDA exception
Most working holiday makers are treated as foreign residents, but there is an important exception for people from certain non-discrimination-article (NDA) countries — that has its own chapter, because it can change your tax outcome.
Your super (DASP)
Employers pay super on your wages, and you claim it as a DASP when you leave. Note that the DASP tax rate applied to working holiday maker super is higher than for some other visa types — we handle that calculation for you so there are no surprises.
🎥 Spoken version — video script (about 60 seconds)
Read straight to camera. Pause at each line break.
If you were here on a working holiday visa — the 417 or the 462 — there is something you need to understand about your tax, because it catches people out.
Working holiday makers are taxed differently. From the very first dollar you earn, at a special rate. There is no tax-free threshold for you the way there is for a resident.
And when you claim your super, the rate is different too. For most temporary visa holders, the departing Australia payment is taxed at thirty-five percent on the taxed element. But for working holiday makers, it is sixty-five percent.
That is a big difference, and I want you to know it before you claim, not after.
Now, here is where it gets important. Some people work part of the year on a working holiday visa, then change to a different visa. If your fund treats your whole balance as working holiday money, you could be taxed at sixty-five percent on money that should have been taxed at thirty-five.
That is worth checking properly.
And you still have a tax return to lodge. You may well have a refund waiting — especially if you worked only part of the year.
[End — on-screen: alitax.com.au/dasp · WhatsApp +61 422 665 268 · Registered Tax Agent 25287564]