The Australian Tax Year: 1 July to 30 June

Why does the July to June boundary matter so much to a backpacker?

A twelve month working holiday almost never sits inside one financial year. Arrive in September, work to the following August, and you have two part years rather than one full one.

Each is assessed on its own. Withholding is calculated pay by pay as though the rate continues all year, so a part year is very often over withheld, and a refund appears at the end of both years rather than one.

Which year does a given pay belong to?

The year it was paid to you, not the year you did the work. A shift worked in late June and paid in early July falls into the new financial year.

• Arrived October 2025 and worked to April 2026: all of it falls in the 2025-26 year, which ended 30 June 2026.
• Started work in March 2026 and continued past July: March to June 2026 sits in 2025-26, and July onwards sits in 2026-27.

This is why your income statement, not your recollection, is the authority. It is compiled from what the employer reported to the ATO by payment date.

What actually happens at the end of the year?

The ATO compares the tax you should have paid on the year's total income against what your employers withheld. Withheld more than owed, the difference is refunded. Less, it is payable.

For most working holiday makers the balance falls on the refund side for structural reasons: weeks before your TFN reached the employer were withheld at 45% instead of 15%, part year earnings are over withheld by design, and deductions and the Medicare levy exemption are only applied at assessment.

When is the deadline, and what moves it?

31 October following the end of the financial year, for anyone lodging their own return. The 2025-26 year ended 30 June 2026, so its self lodgement deadline is 31 October 2026, and the 2026-27 year runs to 31 October 2027.

Returns lodged with the ATO under a registered tax agent generally fall under a later concessional date, often well into the following year. A missed October deadline is not the end of the matter, and penalties are not automatic.

What if you left Australia before the year ended?

You can still lodge, and in some circumstances lodge early. A return can be prepared from anywhere, but a refund is paid into an Australian bank account, so keep that account open until the money clears.

Closing it is the most common self inflicted problem for departed backpackers: a refund that cannot be paid sits with the ATO until an alternative is arranged from overseas. Our guide to lodging a tax return from overseas covers what changes once you have gone.

What decides whether you have to lodge at all?

Whether tax was withheld from your pay. If any employer withheld anything, a return is how you find out whether it was too much, and for working holiday makers with any Australian earnings a return is required.

Narrow situations need no return, generally where there was no income and no withholding. A year you earned in and never lodged for does not disappear either. It remains lodgeable, and prior year refunds are frequently still claimable.

Two returns or one?

The dates are fixed. What they mean for your money is not, and most working holiday makers have two returns rather than one.

• Which side of 30 June your first and last pays landed on, which sets how many returns you have.
• Whether either year was a part year, since part year withholding routinely overshoots.
• Whether there was a period before your TFN reached the employer, withheld at 45% rather than 15%.
• Whether you are lodging yourself or under a registered tax agent, which changes the deadline.
• Whether an Australian bank account is still open to receive the refund.
• Whether any earlier year was never lodged, which is usually still recoverable.

Both years are worked out in the working holiday tax return, and you can estimate your tax refund for each year separately.