Generally, no. The tax withheld from a super withdrawal after leaving Australia (a DASP) is a final tax — the payment doesn't go in an Australian tax return, and correctly withheld DASP tax can never be refunded or offset later. The narrow exception is a genuine withholding error: if the wrong legislated rate was applied — most commonly the 65% working holiday rate charged to someone who never held a 417 or 462 visa — the over-withheld tax can be claimed back from your super fund (up to the end of the financial year it was withheld) or from the ATO in writing after that.
Why DASP tax normally can't be claimed back
Tax on a DASP works differently from tax on wages. Wage tax (PAYG) is a prepayment — your employer withholds an estimate through the year, you lodge a tax return, and the ATO refunds any excess. DASP tax is a final withholding tax: the legislated rate is taken out once, at the moment the payment is made, and that's the finished number. Per the ATO's DASP guidance, the payment doesn't form part of your assessable income and neither the payment nor the tax goes in an Australian tax return — so there is no return, assessment or offset through which correctly withheld DASP tax could ever come back.
That's why searches like "dasp tax refund" mostly lead to disappointment: if the rate applied to you was the correct legislated one for your situation, there is nothing to claim back — not through the ATO, not through an agent, not by waiting. Anyone advertising a "DASP tax refund" on correctly taxed payments is selling something that doesn't exist. What the rates are, and what they mean in dollars, is covered in how much is super taxed when leaving Australia.
The refund you might actually be owed: tax on your wages
Much of the confusion comes from mixing up two different taxes. In your final year in Australia you may well be owed an income tax refund — PAYG withheld from your wages often overshoots for part-year workers, and lodging a final tax return (or early return after departing) gets the excess back. That refund is real, it's common for backpackers and students, and it has nothing to do with your super.
So the honest split is: wages tax — often refundable, via a tax return. DASP tax — final, with one narrow exception below. If you haven't lodged your last Australian tax return yet, do that; it's a separate process from the super claim itself, which is walked through step by step in the leaving-Australia super guide.
The exception: the wrong rate was applied
Withholding errors do happen, and the ATO has a defined fix for them. The classic case: your fund applied the 65% working holiday rate to your DASP even though you never held a 417 or 462 visa — you were on a student 500 or a 482 the whole time, and should have paid 35% on the taxed element. On a $10,000 balance that error costs $3,000, and it is genuinely recoverable. The same applies to any other misapplied rate — for example an untaxed-element rate charged on an ordinary taxed-element balance, or a plain calculation error.
Per the ATO's DASP withholding and reporting rules, there are two routes, split by timing:
- Before the end of the financial year the tax was withheld (30 June): apply to your super fund for a refund of the amount withheld in error. If the fund becomes aware of the error, or you apply before that date, the fund must action the request.
- After that financial year ends — or if the ATO paid your DASP: lodge a refund request with the ATO in writing, explaining the circumstances and attaching evidence of the incorrect withholding — for your visa history, that means immigration records showing which visas you actually held.
Evidence is the whole game. Before claiming an error, check your visa history (your visa grant letters, or a VEVO record) and your DASP payment summary, which shows the rate applied. If the request is knocked back and you still believe the rate was wrong, the ATO's ordinary objection rights apply — but in our experience most disputes end at the evidence stage, one way or the other.
What is not a withholding error
Three situations feel like errors but are the legislated rates working as written — there is no refund in any of them:
| Feels wrong | Why it's actually correct |
|---|---|
| "I was taxed 65% but I was on a student/482 visa when I left" | If any of the super was contributed while you held a 417 or 462, the 65% working holiday rate applies to the whole DASP — the rate follows the contributions, not your last visa. |
| "I was taxed 65% instead of 35% — my super was at the ATO" | Super already transferred to the ATO as unclaimed money is taxed at 65% regardless of visa. Harsh, but legislated — not an error. |
| "45% was taken from part of my payment" | 45% is the correct rate for any untaxed element (rare — mainly some public-sector schemes); the taxed element of the same payment still gets 35%. |
Rates — 65% working holiday (417/462), 35% taxed element on other eligible visas, 45% untaxed element, 65% on ATO-held super regardless of visa — per the Australian Taxation Office — DASP tax rates.
Better than a refund: don't overpay in the first place
The only DASP tax you can reliably do something about is the tax you haven't paid yet. Two moves matter before you claim:
- Beat the ATO transfer. Roughly six months after you've left and your visa has ended, funds must hand your balance to the ATO — and ATO-held super is taxed at 65% whatever your visa. Claiming while the money is still fund-held keeps students and 482s at 35%. Check your dates with the 6-month deadline checker.
- Get the application right first time. A DASP paid at the correct rate needs no fixing — accurate visa history, matching names and complete fund details are what prevent both rejections and rate errors. The full claiming guide covers the process; the DASP tax calculator shows what should land in your bank so you'd spot a wrong rate immediately.
Claim-it-back questions, answered straight
Can I get the DASP tax back by lodging an Australian tax return?
No. A DASP does not form part of your assessable income and the tax withheld from it is final — the ATO's instruction is not to include either amount in your tax return. Lodging a return can recover over-withheld tax on your wages (PAYG), but it never returns DASP tax that was correctly withheld.
I was taxed at 65% but never held a working holiday visa — can I get the difference back?
Possibly — that can be a genuine withholding error. If the request reaches your fund before the end of the financial year in which the tax was withheld, the fund must action the refund; after that, or if the ATO paid your DASP, you apply to the ATO in writing with evidence of the visas you actually held. One catch first: if any of the super was contributed while you held a 417 or 462, the 65% rate is correct even though you later moved to another visa.
My super went to the ATO and was taxed at 65% — can I claim the extra 30% back?
No. 65% is the legislated rate for a DASP paid from ATO-held unclaimed super money, whichever visa you held — it feels like an error, but it isn't one, so there is nothing to refund. The lesson is for anyone still deciding: claiming before the ATO transfer keeps most non-working-holiday visas at 35%.
Can an agent get my DASP tax refunded?
Not the correctly withheld tax — the rates are legislated and no agent can reduce or reclaim them, whatever anyone promises. Where a genuine withholding error was made, a registered tax agent can prepare and lodge the refund request for you, but the ATO route is free and you can also do it yourself in writing.
Is there a deadline for a wrong-rate refund?
The clean route runs to the end of the financial year (30 June) in which the tax was withheld — up to then, your fund must action a valid refund request. After that the request goes to the ATO in writing instead; the ATO publishes no equivalent cut-off for that route, but apply promptly while your evidence is fresh.
Will I get the tax back in my home country instead?
No — the Australian DASP tax is final and no other country refunds it. How your home country taxes (or ignores) the payment you receive is a separate local question; check with your local tax office using the DASP payment summary issued with the payment.
Haven't claimed yet? Claim it right.
$149 + GST flat · no super, no fee · every fund plus ATO-held money · lodged at the correct rate, paid worldwide in about 28 days.