British passport holders
You have gone home. Your Australian tax has not.
Years you left open, a residency position that has to be reviewed, and super that becomes claimable the moment you leave.
Replies in about an hour. Tell us the years you worked and we will tell you where you stand.
Doing it yourself
The residency position decides a British return. myGov has no field for it.
Four things on a British file are settled somewhere other than the form.
On myGov
From Britain you often cannot get in at all, because linking the ATO wants Australian identity documents you no longer have.
With us
We deal with the ATO directly. Nothing on our side needs you to hold an Australian ID.
Nothing there mentions the Addy ruling, which may change which rates apply to some passports.
That is part of our review, and it can make a real difference to a return, so it is looked at properly before anything is lodged.
The Medicare levy is applied by default, and for Brits the health care agreement works the opposite way round.
We review where you stand on it before the return goes in.
The years you left open do not appear as a prompt anywhere.
Leaving Australia does not close a year. We go back through the ones nobody lodged and claim what is still sitting there.
You will never log into myGov, link an ID, or work out which form is which. We deal with the ATO directly.
Can you still claim Australian tax back from the UK?
Yes. An Australian tax return can be prepared and lodged from anywhere, and leaving does not close a year or reduce what you are owed. The superannuation half can only be claimed after you have left and your visa has ceased, so being home is a requirement rather than an obstacle.
What is different about a British passport?
Four things about a UK passport change the answer.
Three years, not one
For applications lodged on or after 1 July 2024, UK passport holders can apply up to and including age 35, and can be granted up to three working holiday visas without completing any specified regional work. Three years usually means three or four Australian tax years.
The Addy ruling may matter
The Addy case was brought by a British working holiday maker, and the ruling may change which rates apply to some passports. Whether it applies to you depends on the individual facts of your year and is assessed case by case, and that is part of our review.
Medicare runs the other way round
Every guide tells working holiday makers they are exempt from the 2 per cent Medicare levy. For a British traveller that is often the opposite of the truth, because of the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement between the UK and Australia.
Two tax years that never line up
The UK year runs 6 April to 5 April and the Australian year runs 1 July to 30 June. Arriving in February or leaving in September leaves an Australian year open that most people never think about again.
Do UK citizens pay the Medicare levy in Australia?
Often yes, and this is the one place where copying standard backpacker advice costs a British traveller rather than saves them. The UK has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with Australia, so a British visitor can enrol in Medicare and is treated in a public hospital.
Being entitled to Medicare is what removes the 2 per cent exemption other working holiday makers claim, and claiming an exemption you are not entitled to is not a small paperwork error.
Your residency position is part of what decides it, and it is assessed case by case. More on how the levy works on our Medicare page.
What tax rate applies to a working holiday maker?
Which rates apply to your Australian wages depends on the facts of your year, and a court ruling known as Addy may matter for some people. The ATO makes the final decision, and it is part of our review.
Working holiday maker rates 2025-26
| 0 to $45,000 | 15c for each $1 |
|---|---|
| $45,001 to $135,000 | $6,750 plus 30c for each $1 over $45,000 |
| $135,001 to $190,000 | $33,750 plus 37c for each $1 over $135,000 |
| $190,001 and over | $54,100 plus 45c for each $1 over $190,000 |
Your employer had to be registered with the ATO as an employer of working holiday makers for the 15 per cent rate to apply. If not, they had to withhold at the foreign resident rate, which starts at 30 cents in the dollar from your first dollar.
That money is not gone, but it only comes back on a lodged return. Full breakdown on our tax return page.
What happens to your superannuation once you are home?
It sits there. Your employer paid 12 per cent of your ordinary earnings into a superannuation fund on top of your wages, never out of them, from your first dollar and with no minimum monthly amount. Since 1 July 2026 it also has to be paid with every pay run and reach the fund within seven business days, so an employer skipping it shows up in weeks rather than after a quarter.
After a long stay and several jobs you will usually have more than one fund account, each charging fees against a balance you are not watching. Once you have left and your visa has ceased it is claimed as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment, with 65 per cent withheld, so roughly a third of the balance reaches your account.
There is no deadline on the claim, and the five year limit you may have read about does not exist. More on our superannuation page.
Are you late, and does it matter?
Australian returns can be lodged from 1 July. The deadline without an agent is 31 October, and going through a tax agent usually extends that to 15 May the following year. Past both, the year is late rather than lost, and a late return can still be lodged.
What we do with a British file
Anyone can press submit. The work happens before that, and on a British file it is the two questions nobody else asks: which years are open, and which residency position is true for each.
- Work out which Australian tax years you have open, including the ones you left behind when you flew home.
- Review each of those years, including the Addy ruling and what it may mean for your rates.
- Check the Medicare levy against your real position rather than copying the exemption other backpackers claim.
- Chase down every employer income statement, including the ones you have forgotten, and check what each withheld.
- Find superannuation left in funds you no longer have the logins for, and claim it as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment once your visa has ceased.
None of that asks anything of you beyond the years you worked and what you can still lay hands on.
Questions British travellers ask
Addy is a 2021 High Court decision about how working holiday makers can be taxed. A court ruling may change which rates apply to some passports. Whether it applies to you depends on the individual facts of your year and is assessed case by case, and that is part of our review.
Often yes. The UK has a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement with Australia, so a UK passport holder can enrol in Medicare, and that entitlement is what removes the 2 per cent exemption other working holiday makers claim. The answer also depends on your residency position, so it is checked case by case.
Yes. The Australian tax year runs 1 July to 30 June, so a three year stay usually spans three or four separate tax years, each needing its own return. The most common pattern we see is somebody who lodged in their first year and then stopped, and those later years usually hold the most money because the earnings were highest.
Your employer paid 12 per cent of your ordinary earnings into a superannuation fund on top of your wages, usually spread across more than one fund over a long stay. Once you have left and your visa has ceased it is claimed as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment, with 65 per cent withheld, so roughly a third of the balance reaches you.
A year past its deadline is late rather than lost. Late returns are still lodged and still refunded, and being late does not reduce what the year is worth.
It depends on your UK residence position for the years involved, which is a separate question with its own rules. We deal with the Australian side and will say plainly where something belongs to a UK adviser.
Worth reading next
Lodging an Australian tax return from overseas
What changes once you have left, and what does not.
Tax residency for working holiday makers
Why it is a judgement, and why it is worth having checked.
The UK Medicare agreement with Australia
Why British travellers are treated differently on the levy.
This is general information, not personal tax advice, and nothing here is advice on your UK tax position. Residency for Australian tax purposes depends on your own circumstances in each year, which is why British files are looked at individually.
Our guarantee: if your tax refund is less than our fee, we refund the difference after your Notice of Assessment. If there is no refund, or you owe money to the ATO instead, the full fee applies.
Working holiday tax is the only thing we do. Your return is reviewed and signed off by a registered tax agent before it is lodged with the ATO.
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