Australian Working Holiday Tax Refund Guide (2026)

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Nearly every Irish person on a working holiday visa overpays tax in Australia, and most of it comes back when you lodge a return. This is how backpacker tax works in 2026, when to claim, what you can deduct and how to get the money home.

How working holiday makers are taxed

Since 2017 anyone on a 417 or 462 visa is taxed under the working holiday maker rates, regardless of how long they have been here:

• 15% on income up to AUD 45,000
• 30% from AUD 45,001 to 135,000, then the ordinary higher brackets above that
• No 2% Medicare levy. If an employer took it, you get it back on your return.

Compared with an Australian resident, who pays nothing on the first AUD 18,200, that 15% from the first dollar stings. It also means that, unlike the old days, you will not automatically get everything back if you earned under the threshold. What you do get back is any over-withholding, plus your deductions.

A note for Irish passport holders: a 2021 High Court case let citizens of a handful of countries (the UK, Germany, Japan and a few others) argue for resident tax rates under their tax treaties. Ireland’s treaty with Australia does not have that clause, so Irish working holiday makers stay on the 15% rate.

Before you start work: two things that decide your refund

1. Get a Tax File Number (TFN). Apply online with the ATO once you land. It is free and takes about ten days. Without one you are taxed at the top rate.
2. Check your employer is registered to employ working holiday makers. Registered employers withhold 15%. Unregistered ones must withhold 32.5%, and while you can claim the difference back at year end, it is a lot of cash to lend the government for months. Ask before you sign.

When you fill in the tax file number declaration for each job, tick that you are a working holiday maker. Do not tick the tax-free threshold box; it does not apply to you.

When to lodge

• Still in Australia at 30 June: lodge from 1 July, deadline 31 October. Your employer’s income statement appears in myGov by mid-July.
• Leaving before 30 June: you can lodge an early return once you have finished your last job. Ask each employer for a final payment summary first.
• Left years ago and never lodged? You can still lodge for previous years. Most Irish who worked through a full tax year and then left mid-way through the next one are owed two returns.

What you can claim as a deduction

Every deduction reduces the income taxed at 15%, so keep receipts (photos on your phone are fine):

• Courses and tickets required for work: RSA, RCG, White Card, forklift and traffic control licences
• Tools, steel-capped boots, high-vis and other protective gear, and laundering of uniforms with a logo
• Union fees, professional registrations and work-related phone use
• Travel between two jobs on the same day (not your commute from home)
• The fee you paid a tax agent last year

Regional work trips do not count as travel deductions, and neither do the visa itself, flights to Australia or your hostel.

Do it yourself or use an agent?

myTax through myGov is free and takes twenty minutes if you had one or two employers and your income statements are all there. Refunds usually land within two weeks.

An agent makes sense if you had a string of jobs, lost payslips, are already back in Ireland, or want the super claim done at the same time. Taxback.com have been doing Irish backpacker returns since before this site existed, and they give a free estimate first so you know if it is worth it.

Getting the refund home

Refunds go to an Australian bank account, so keep yours open until the money arrives. Then move it with Wise or TorFX rather than letting the bank convert it at their rate. The money transfer guide has the comparison.

Common mistakes

• Ticking “resident for tax purposes” on the declaration. Old advice, and it will be corrected against you at year end.
• Working cash in hand. No payslips means no refund and no super, and it can cost you a second-year visa.
• Closing your Australian bank account the day you fly. Both the tax refund and super are paid in Australian dollars to an Australian account.
• Forgetting super entirely. It is often bigger than the tax refund.

Rates checked September 2026 against the ATO’s working holiday maker tax tables for 2025-26 and 2026-27.

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