Working holiday makers

Posted 13 Sep '19

Working holiday makers

By Katy Isherwood

Are you hiring a working holiday maker?

'Working holiday makers’ are those that hold valid Working Holiday Visa’s (subclass 417) or Work and Holiday Visa’s (subclass 462). Employees should advise you of their working holiday maker status at question 8 on their Tax File Number Declaration.

If you hire a working holiday maker there are some extra steps involved to ensure that you are meeting your withholding obligations.

Before making a payment to the employee, you must register as an employer of working holiday makers. This registration can be easily completed online at Employer Registration for working holiday makers. To register you will need your ABN (or WPN), entity type and contact details.

Next, you will need to confirm that the working holiday makers visa is valid. This check can be completed using the Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) service. Your employee is able to complete this check online for you and send you an email verifying their details.

After registering, you are required to withhold tax from payments made to the working holiday maker at the rate of 15% from every dollar they earn up to $37,000. Amounts paid to the working holiday maker in excess of $37,000 are subject to different rates of tax. You are required to make eligible superannuation contributions for working holiday makers, as you would for other employees.

It is important that a working holiday maker is correctly setup in your payroll software to ensure that the PAYG withholding is calculating correctly and that the information being reported to the ATO is accurate.

If you have any questions or require any assistance, please contact your WDF Professional team on 02 6921 5444 or accountants@wdf.com.au