Concerns for PALM Scheme Workers

ALITAX · Bilal Jivraj — Registered Tax Agent 25287564. Original guidance from 10+ years of DASP and tax casework.

Bilal Jivraj has identified specific concerns affecting PALM scheme workers from the Pacific and Timor-Leste that are often overlooked by other agents and by AI advice.

Identity and impersonation risks

• Identity theft: TFNs shared too widely, sometimes leading to fraudulent refund claims in someone else’s name
• Impersonation: someone else using a worker’s details to claim their refund or super without their knowledge

Language and communication barriers

• Language barriers making it hard to understand tax obligations, fund correspondence, or agent terms
• Phone communication difficulties with funds and the ATO
• Relying on friends to guide them on tax matters — and relying on friends’ refunds as a benchmark for their own, which is misleading because every situation is different

Employer and super issues

• Employers not paying the correct amount of super
• Employers not deducting the correct tax once income exceeds $45,000 (where the rate changes)
• Workers feeling they have no courage to ask their employer to pay the right super and correct wages

Tax return mistakes

• Missing the Medicare levy exemption they are entitled to (one of the most common errors for Fijian and other PALM workers)
• Incorrect deductions — random amounts in item D15, or claiming expenses they did not pay for
• Incorrect residency treatment and part-year resident issues