Working holiday maker tax rates for 2026-27: the table, your employer, super and the 65% DASP tax

Working holiday maker tax rates for 2026-27

The rates are set by Schedule 7, Part III of the Income Tax Rates Act 1986. Its table applies to "the 2024-25 year of income or a later year of income", so the same four bands apply in 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27:

• $0 to $45,000: 15%
• $45,001 to $135,000: $6,750 plus 30% of the amount over $45,000
• $135,001 to $190,000: $33,750 plus 37% of the amount over $135,000
• $190,001 and over: $54,100 plus 45% of the amount over $190,000

The ATO's Schedule 15 tax table, which applies to payments from 1 July 2026, lists the same bands as the working holiday maker income tax rates for 2026-27. The ATO's main working holiday maker rates page still showed 2025-26 as its latest year on 30 October 2026; the rates are the same.

Who the rates apply to. Under section 3A of the Act you're a working holiday maker at any time you hold:

• a subclass 417 (Working Holiday) visa
• a subclass 462 (Work and Holiday) visa
• a bridging visa that lets you work, granted on an application for a 417 or 462 that hasn't been decided, where the last visa you held other than a bridging visa was a 417 or 462
• a COVID-19 pandemic event 408 visa.

What income they apply to. Your "working holiday taxable income" is assessable income from Australian sources that you earn while you're a working holiday maker, less the deductions that relate to it (section 3A(2)). Income from before or after that period is taxed at the ordinary resident or foreign resident rates.

No step down in 2027-28. The resident rate on income from $18,201 to $45,000 falls from 15% in 2026-27 to 14% from 2027-28 (Schedule 7, Part I). The working holiday table has no such change, so as the Act stands on 30 October 2026 the working holiday rate stays at 15% in 2027-28.

The working holiday maker rates have applied to income earned from 1 January 2017, according to the ATO.

What a working holiday maker pays compared with residents and foreign residents

Tax on the same income in 2026-27, before tax offsets and the Medicare levy, worked out from the three tables in Schedule 7:

• $30,000: working holiday maker $4,500; foreign resident $9,000; Australian resident $1,770
• $45,000: working holiday maker $6,750; foreign resident $13,500; Australian resident $4,020
• $60,000: working holiday maker $11,250; foreign resident $18,000; Australian resident $8,520

For most working holiday makers, being an Australian resident or a foreign resident for tax purposes doesn't change the rate, the ATO says, and most people on a working holiday are foreign residents for tax purposes.

The exception comes from the High Court's decision in Addy v Commissioner of Taxation on 3 November 2021. A working holiday maker who is an Australian resident for tax purposes and a national of a country whose tax treaty has a non-discrimination article may be taxed on the same basis as a resident Australian national. The ATO lists Chile, Finland, Germany, Israel (from 2020-21), Japan, Norway, Turkey and the United Kingdom; Iceland's treaty excludes working holiday maker rates. Employers still withhold at 15%. The lower tax is worked out when you lodge a return, and the ATO may review whether you really were a resident.

Your employer: registered, unregistered, and without a TFN

An employer has to register with the ATO as an employer of working holiday makers before it first pays a 417 or 462 visa holder (Taxation Administration Act 1953, Schedule 1, section 16-146). You don't register yourself. What comes out of each pay depends on the employer and on your tax file number (TFN):

1. You give the employer a TFN declaration, which asks whether you're a working holiday maker. The employer can check your visa on VEVO.
2. A registered employer withholds 15% on the first $45,000 it pays you in the income year, then 30%, 37% and 45% at the bands above (ATO Schedule 15, Table A for 2026-27).
3. An unregistered employer must withhold at foreign resident rates: 30% on every dollar up to $135,000, then 37% and 45%. An employer that doesn't register is liable to an administrative penalty of 20 penalty units, which is $7,280 at the $364 penalty unit that applies from 1 July 2026.
4. If you haven't given a TFN, the employer withholds 45%. If your TFN declaration says you've applied for one, you have 28 days to give it to the employer before the 45% applies.

Withholding is a prepayment, not the final bill. Your tax for the year is worked out at the working holiday rates when your return is assessed, and everything withheld is credited against it. If an unregistered employer took 30%, lodging a return is how the extra comes back: on $20,000 of wages that's $6,000 withheld against $3,000 of tax.

Each registered employer counts only what it has paid you. With several employers, each can withhold 15% on its own first $45,000, so if your combined working holiday income goes over $45,000 the tax withheld can be less than the tax on your total, and the difference is payable on assessment.

ABN Lookup doesn't show whether a business is registered for working holiday makers; it refers those questions to the Australian Business Register. Your first payslip shows which rate your employer is using.

No tax-free threshold, and when the Medicare levy applies

There's no tax-free threshold on working holiday income. The working holiday table starts at 15% from the first dollar, and the Act counts working holiday income as the first slice of your taxable income, starting from $0 (Schedule 7, Part I clause 4 for residents and Part II clause 4 for foreign residents). If you earn other income in the same year, for example after moving to another visa, the ordinary rates apply to it from where your working holiday income stops. For a resident, working holiday income of $18,200 or more takes up the whole of the tax-free threshold.

The Medicare levy (2% for residents) depends on your residency for tax purposes, not on the working holiday rate:

• Foreign residents for tax purposes, which the ATO says most working holiday makers are, don't pay the Medicare levy. They claim the exemption on their return for the period they were a foreign resident.
• A working holiday maker who is an Australian resident for tax purposes may have to pay it. An exemption applies for any period covered by a Medicare Entitlement Statement from Services Australia showing you weren't entitled to Medicare benefits, as long as you had no dependants or all of them were also exempt. Services Australia can take up to 8 weeks to issue the statement, and the ATO says to wait for it before lodging.

Employers can't reduce working holiday withholding for Medicare levy adjustments or tax offsets. A resident working holiday maker claims any they're entitled to on their return (ATO Schedule 15).

Super in 2026-27: 12%, paid with your wages

Working holiday makers are entitled to the super guarantee like other employees. The rate is 12% for 2026-27, and you're eligible regardless of how much you earn. Employees under 18 qualify only if they work more than 30 hours in a week.

From 1 July 2026, under Payday Super, your employer pays super for each payday, worked out on your qualifying earnings: ordinary time earnings and commissions, but not overtime. Your fund must receive the contribution within 7 business days after payday for it to count as on time. Before 1 July 2026 employers had until 28 days after the end of each quarter.

Your employer must give you the option to choose your super fund. Your income statement in ATO online services (through myGov) shows what you earned, the tax withheld and your super, and the ATO asks you to check with your employer that every contribution has been paid before you claim it back.

When you leave: the 65% tax on a DASP

Super can be paid out after you leave as a departing Australia superannuation payment (DASP). The fund withholds tax as a final tax, under section 5 of the Superannuation (Departing Australia Superannuation Payments Tax) Act 2007:

• Tax-free component: nil
• Taxed element of the taxable component: 35%, or 65% at the working holiday maker rate
• Untaxed element of the taxable component: 45%, or 65% at the working holiday maker rate

Section 5(3) applies 65% to a DASP paid on or after 1 July 2017 that "includes amounts attributable to superannuation contributions made while the person was a working holiday maker". The ATO says the 65% rate then applies to the entire payment, including super you earned while working under a different visa, and that it doesn't matter when you held the 417 or 462. Each fund makes its own payment and decides the rate from the contributions it holds, so a fund that holds no working holiday contributions applies the ordinary rates.

On a $10,000 taxed element, the ordinary rate leaves $6,500 after $3,500 tax; the working holiday rate leaves $3,500 after $6,500 tax.

A DASP doesn't go in your tax return, and it's generally paid within 28 days of a complete application. The guide to claiming super when leaving Australia sets out the steps.

TFN and tax return: the steps in order

1. Apply for a TFN (you, free). Once you're in Australia on a visa that lets you work, apply online through the ATO's Individual Auto-Registration. You don't send documents, and the TFN is posted to the Australian address you give, usually within 28 days.
2. Give a TFN declaration to each employer (you). It asks whether you're a working holiday maker, an Australian resident or a foreign resident for tax purposes.
3. Check your income statement (your employer reports, you check). Employers using Single Touch Payroll report your pay, tax and super, and you can see them in ATO online services through myGov.
4. Decide whether you need to lodge (you). You don't need to lodge a return or a non-lodgment advice if all your income was salary or wages earned as a working holiday maker and your taxable income was under $45,001. You need to lodge to claim deductions, and lodging is how over-withheld tax comes back.
5. Lodge between 1 July and 31 October (you or a registered tax agent). If you're leaving Australia permanently before 30 June and won't earn more Australian income other than interest, dividends or royalties, the ATO accepts an early return on the paper form; processing takes 50 business days. From overseas you can also lodge with myTax through myGov.
6. Claim your super after you leave (you). See the DASP section above.

The Australian income year runs from 1 July to 30 June.

If your visa changes during the year

The working holiday rates apply to income you earn while you hold a 417, a 462 or a qualifying bridging visa. Income after you move to another visa is taxed at the ordinary resident or foreign resident rates, starting from the point where your working holiday income stops (see the tax-free threshold section above). An employer that doesn't report through Single Touch Payroll gives you two payment summaries for that year, one for each period.

For super, the change doesn't reset anything: under the ATO's reading of section 5(3), a DASP that includes any working holiday contributions is taxed at 65% in full, even if you later held another visa.

A working holiday maker may become an Australian resident for tax purposes if their purpose for being in Australia changes, backed by a visa that lets them stay and work for something other than a holiday, the ATO says. That matters most for nationals of the eight non-discrimination countries listed above.

Visa changes announced in September 2026

A ballot for second and third working holiday visas, capped at 45,000 and 5,000 places, was announced on 17 September 2026. As at 12 October 2026 no instrument or start date had been published. It doesn't change the tax rules on this page.

What about 482 visa tax rates?

A 482 (Skills in Demand) visa has no rate table of its own. Your rate depends on whether you're an Australian resident or a foreign resident for tax purposes under the ordinary tests: the resides, domicile, 183-day and superannuation tests.

For 2026-27 the resident rates are nil up to $18,200, 15% from $18,201 to $45,000, 30% to $135,000, 37% to $190,000 and 45% above that, plus the 2% Medicare levy unless you're exempt. From 2027-28 the 15% band falls to 14%. Foreign residents pay 30% from the first dollar up to $135,000, then 37% and 45%, with no tax-free threshold and no Medicare levy.

What is the working holiday maker tax rate for 2026-27?

15% on the first $45,000 of working holiday income, 30% from $45,001 to $135,000, 37% from $135,001 to $190,000 and 45% above $190,000, with no tax-free threshold. The table is in Schedule 7, Part III of the Income Tax Rates Act 1986 and applies from 2024-25 onward.

Do working holiday makers get the $18,200 tax-free threshold?

No. The working holiday rate starts at 15% from the first dollar, and the Act counts working holiday income as the first slice of your taxable income.

What happens if my employer isn't registered for working holiday makers?

It must withhold at foreign resident rates: 30% of every dollar up to $135,000. Your tax is still worked out at the working holiday rates when you lodge a return, so the extra withheld comes back as a refund. The employer is liable to a penalty of 20 penalty units ($7,280 from 1 July 2026) for not registering.

How much tax is taken if I don't give my employer a TFN?

45% of each payment. If your TFN declaration says you've applied for a TFN, you have 28 days to give it to your employer first.

Do I have to lodge a tax return as a working holiday maker?

Not if all your income was salary or wages earned as a working holiday maker and your taxable income for the year was under $45,001. You need to lodge to claim deductions, and to get back tax that was over-withheld.

Do working holiday makers pay the Medicare levy?

Not if you're a foreign resident for tax purposes, which the ATO says most working holiday makers are. A working holiday maker who is an Australian resident for tax purposes may pay it unless they're exempt, for example with a Medicare Entitlement Statement showing they weren't entitled to Medicare benefits.

Do working holiday makers get super?

Yes. The super guarantee is 12% for 2026-27, whatever you earn. From 1 July 2026 your employer pays it for each payday, and your fund must receive it within 7 business days after payday.

Why is my super taxed at 65% when I leave?

Section 5(3) of the Superannuation (Departing Australia Superannuation Payments Tax) Act 2007 sets 65% for a DASP paid from 1 July 2017 that includes amounts from contributions made while you were a working holiday maker. The ordinary rates are 35% on the taxed element and 45% on the untaxed element.

Does the 65% rate apply only to the super I earned on my working holiday?

No. The ATO says that if a payment includes any working holiday contributions, the 65% rate applies to the entire payment, including super earned on a later visa. Each fund makes its own payment and applies the rate based on the contributions it holds.

Is this tax advice?

No. It's general information, checked against the Income Tax Rates Act 1986, the Superannuation (Departing Australia Superannuation Payments Tax) Act 2007 and the ATO's guidance as at 30 October 2026. A registered tax agent handles tax questions about your own situation. For visa questions, Migratio lets you describe your situation once and compare consultation fees from MARA-registered migration agents: comparing is free, consults are typically $150–$300, and you pay only if you book.