Claiming Your Superannuation Back When Leaving Australia (2026 Guide)

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Leaving Australia? Every dollar your employers paid into superannuation is yours to claim once you have gone. It is called a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP), and after a year or two of work it is usually worth a few thousand dollars. Here is how it works in 2026, how much tax comes off, and how to make sure you get all of it.

Who can claim a DASP?

You can claim if you worked in Australia on a temporary visa, that visa has now expired or been cancelled, and you have left the country. You cannot claim if you are an Australian or New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident, because you have the right to retire here and your super stays locked until then. Retirement visa holders (405 and 410) also cannot claim; they should talk to the ATO.

Claims can go back as far as 1994, so even super from a first working holiday years ago is still claimable.

How much will you get back?

Your employer must pay 12% on top of your ordinary earnings into a super fund. On a year of full-time work at AUD 60,000, that is about AUD 7,200 in super. The catch is the withholding tax when you take it out:

• 65% if you held a working holiday visa at any point while the super was earned. On that AUD 7,200 you would receive around AUD 2,500.
• 35% on the taxed element for other temporary visas such as a student or sponsored visa.

The 65% rate for backpackers came in on 1 July 2017 and has not changed since. It is a final tax, so you cannot claim any of it back through a tax return. Painful, but the alternative is leaving the money in Australia for 40 years.

If you moved from a working holiday visa to a sponsored visa, the super earned during your working holiday years is taxed at 65% and the rest at 35%. The fund works this out from your visa history.

Three ways to claim

1. Yourself, online, free. Use the ATO’s DASP online application. You need your tax file number, passport details and your super fund details. The ATO checks with Home Affairs that your visa has ended. This is the cheapest option and works well if you had one or two funds.
2. Through an agent. If you had five jobs and no idea where your super went, an agent like Taxback.com will track down every fund and lodge it for you for a fee. They also do the tax return at the same time.
3. Directly with your fund on paper. Still possible, but slower and pointless when the online form exists.

The multiple-funds problem, and how to avoid it

Most backpackers tick “default fund” at every new job and end up with four or five accounts, each quietly charging fees. Fix it before you leave:

• Log in to myGov, link the ATO, and you will see every fund holding money in your name. Consolidate them into one with a couple of clicks.
• Better still, on your first day in Australia open one super fund and give that account to every employer after it. Your tax file number ties it all together.
• Ask each employer for your payslips and your fund’s member number before you finish. Chasing them from Ireland is miserable.

Timing and getting the money home

• Start the paperwork before you leave, so everything is ready to lodge the day your visa ends.
• Payment typically arrives within 28 days, longer if a fund needs more identification.
• Keep your Australian bank account open until the money lands, then transfer it home. Do not let the bank convert it. Use Wise for a few thousand or TorFX for larger sums, and read the money transfer guide.
• Claim your income tax refund separately. That is a different process with different rules: read the working holiday tax refund guide.

Heading home for good?

Super is one of about ten things to sort. The rest are in what to do when you are leaving Australia, and the Irish Expats Returning to Ireland group has thousands of people who have done it before you.

Checked September 2026 against the ATO’s DASP and super guarantee pages. Tax rates quoted are the DASP withholding rates for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 years.

Ah go on, give it a share!