How to do your taxes in Australia as a backpacker: YES! You can get some money back​ (updated 2024)

Hello Guys!

First things first! If you’ve worked hard and saved your bills across different sectors (like construction or hospitality, farm work), it might be worth getting some professional help. If so, check out one of the websites below.

>>pinkcow.com.au and taxback.com are the two most popular options.

They will make sure to squeeze out every penny from the ATO (Australian Taxation Office)! But of course be aware that they take a certain percentage from your tax return or a flat fee! 😉 AND AGAIN they need all the bills and payslips, in order to maximize your tax return.

With that said, I did it by myself and also got some money back, as you will see down below! 

This blog post assumes that you didn’t collect any work related bills to show in case the ATO going to ask you. This includes receipts for gas, transport, internet, working clothes, mandatory uniforms, cleaning and any other work-related expenses you had to pay yourself. You have bills? Even better!

Furthermore, big disclaimer from my part, this is just the way I did it and no financial and/or tax advice. You do your tax return on your own risk, of course!

Let’s dive right into it!

Create myGov account

In order to lodge your taxes in Australia, you need to create a myGov account. The process is very similar to get your Super out of the fund. If you’ve finished your Working Holiday and left Australia, you can do both! For Super, it’s called Departing Australia Superannuation Payments (DASP). But first things first:

Link for the myGov account:

https://my.gov.au/mygov

Once you created an account and signed in, connect with the ATO services.

Step-by-step guide

Here’s my myGov account, linked already to ATO Services. Click “ato” to continue to lodge your taxes or possibly super. Do you remember? Not so long time ago you applies for your TFN at the ATO.

It could be a little hustle to connect with ATO services. You might still need your Australian mobile phone number and/or you need to download the “myGov Code Generater” app in App Store. It’s all for “security” reasons. That’s why I told you in my book and in my working holiday Australia series to keep one number for all.

Once you’re done with that, you will see the following selection:

Here is the “home” website from the ATO. You can see your SUPER accounts and lodge your taxes. Just click on “Manage tax returns” next.

Now you can see my history. If you do it the first time, just click “not lodged” and check if you can see all of your previous employers. They should be “ready to lodge”. You can also double-check the amount and so on. But everything should be automatically calculated, really. Too Easy!

You can also add your previous employer manually in case you can’t find all! If you think you are ready, you can continue with your details. 

If you worked on ABN, you also have to add it and confirm it in the next steps. Just calculate the amount from your invoices and the company you offered your services.

Next, just click on “prepare” to continue. After put your personal details in Step 1 and 2 and click “Next” to step 3.

Step 3 is to personalize your return:

Here I selected that I’m not a resident for tax purposes and didn’t have a spouse. Next, you click the first option if it’s not automatically done.  If you are a student and live in the same “region” more than 6 months, you can select that you are a resident for tax purposes. 

As you might know, students get tons of tax back afterward, because they don’t have to pay the fixed 15% tax. Just Working Holiday Makers have to pay the 15% and won’t get it back. There are still some rumors among backpackers, but I can guarantee you won’t get the 15% tax back. 😀

Next, select the first working day and the last working day. This is very important. It can influence your outcome of your tax return a lot! 

Let’s continue to deductions you can claim. Here’s the link to check which lump sums you can claim without evidence:

https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Income-and-deductions/Deductions-you-can-claim/#WRE

I had some deductions to claim. So I selected “Work-related expenses” and ticked the box “Working holiday maker net income. This window will show up, where you can describe all your deductions.

In this part, you can claim all your work related expenses. I claimed $150 for travel expenses, $150 for compensatory work and $150 for protective clothing. If you have evidence that you spend more for your travel expenses, of course put your personal amount. 

Work related travel expenses includes taxi (Uber), bus, train, ferry, and broom.

I claimed that amount without any evidence. This should be the lump sum you can claim without evidence (Check the link above for more info!)

If you had a car, there is an extra section where you put your model and need to calculate your KM. This does not include the way to your work, but the change of your working location where you move to another job. The way from your job to your other job or if you need the car to go to another working site is meant here. 5000 KM is the maximum you can claim here. 

Furthermore, you can claim work related, self education stuff like your RSA and White Card, and any other certificates and cards been required for your job. Just put the amount you paid for them in this section. I would put them in the category “General expenses”. 

Here’s usually no risk involved if you want to claim more, because you always get the bill per mail to show evidence anyway.

Next, make sure to not be liable for Medicare, unless you signed in for it of course. Germans generally don’t have an official agreement for Medicare, but for example Italians have for 6 months after arrival. Just add if you use it or remove it.

In the end, just mark that you prepared the tax yourself and whether you will need to lodge another tax return in the future.

Then calculate your tax! This will be the amount you likely will get or have to pay to the ATO. Make sure to double-check for deductions and adjust if needed.

If you don’t like how much you get back, you can still change things for your tax return. Take a look, you should get back more than me in this example! (I worked on ABN and had to pay back)

If you have any questions, just post the down below and I will try to help you as much as I can.

Good luck and Happy Travels,

Eduard from Clueless Travel

Disclaimer

I’m not a tax advisor, this is just my personal tax return to show you how it typically works. Your personal tax lodgment is of course your own risk!