Working Holiday Visa Tax: 15% Income Tax + the 65% Super Tax (417/462)
417 and 462 working holiday makers pay 15% income tax on the first $45,000, with no tax-free threshold. Separately, the working-holiday portion of your superannuation is taxed at 65% when you claim it back as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment. Both figures verified against the Income Tax Rates Act 1986 and the DASP Tax Act 2007. Figures as at September 2026.
Read the full guide, with official sources →
Watch
Chapters
- 0:00 417 or 462?
- 0:14 15% on the first $45,000.
- 0:25 Above $45,000: 30%, then 37%,
- 0:38 The second tax:
- 0:48 Everyone else: 35% or 45%.
- 1:04 Applies to DASPs paid
- 1:16 It's about WHEN it was earned —
- 1:29 Your employer still pays
- 1:39 Employer not registered?
- 1:52 The 482 has no special rate —
- 2:12 The mistake: thinking a visa
- 2:25 Where to read more
Transcript
If you're on a subclass 417 or 462 working holiday visa, two separate taxes apply to you — and most people have only ever heard about one of them.
The first is income tax. You pay 15% on the first $45,000 you earn — with no tax-free threshold at all. The first dollar is taxed.
Above $45,000, the ordinary brackets take over: 30% up to $135,000, 37% up to $190,000, then 45% above that.
The second tax is the one barely anyone warns you about: a 65% tax on part of your own superannuation when you leave and claim it back.
For everyone else claiming a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment, the standard rate is 35% or 45%. For the working-holiday portion of your super, section 5 of the DASP Tax Act overrides that to a flat 65%.
This applies to any DASP paid on or after 1 July 2017 that includes super contributed while you held a subclass 417 or 462 visa.
The trigger is when the super was contributed — not what visa you hold when you eventually leave. Move to a different visa later, and the working-holiday slice of your super is still taxed at 65% on the way out.
Your employer still pays compulsory super contributions on your earnings at the standard rate — currently 12% — the same as for any other employee.
The 15% rate only applies correctly if your employer is registered with the ATO as a working holiday maker employer — otherwise you're waiting on a refund at tax time, not getting it taken out correctly each pay.
A subclass 482 visa has no special rate like this. A resident 482 holder pays the ordinary scale for the 2026-27 year: nothing to $18,200, then 15%, 30%, 37%, and 45% at the usual thresholds.
The mistake worth avoiding: assuming the 65% super tax disappears once you switch off a working holiday visa. It doesn't — it stays attached to whatever was contributed during that period, for good.
The full guide, with the official sources, is on migratio.com.au. The link is in the description.
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