PALM Workers — Your Super + Tax Explained
ALITAX · Bilal Jivraj — Registered Tax Agent 25287564. Original guidance from 10+ years of DASP and tax casework.
This chapter is written specifically for PALM scheme workers — and for the employers, team leaders and community liaisons who support them. Everything here applies to workers from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Kiribati, Tuvalu and Nauru.
What a PALM worker can claim
If you came to Australia under the PALM scheme, you have almost certainly built up two separate amounts of money that belong to you:
- Your superannuation (DASP) — paid by your employer on top of your wages, claimable once you have left and your visa has ceased
- Your tax refund — from over-withheld tax on your wages, claimable through your final tax return
Most PALM workers are entitled to both. Many only ever claim one — or neither.
The Medicare levy exemption — the most commonly missed refund
This is the single biggest thing we find missing on PALM workers’ tax returns. Because you were on a temporary visa without full Medicare access, you may be entitled to a Medicare levy exemption — worth roughly 2% of your taxable income for each year you qualify.
Was your employer paying the right super?
We reconcile your super against your actual earnings, season by season. At the current 12% super guarantee rate, someone earning $45,000 in a season should have around $5,400 paid into super. If your balance does not match your work history, that is unpaid super you are owed — and we chase it.
Tax withheld above $45,000
We also check that tax was withheld correctly once your income passed $45,000, where the rate changes. Employers sometimes get this wrong, which can leave you with either a large refund owing or an unexpected bill. At ALITAX we find out which before anything is lodged.
The problems we see most with PALM workers
- Impersonation and identity theft — someone else claiming a worker’s refund using their TFN and date of birth
- Language barriers making fund letters and agent terms hard to understand
- Relying on a friend’s refund as a guide — every situation is different, and this is misleading
- Not feeling able to ask an employer about correct super and wages
- Multiple super accounts from different seasons and employers, quietly eaten by fees
- Claiming too early — leaving the final season’s contributions stranded
The timing that matters most
PALM seasons make timing critical. If you leave in May and claim your super in June, your April–May contributions may not have arrived yet. Once your account is closed by the DASP claim, those contributions bounce back to the employer, then to a default fund — and in many cases you cannot claim them.
Contact us before you fly home
It is far easier and cheaper to sort everything out while you are still in Australia. Before you leave we can certify your documents face-to-face (Melbourne or Tasmania), check your fund details match your passport exactly, confirm your final super has landed, and prepare your claim so it is ready to lodge the moment you are eligible.
🎥 Spoken version — video script (about 80 seconds)
Read straight to camera. Pause at each line break.
This one is for PALM scheme workers — and for the employers who look after them.
If you came to Australia under the PALM scheme, from Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Kiribati, Tuvalu or Nauru — there are two amounts of money that belong to you.
The first is your superannuation. Your employer paid that on top of your wages. Once you have left and your visa has ended, you can claim it.
The second is your tax refund, from tax taken out of your pay.
Most PALM workers can claim both. Many only ever claim one. Some claim neither.
Now here is the thing I find most often, and it costs people real money. The Medicare levy exemption. Because you were on a temporary visa without full Medicare access, you may be entitled to get that back — around two percent of your income, every year you worked.
On fifty thousand dollars, that is about a thousand dollars a year. Across three seasons, three thousand dollars. Sitting there, unclaimed.
Two warnings before you go.
First, timing. If you leave in May and claim in June, your last contributions may not have arrived yet — and once the account closes, you may not get them. Wait until everything is in.
Second, and this matters — we have seen a lot of impersonation in the PALM scheme. Never give your tax file number, your passport or your date of birth to anyone who offers to claim for you. Speak to us directly.
[End — on-screen: alitax.com.au/dasp · WhatsApp +61 422 665 268 · Registered Tax Agent 25287564]