Recovering tax paid while working in Auz
 

Our son worked in Australia for 4 months on a travel/work visa. About 30% of each pay cheque was withheld for tax purposes. Can he recover this before leaving for home (Canada) and if so how?
Thank you.

Not sure about Aust, but I imagine it is thesame as NZ. if he worked here the tax is deducted on the assumption that he would be working and earning for a full year. As he only worked for 4 months his annnual income would be 33% of what he was assessed at, so he should be due for a refund.
He should obtain a tax assessment form from IRD on which he will enter the period he worked, what he earned, and the tax he paid. With a bit of luck he should be due for a refund. NZ IRD does not pay refunds into overseas bank accounts, so you would need to take the refund as a cheque. Aust may differ in this. No doubt they have a web site where you can download the relevant forms, and get more information.

Your son should phone the Australian Taxation Office (although the answer is probably somewhere on their website, www.ato.gov.au).

His employer may also have been deducting 9% of his gross pay as a compulsory Superannuation Guarantee Levy - most employees are asked to nominate which superannuation (pension) fund they wish the money to be credited to, but in some cases there's no choice. I think this too should be refundable, although the fund may charge an exit fee. (Check this with the ATO, though - for all I know the levy is waived for overseas workers in your son's situation).

I meant to say that your son would have been issued a 9-digit Tax File Number (TFN) - he should have that on hand when he talks to the ATO.

And just to add to the confusion by picking up on vbca's point ... it's normal for new non-permanent employees to be given a choice of how they wish to be taxed.

One option is to be taxed at a higher rate based on extrapolating their weekly pay to an annual figure - e.g. if they're on $900 a week, they're taxed as though they'll be earning $900*52=$46,800 in that year. But if they work for only 4 months of that year, their final tax assessment will be based on what they actually earned (say $15,000), which will attract a lower real tax bill. In that case they'll typically receive a refund cheque/bank deposit.

If they've opted to be taxed at the lower rate reflecting their expected real earnings, the final assessment will usually produce a small extra payment or refund.

The financial year for tax purposes is 01 July to 30 June.

Thank you both very much !
Lise