417 visa super claim: how to get your super back after Australia
Every payslip you got in Australia had 12% of your wage going somewhere you never saw: a superannuation account. If you worked on a 417 or 462 working holiday visa, that money is yours to claim once you have left the country for good. This guide covers who can claim, how much lands in your account after the tax, the documents to gather while you're still there, and the free ATO form that does the whole thing. It also covers the traps, because most of the people who write to us hit one.
Can you claim your super back on a 417 visa?
Yes. Once you have left Australia and your 417 or 462 visa has expired or been cancelled, you claim your super as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment, or DASP, through the ATO's free online system. The catch is the tax. 65% is withheld from a working holiday maker's payment, so you keep 35%. Six months at $900 a week works out at roughly $980 in your hand. Payment takes about 28 days once the application is complete, and there is no deadline: money nobody claims sits with the ATO under your name.
Last verified: 21 September 2026. Every rate, threshold and timeframe on this page was checked against the ATO's DASP guidance that day. Tax rates and super rules do change, and the switch to Payday Super on 1 July 2026 is a recent example. Confirm anything you are about to act on directly with the ATO.
The 417 super claim at a glance
Two separate claims live on this page. The super one is the same for everybody. The income tax one depends on your employer.
Your super (DASP)
Your income tax
What is Australian superannuation, and why do backpackers get it back?
Retirement savings you're not staying to retire on
Superannuation is Australia's compulsory pension. Every employer has to pay a percentage of each employee's wage into a super fund, on top of the wage itself, and the employee can't normally touch it until retirement age. The rate is 12% since 1 July 2025, and it applies to a backpacker on a 417 or 462 visa exactly as it applies to an Australian citizen. Since you won't be retiring in Australia, the law lets you take the money out once you have left and your visa has ended. That withdrawal is the Departing Australia Superannuation Payment, or DASP, and it is the "super claim" everyone on a working holiday forum is talking about.
One detail is worth knowing before you start estimating. The 12% is calculated on your ordinary time earnings, not on everything you were paid. Overtime sits outside that definition. If you picked up a lot of extra hours at penalty rates, your super will look smaller than a flat 12% of your total pay would suggest.
There is no minimum you have to earn
Older guides still say you only get super once you earn $450 in a month with one employer. That threshold was abolished on 1 July 2022. A single shift at a café now earns super, and a three-week harvest job earns it from day one. If you are under 18 the rule is different: super is only owed for a week in which you worked more than 30 hours.
ABN work earns nothing
If a labour hire firm or a farm paid you as a contractor on an ABN rather than as an employee, no super was paid unless you put it aside yourself. Almost nobody on a working holiday does, because it would be taxed at 65% on the way out. It is one more reason to be wary when a job asks you to "get an ABN" for what is plainly employee work.
One fund, not five
You are allowed to have several super accounts, and backpackers often end up with one per job, each charging its own fees. Since November 2021 an employer who gets no fund details from you has to ask the ATO which fund you already have, your "stapled" fund, and pay into that. So give every new employer the same fund and member number. One account means one application and one set of fees.
Am I eligible to claim my super?
The ATO applies four conditions. All four have to be true on the day you submit, not the day you start the form.
You earned super on a temporary visa
A 417 Working Holiday visa or a 462 Work and Holiday visa both count, and so does a bridging visa that sat between two of them or followed your last one. Super earned on a student visa or an employer-sponsored visa afterwards is claimed in the same application.
Your visa has ceased
Expired or cancelled, either is fine. If your visa still has months to run and you want the money sooner, Home Affairs can cancel it at your request once you have left. Check your status through VEVO before you submit; a claim lodged against a visa that is still in effect is rejected, not queued.
You have left Australia and hold no other active Australian visa
A new tourist visa, a second working holiday visa or a pending student visa each block the claim. Leaving for a few weeks in Bali while your 417 is still valid does not count as leaving.
You are not an Australian or New Zealand citizen, or a permanent resident
New Zealanders can't claim a DASP at all. Instead they can move their super to a KiwiSaver scheme under the Trans-Tasman portability rules, which is a different form and a different set of tax outcomes. If you became a permanent resident, your super stays in the Australian system.
How much super will I get back?
Three numbers decide it: what you earned, 12%, and the 65% tax. Fund fees and investment returns move the figure a little either way.
| Your trip | Wages paid | Super paid in (12%) | DASP tax (65%) | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months of farm work at $1,000 a week | ~$13,000 | ~$1,560 | ~$1,010 | ~$550 |
| 6 months of hospitality at $900 a week | ~$23,400 | ~$2,800 | ~$1,820 | ~$980 |
| 12 months of mixed work at $1,100 a week | ~$57,200 | ~$6,860 | ~$4,460 | ~$2,400 |
Wages are gross, before income tax. A month is taken as 4.33 weeks, the same as the estimator below. Real balances differ: funds deduct admin fees and, unless you opted out, insurance premiums, and they add whatever the investments earned while the money sat there.
Why the tax is 65%
Until 1 July 2017 a departing backpacker paid the same DASP rate as every other temporary resident, 38% on the taxed element at the time. The government's "backpacker tax" package raised the working holiday maker rate to 65% from 1 July 2017, at the same time as it set the 15% income tax rate on your first dollar of wages. Other temporary residents still pay 35% on the taxed element and 45% on any untaxed element. That is the whole reason a working holiday super claim returns roughly a third of what went in.
The tax-free component
A DASP can have two parts. The taxable component is everything your employer paid plus its earnings, and that is where the 65% lands. A tax-free component is paid out whole, but it only exists if you put after-tax money into the fund yourself. On a normal working holiday it is zero, so plan on 35% of the balance and treat anything more as a pleasant surprise.
Estimate your super refund
A rough guide from how long you worked and what you earned. Move the slider and the numbers update.
This assumes every employer paid the full 12% on time. The estimator ignores fund fees, insurance premiums and investment earnings, and it can't know about a job that paid you on an ABN. Your fund's app shows the real balance.
What you need for the 417 visa super claim
Gather these while you're still in Australia. Every one of them is easy to find from inside the country and a chore from outside it.
| What | Why the form wants it | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Passport | Number, country of issue, and your name spelled exactly as the passport spells it | The passport itself. A name that differs from your fund's records is the commonest reason for a delay. |
| Tax file number (TFN) | Optional on the form, but it is how the system finds every fund you ever had | Your payslips, your TFN letter, your notice of assessment, or myGov once linked to the ATO. Our TFN guide covers getting one. |
| Super fund name and member number | One entry per fund. The TFN search fills most of this in for you. | Payslips, the fund's welcome email or app, or the "Super" section of ATO online services. |
| Visa details | Subclass, grant date, and confirmation that the visa has ceased | Your visa grant letter and a VEVO check. The online system verifies status with Home Affairs itself. |
| Your last Australian address | Matched against what the fund holds | The hostel or share house on your payslips is fine. |
| An email address you will still have in six months | Every update about the claim arrives by email | Not a hostel's Wi-Fi login or a work address. |
| Australian bank account (BSB and account number) | Fastest way to be paid. The only electronic option for ATO-held super. | Your banking app. Keep the account open until the money lands. Our banking guide explains moving it home. |
| Certified copies of your ID | A fund holding $5,000 or more may ask for them | A pharmacist, police officer, post office or justice of the peace in Australia can certify them. Do it before you fly. |
Write down the details you enter when you start the application. The ATO's system asks for the same ones again when you come back to submit it, and people lock themselves out by guessing.
How to claim your super back, step by step
The whole process through the ATO's free online system. A claim service does the same steps for a fee, which is worth it in exactly one situation, covered further down.
Check the super was actually paid
Log in to your fund's app or to myGov, linked to the ATO, and look at the contributions. Since Payday Super began on 1 July 2026 an employer has seven business days after payday to get the money to your fund, so a gap shows up within a fortnight rather than a quarter. You can report unpaid super to the ATO at any time, and it is far easier to do with the payslips in hand than from home.
Gather the documents while you're still in Australia
Everything in the table above, plus certified copies of your passport if any fund holds $5,000 or more. If you have several funds, consider rolling them into one through myGov before you go. One fund means one payment, one tax calculation and one set of fees.
Start and save the online application before you fly
Open the DASP online application system, enter your details and let it search for your funds by TFN. Save it. Submitting is the only part that has to wait until you have left. The paper alternatives are form NAT 7204, which goes to each fund and may attract a fee, and NAT 74880, which goes to the ATO for ATO-held money and is free.
Leave, and let the visa end
Most people simply wait for the expiry date. If that is months away, Home Affairs can cancel the visa at your request after you have departed, which the ATO's own guidance points to. Confirm on VEVO that the visa shows as ceased before you go any further.
Submit
Log back into the saved application and send it. The system confirms your immigration status with Home Affairs automatically, so you only need a paid Certification of Immigration Status if a fund specifically asks for one. One submission covers every fund it found, plus any money that has already moved to the ATO.
Wait about 28 days
That is the ATO's stated timeframe from a complete application. Each fund pays its own portion separately, so two funds can mean two payments on two dates. A request for extra documents restarts the clock, which is why the name on the form needs to match the name on the passport and the fund.
Check the payment summary
Whoever pays you has to issue a DASP payment summary within 14 days. It shows the tax withheld and the amount paid. On an ATO-issued summary an "H" next to the DASP type means the working holiday rate was applied. If a fund used the wrong rate, ask that fund for a refund in the same financial year; after that, or if the ATO paid you, the request goes to the ATO in writing.
Four things to do before you fly home
This claim is much easier to set up in Australia than to finish from a sofa on the other side of the world.
Start the online application while you're still here. The ATO lets you begin the DASP form and save it, then come back and submit once you've gone. Submitting is the part that has to wait. Collecting fund names, member numbers and passport details is not, and it is the part that gets painful once you're home.
Get your ID certified before you go. A fund holding $5,000 or more can ask for certified copies of your identity documents. There are specific rules about who is allowed to certify them. Finding someone qualified is straightforward in Australia and a genuine chore abroad.
Save your income statement. Your employer reports pay and super through Single Touch Payroll, and the statement shows up in ATO online through myGov. You can see it from inside Australia. Download it rather than assuming you'll pull it up whenever you need it.
Keep your Australian bank account open. Transfer to an Australian account is the quickest way to be paid, and for ATO-held super it's one of only two options you get. Check with the bank first that you'll be able to move the money on to an account at home.
Left more than six months ago?
Your money has probably moved
Super funds don't hold a temporary resident's money indefinitely. Once both things are true, that six months or more have passed since you left Australia and that your visa has ceased, the fund transfers your balance to the ATO as unclaimed super. Nothing is lost. It simply isn't where you left it any more.
You still claim it as a DASP, and the online application covers ATO-held money alongside fund-held money. On paper it's a different form: NAT 74880 goes to the ATO for ATO-held super, where NAT 7204 goes to a fund. Paper applications sent to the ATO are free, while a fund may charge you a fee for processing one.
How the money actually reaches you
Three payment routes exist, and you don't get all three on every claim.
Your three options
Claims to a super fund can be paid by transfer to an Australian bank account, by Australian dollar cheque, or by international money transfer. Not every fund offers that last one, and where it exists there can be fees and a currency conversion to swallow. Claims against ATO-held super are narrower: an Australian account in your own name, or a cheque.
Timing and paperwork
The ATO pays a completed application within 28 days as a rule. Whoever pays you has to issue a DASP payment summary within 14 days of doing so, and that document tells you what was withheld and what actually landed. Keep it. It's the proof of what happened to your money.
Super and your tax return are two different things
Don't put your DASP in your tax return
The 65% is a final withholding tax. Your DASP is not assessable income in Australia, so it doesn't belong anywhere on a tax return, and no amount of lodging will claw any of it back. The two claims travel separately from beginning to end.
Whether you're owed an income tax refund depends on your employer
A lot of guides tell working holidaymakers they're all owed a tax refund. That isn't true, and it's worth knowing which case you're in.
If your employer registered with the ATO as an employer of working holiday makers, the first $45,000 you earn is withheld at 15%. That is the correct rate. If your total taxable income for the year came in under $45,001 and all of it was wages, you're taxed properly, you have nothing to reclaim, and you aren't required to lodge at all.
The picture changes if your employer wasn't registered. In that case they must withhold at foreign resident rates, which start at 30%, and you've very likely overpaid. The same goes if you never handed over a TFN, because working without one means more tax comes out. Those are the situations where lodging is worth your time. You also have to lodge if you want to claim deductions.
What trips people up
One 417 day taxes the whole payment at 65%
This catches people who moved on to a student or sponsored visa and worked for years afterwards. If any part of your super came from a period on a 417 or 462, the working holiday rate applies to the entire payment, not just the backpacking portion. It doesn't matter how long ago that was.
Applying too early
You can't submit until you've left Australia and your visa has ceased, either by expiring or by being cancelled. Holding any other active Australian visa also blocks the claim. Preparing early is smart, submitting early just gets you rejected.
Assuming the super was ever paid
Underpayment is a real problem in the industries most backpackers work in. Check your contributions actually arrived before you apply, because a claim only recovers money that is genuinely sitting there.
Being taxed at the wrong rate
Each fund decides the rate for its own payment, so mistakes happen. If you think a fund withheld too much, ask that fund for a refund in the same financial year the payment was made. After that window closes, or where the ATO paid you, the request goes to the ATO in writing instead.
A name that doesn't match
The fund has you as "Tom", the passport says "Thomas", and the payslip has a middle name nobody else does. Each mismatch is a request for more documents and another 28 days. Fix the fund's records from inside Australia, where a phone call sorts it.
Paying a fee to do nothing
Claim services charge a percentage of the payout for filling in the same free form. With one job, one fund and intact paperwork that is money for nothing. They earn it when there are four funds, a lost TFN and a name that needs fixing from abroad.
Who to use
You can do this yourself for free, but a service can save you the hassle of chasing lost super funds.
Our honest position: if you had one job, one fund and your paperwork is intact, the free ATO online system is the whole answer and a percentage fee buys you nothing. Services earn their cut when there were four employers, three funds and a shoebox of lost payslips. One thing to check either way, if you let someone claim on your behalf: a tax agent doing this has to be registered with the Tax Practitioners Board, and you have to give them a written authority first. We have no commercial relationship with either service below.
Taxback.com
A long-running tax refund service used widely by working holidaymakers. They handle both your income tax return and your DASP claim, and take a percentage fee from what they recover. Useful if your paperwork is messy or you've lost track of a fund.
Sidekick Super
A newer, Australia-focused service specifically built around finding and consolidating lost or forgotten super, which is common if you moved jobs a lot during your working holiday. Worth checking if you suspect you have more than one fund.
417 visa super claim FAQs
The questions we get asked most about claiming super back after a working holiday.
Can I claim my superannuation while I'm still on a working holiday visa?
No. A DASP can only be submitted after you have left Australia and your 417 or 462 visa has expired or been cancelled, and you must not hold any other active Australian visa at the time. What you can do from inside the country is start the ATO's online application, let it find your funds by TFN, and save it. Submitting is the one step that has to wait until you have gone.
How much of my super will I get back when I leave Australia?
On a 417 or 462 visa you keep 35% of the taxable component, because 65% is withheld as DASP tax. Six months at $900 a week puts roughly $2,800 into super and returns about $980. Other temporary residents are taxed at 35% or 45% depending on the component, so backpackers are treated worse than almost everyone else. Any tax-free component comes to you whole, but on a normal working holiday there isn't one.
How do I get my super back when I leave Australia?
Through the ATO's free DASP online application system. Start it before you leave, let it search for your super funds with your TFN, and save it. Once you have left and your visa has ceased, log back in and submit. The system confirms your immigration status with Home Affairs itself, every fund it found pays its share within about 28 days, and each one sends you a DASP payment summary. You don't need a claim service unless your funds or paperwork are a mess.
Is there a 417 visa super claim form?
The online application is the form for almost everyone, and it covers super held by a fund and super already transferred to the ATO in one go. Paper versions exist: NAT 7204 goes to each super fund and the fund may charge a fee to process it, and NAT 74880 goes to the ATO for ATO-held super and is free. Paper claims to a fund can also require certified ID and a paid Certification of Immigration Status, which the online route does without.
Can I still get $10,000 out of my super early?
No. The $10,000 early release was a COVID-19 measure and applications closed on 31 December 2020. For someone who worked on a working holiday visa, the only route to the money is a DASP after leaving Australia. The ordinary early-access grounds, such as severe financial hardship or compassionate release, are aimed at residents and rarely fit a departing backpacker.
I left years ago and never claimed. Is it gone?
No. Six months after you left, assuming your visa had ceased, your fund handed the money to the ATO as unclaimed super. It sits there under your name with no deadline, and you claim it as a DASP the same as anyone else, using the online system or the ATO-held paper form NAT 74880.
Will claiming my super hurt a future visa application?
No. The ATO states plainly that claiming a DASP will not affect any future visa application. You're doing the thing the system expects a departing temporary resident to do. If you later return as a permanent resident, any super the fund had passed to the ATO can be moved back into an Australian fund instead.
Do I put the DASP on my Australian tax return?
No. The tax on it is final and the payment isn't assessable income, so it doesn't go on a return at all. Your income tax refund, if you're owed one, is a completely separate claim with its own rules, and on a working holiday you often aren't owed one.
How long does the money take to arrive?
Reckon on 28 days from the point the ATO or your fund has a complete application. Incomplete applications take longer, and so do any that need extra documents. Bank transfer to an Australian account is the fastest of the payment options, which is the argument for not closing that account until the money has landed.
Which super fund should I choose as a backpacker?
It matters less than the number of funds you end up with. Any large, low-fee fund is fine for a year or two, and your employer's default fund is usually one of them. What costs money is opening a new account with every job, each with its own admin fee and insurance premium eating a small balance. Give every employer the same fund and member number from your first job onwards, and switch off the default insurance if the fund lets you.
Got a specific situation?
Two visas, three funds, a name that doesn't match? Get in touch for a tailored breakdown.
Email info@workingholiday.guide