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Personal Income Tax
Tax Return, Deductions, myTax
Business Tax
GST, ABN, BAS Lodgement
Investment/CGT
Property, Shares, Cryptocurrency
| Taxable Income Bracket | Rate | Tax |
|---|---|---|
| $0 ~ $18,200 | 0% | $0 |
| $18,201 ~ $45,000 | 16% | 16% of excess |
| $45,001 ~ $135,000 | 30% | $4,288 + 30% of excess |
| $135,001 ~ $190,000 | 37% | $31,288 + 37% of excess |
| $190,001+ | 45% | $51,638 + 45% of excess |
+ Medicare Levy 2%. Working Holiday Makers (417/462) have separate tax rates.
Knowing when — and how — to use a tax agent makes a bigger difference than the size of any one refund. This guide is laid out in the order new migrants actually run into things: your first return by visa type, getting deductions right, then property, business and super refunds.
If you've got a single salary job and simple deductions, lodging yourself through myTax is often all you need. But in a year where your income streams multiply (salary + dividends + rent + ABN business income), a year where selling property triggers CGT, or an arrival or departure year where your tax residency is murky, professional advice can be worth well more than the fee. As a rough guide: student visa holders tend to be simple, skilled migrants starting to invest sit in the middle, and business operators are high-complexity.
Anyone providing tax agent services for a fee in Australia must by law be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), and anyone can look them up by name or registration number on the public Register at tpb.gov.au. Use an unregistered operator and you'll have little consumer protection if things go wrong. A common mistake: handing your TFN and myGov login to an unregistered broker off the back of a social media ad — that's an identity theft and fraudulent lodgment risk, so never share your myGov password with anyone, your tax agent included.
Fees vary enormously with the complexity of your return (salary only vs rental, business and CGT), so before signing up, get itemised quotes from two or three firms and check whether it's a fixed fee. Tax agent fees may be claimable in the following year's return as a cost of managing tax affairs deduction. Be wary of fees charged as a percentage of your refund — that model creates an incentive to push inflated deductions.
The self-lodgment deadline is 31 October each year, but if you're already on a registered tax agent's client list before then, your deadline can be extended under the ATO's lodgment program. If your first-year return is complicated and you need time, the practical move is to engage an agent before 31 October. Leave it until the deadline is bearing down and you may miss out on the extension altogether.
An agent who speaks your first language cuts down communication errors, but the priority criteria are still TPB registration and genuine experience with your situation (CGT, business, international tax). When dealing with an English-speaking agent, you can use the free interpreting service the ATO supports, TIS National (131 450). The most common mistake is skipping verification altogether just because someone speaks your language.
Tax residency is determined by your actual living circumstances, not your visa type — the ATO applies several tests including the resides test (ordinary concepts), the domicile test and the 183-day test. International students enrolled in courses of six months or more are often found to be tax residents, while working holiday makers (417/462) have dedicated WHM tax rates that apply regardless of residency. In your first year, run yourself through the residency decision tool on ato.gov.au, and if it's borderline, get a tax agent to confirm.
On the Tax File Number Declaration you fill in when starting a job, you choose whether to claim the tax-free threshold — and as a rule you should claim it at one job only, your main source of income. Claim it at two casual jobs at once and not enough tax gets withheld, leaving you with a tax bill at year's end — the mistake new arrivals make most often. If you have more than one job, tick 'No' at the second one.
Temporary visa holders may be exempt from declaring most foreign-sourced income — interest, dividends and rent from back home — under the temporary resident rules, but the conditions are strict, and from the moment you gain permanent residency you switch to declaring worldwide income. Leaving home-country investment income off the return in the year PR is granted is a common slip, so in any year your visa status changes, have a tax agent check your position.
If you arrived part-way through the year and became a resident, your tax-free threshold may be pro-rated to the months you were resident. If you're leaving Australia permanently mid financial year (July–June), you may be able to lodge early before the year ends, provided you'll have no further Australian income — check the ATO's process. A common misconception is that leaving the country ends your obligations: you must still lodge for any year you earned Australian income, even after you've gone.
The ATO advises that online lodgments (myTax or through an agent) are usually processed within two weeks, while paper returns can take up to 50 business days. Rush in early July and your employer's income statement may not yet be 'Tax ready', or your bank interest pre-fill may be empty — meaning an amendment later. Unless there's a genuine rush, it's safer to lodge from late July once the pre-fill data has come through.
Miss the deadline (31 October for self-lodgers) and a Failure to Lodge (FTL) penalty can apply — lodging is compulsory even if you're owed a refund. If you'll be leaving when your visa expires, sort out your myGov access (email, authenticator app) so it keeps working from overseas. Locking your two-factor authentication to an Australian mobile number, flying out, and then being unable to get into myGov is an extremely common story.
For working-from-home deductions you pick one of two methods — the fixed rate method (a set amount per hour) or the actual cost method (apportioning real expenses) — and since the fixed rate is set by the ATO each financial year, check the current year's rate before lodging. Both methods require a genuine record of your hours worked from home (a diary or timesheets); a 'roughly two days a week' estimate won't be accepted by the ATO. The most common loss is forfeiting the deduction entirely because no records were kept during the year.
Course costs directly connected to maintaining or improving the skills you use in your current job are deductible, but costs of qualifying for a new occupation (pre-employment qualifications, migration-related exams and the like) generally aren't. A nurse doing a clinical upskilling course is treated quite differently from someone in another field studying to become a nurse. The boundary is often blurry, so for big-ticket education costs, check with a tax agent before you spend.
You can claim up to $300 of work-related expenses in total without receipts, but you still need to be able to explain how you worked the figure out — and above $300, written evidence is mandatory. The myDeductions feature in the official ATO app lets you photograph and log receipts through the year, then pull them straight into your return. Padding out the $300 with no basis because 'everyone just claims it' can mean repayments and penalties if you're audited.
Temporary visa holders who aren't entitled to Medicare can get a Medicare Entitlement Statement (MES) from Services Australia and claim exemption from the 2% Medicare Levy — one of the refunds new migrants miss most often. The MES can take several weeks to issue, so apply before tax season. If you're eligible and don't claim it, you're effectively handing over 2% of your income for nothing.
The private health insurance rebate is tiered by income, and higher earners who go without eligible private hospital cover can cop the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) on top. Insurers report your membership details directly to the ATO, so it pre-fills in myTax — but if you joined or cancelled mid-year, double-check the dates yourself. For how your income tier is treated, go by ATO guidance or ask a tax agent.
Fees for sending money home, commuting between home and work, and everyday clothing aren't work-related expenses and generally can't be claimed. Spending that mixes work and personal, like a trip combining business and holiday, must be apportioned so you only claim the work portion. And if an operator dangles 'maximum refund' and talks you into false deductions, remember — the repayments and penalties land on you.
When rental expenses (loan interest, management fees, depreciation and so on) exceed rental income, the loss can be offset against your other income such as salary — that structure is what's called negative gearing. But it presumes a genuine cash-flow loss, so deciding to invest purely for the tax benefit is risky. Before buying, it's worth running an after-tax simulation over the full holding period with a tax agent.
The 50% CGT discount on gains from assets held more than 12 months assumes you're an Australian tax resident — for periods you're a foreign resident, the discount can be reduced or removed entirely. If you plan to sell property or shares after leaving Australia, make sure you check before departure how the change in residency status affects your CGT. Shifting a sale by a few months can change the tax outcome dramatically.
The gain on selling a home you've lived in can be tax-free under the main residence exemption, but if you're a foreign resident at the time of sale, the exemption may not apply outside limited exceptions. Selling your Australian house after moving home for good is the classic trap — the tax difference between selling before and after departure can be enormous. If leaving is on the cards, talk timing through with a tax agent before anything else.
Rental property depreciation splits into the building structure (capital works, Division 43) and fittings (plant & equipment, Division 40), and following the 2017 rule changes, deductions for existing plant and equipment in second-hand residential properties can be restricted. You need a depreciation schedule prepared by a Quantity Surveyor to claim accurately — and the cost of preparing it can itself be deductible. Factor in at the purchase stage that new builds and established properties differ greatly in the depreciation on offer.
Temporary visa holders may need FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) approval to buy residential property, and most states including NSW and VIC impose extra stamp duty on foreign purchasers (the foreign purchaser duty surcharge) plus land tax surcharges. Stamp duty and surcharge rules vary by state, so check with the relevant state revenue office (Revenue NSW, State Revenue Office Victoria and so on). Treatment can change either side of getting PR, so your visa status at the time of purchase matters.
Residential rent is input-taxed — you neither charge GST on it nor claim back the related GST credits — so as a rule, rental income alone doesn't require GST registration (short-stay and commercial leasing can be different). When selling property, the Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding regime means even Australian-resident vendors can have part of the proceeds withheld unless they hand the buyer an ATO clearance certificate. Apply for the certificate before the sale process gets underway.
GST registration is compulsory once your GST turnover hits $75,000 a year, and optional below that. The catch that trips people up most: rideshare driving (Uber and the like) requires registration from day one, regardless of turnover. As you near the threshold, the obligation can kick in from the point you expect to reach it — so review your turnover every quarter.
If an employer tells you to go and get an ABN but you work exactly like an employee, it may be sham contracting — and you'd be unfairly losing employee entitlements like super, paid leave and the minimum wage. Set hours, being directed in how you work, and who supplies the tools are the kinds of indicators that matter; the Fair Work Ombudsman (fairwork.gov.au) sets out the tests and takes anonymous reports. It's a pattern that turns up especially often in jobs aimed at new arrivals.
GST-registered businesses typically lodge a quarterly BAS covering GST, PAYG instalments and — if you have staff — PAYG withholding. Lodging through a registered tax or BAS agent can extend your deadlines, while missing them can attract FTL penalties. Classification mistakes are rife on a first BAS, so it's safest to have a professional review your first one or two.
Unlike wages, ABN income has no tax withheld, so plenty of people get a rude shock when the first tax return arrives with one big lump-sum bill. Get into the habit of putting a set percentage of income into a separate account; after your first return, the ATO may notify you that you're moving onto PAYG instalments, the quarterly prepayment system. The classic failure pattern is coasting through your first year of business on 'salary earner who always gets a refund' instincts — and having nothing left to pay the bill.
Take on staff and you must register for PAYG withholding, report electronically through Single Touch Payroll (STP) every pay run, and pay the Super Guarantee (12% from 1 July 2025). Pay super late and you can be hit with the Super Guarantee Charge — which isn't even deductible. Before you start, settle the employee-versus-contractor classification with your tax agent or accountant.
Under ATO rules, business records generally must be kept for five years, and mixed business/personal expenses (car, phone, home office) should be claimed at a reasonably worked-out business-use percentage only. STP-enabled accounting software like Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks makes BAS and record keeping far easier. Losses from a side-hustle-scale business may be deferred from offsetting against your salary under the non-commercial loss rules, so check whether they apply to you.
Employers are obliged to pay the Super Guarantee at the legislated rate (12% from 1 July 2025), but cases where the payslip says one thing and nothing reaches the fund genuinely happen. Check your super contributions quarterly through the ATO services linked to myGov, and if payments look short, you can ask the ATO to investigate unpaid super. Discover the shortfall right before you fly out and recovery becomes far harder.
Concessional (before-tax) contributions are taxed at 15% inside the fund and can deliver a deduction on your income, while non-concessional (after-tax) contributions are money that's already been taxed. Both types carry annual contributions caps, with extra tax if you exceed them, so check the caps the ATO publishes for the year. If your stay is likely to be temporary, it's sensible to weigh up the DASP tax rates on departure before making voluntary contributions.
To claim a deduction for money you've put into super yourself, you must lodge a Notice of Intent to Claim with your fund and receive the fund's acknowledgment before you lodge your tax return. Get that order wrong and the deduction is generally denied — making the contribution but skipping the paperwork is the textbook mistake. Sort it straight after contributing, not on the eve of lodging.
The ATO's official YourSuper comparison tool in myGov lets you compare fees and returns across MySuper products. If a new fund gets opened every time you change jobs, you'll be paying duplicate fees and default insurance premiums — you can apply through myGov to consolidate your accounts. One caveat: consolidating can wipe out the life and income protection insurance attached to the old fund, so check what cover you'd lose before closing it.
If you've worked on a temporary visa and built up super, you can claim it back through the ATO's DASP online application system once you've left Australia and your visa has ceased. Permanent residents and citizens aren't eligible for DASP — once you gain PR, your super stays in the retirement system rather than being refunded. Pull together your fund names, member numbers and balance evidence before you leave; it makes applying from overseas far smoother.
DASP payments have tax withheld: the ATO advises 65% on amounts accumulated while on a working holiday visa (417/462), and generally 35% on the taxable component of other temporary visa holders' super (confirm the exact treatment with the ATO). If you don't claim within six months of departing and your visa ending, your fund may transfer the balance to the ATO as unclaimed super — though you can still claim it through the ATO afterwards. If extending your stay or moving to PR is a possibility, choose your moment carefully between cashing out (DASP) and keeping it for retirement.
