Quick answer: If you worked in Australia on a temporary visa and have now left the country for good, you can claim your super back as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP). The catch is the tax: 35% for most temporary residents, and 65% if you ever held a working holiday maker visa (subclass 417 or 462). The tax is withheld when the payment is made, so what lands in your account is the after-tax amount. You can apply free through the ATO’s DASP online system, and payment usually arrives within 28 days of a complete application.
What is a DASP?
Normally your super is “preserved” – locked away until you reach your preservation age (60 for everyone born on or after 1 July 1964) and retire. Leaving the country is not a condition of release, so most people cannot touch their super early just because they are moving overseas.
The DASP is the one exception. It lets former temporary residents take their super with them when they depart Australia permanently. Your super fund (or the ATO, if your money has already been transferred there as unclaimed super) pays your balance out to you, withholding a final chunk of tax at DASP rates first.
Two things to get straight before anything else:
- A DASP is not a tax refund. It is your own super balance, paid out early, minus a heavy withholding tax. You cannot claim any of that tax back through a tax return.
- Citizens, permanent residents and New Zealand citizens cannot claim a DASP. If you are emigrating as an Australian citizen or PR, your super stays preserved in your fund and keeps growing while you live overseas. You access it later under the normal rules, and it can usually be paid to an overseas bank account once you meet a condition of release. (Moving to New Zealand permanently? Ask your fund about transferring to an eligible KiwiSaver account.)
Who can claim a DASP?
You qualify if all of these are true:
- You accumulated super while working in Australia on an eligible temporary visa.
- You have left Australia and you hold no other active Australian visa.
- Your temporary visa has ceased – it has expired or been cancelled.
You do not qualify if you are an Australian citizen, a New Zealand citizen, an Australian permanent resident, or you held a retirement visa (subclass 405) or investor retirement visa (subclass 410).
Note the order of operations: you can start and save a DASP application while you are still in Australia – and you should, because gathering fund details and certified ID is much easier before you fly – but you can only submit it after you have left and your visa has ceased.
DASP tax rates 2026-27
Here are the rates that apply to payments made in 2026-27. Every figure below is a final withholding tax – it is taken out before the money reaches you, it does not go into a tax return, and there is no way to reduce it.
| Payment component | Standard DASP rate | Working holiday maker rate |
|---|---|---|
| Tax-free component | 0% (nil) | 0% (nil) |
| Taxable component – taxed element | 35% | 65% |
| Taxable component – untaxed element | 45% | 65% |
What do the components mean in plain English?
- Tax-free component (0%): money you put in from after-tax income, like non-concessional (personal after-tax) contributions. Most temporary workers have little or none of this.
- Taxed element (35% / 65%): the big one. This is your employer’s compulsory super guarantee contributions (12% of your ordinary earnings in 2026-27) plus any salary-sacrificed amounts. They were already taxed at 15% inside the fund when they went in. For almost every temporary worker, nearly the whole balance sits here.
- Untaxed element (45% / 65%): rarer – mostly relevant to members of certain government or defined-benefit funds where contributions tax was never paid. If that is not you, ignore this row.
The 65% working holiday maker rate has applied since 1 July 2017 and has not changed since.
The 65% trap: “ever held” a working holiday visa
This is the single most expensive misunderstanding in the whole DASP system. The 65% rate does not just apply to super earned while you were on the working holiday visa. It applies if you have ever held a subclass 417 or 462 visa – so super you earned later, on a student visa or a sponsored 482 visa, is paid out at 65% too.
Example: you spent one year on a working holiday visa, then three years on a student visa, then two on a sponsored work visa. Your $25,000 super balance is almost entirely taxed element. DASP tax at 65% = $16,250 withheld. You receive $8,750. Had you never held that working holiday visa, the same balance would cost $8,750 in tax and pay you $16,250. One visa, years ago, is worth $7,500 on a $25,000 balance.
How to check what rate was actually applied to you: your payer must issue a DASP payment summary within 14 days of payment. On summaries issued by the ATO, an “H” indicator against the DASP type means the working holiday maker rate was used. A blank indicator means the ordinary rate was used.
Worked examples: what actually lands in your account
All examples assume the balance is entirely taxable component, taxed element – the normal case – and ignore fund fees and insurance premiums, which also come out.
Example 1: Priya, sponsored 482 visa, never held a WHM visa
- Super balance: $20,000
- DASP tax: 35% x $20,000 = $7,000
- Priya receives: $13,000
Remember the money was already taxed once: her employer’s contributions were taxed at 15% inside the fund on the way in. The DASP is a second bite, not the first.
Example 2: Jake, WHM year then student visa years
- Super balance: $15,000
- DASP tax: 65% x $15,000 = $9,750 (the ever-held rule – the student-visa years do not escape it)
- Jake receives: $5,250
Example 3: one full-time year on $60,000 as a working holiday maker
- Employer SG at 12%: $7,200 into super
- Contributions tax in the fund at 15%: -$1,080, leaving $6,120
- DASP tax at 65%: -$3,978
- Received: roughly $2,140 from $7,200 of employer contributions
Painful, but the realistic alternative for most backpackers is leaving the money in Australia for decades.
How to claim: step by step
Before you leave Australia
- Consolidate your super. If you worked for several employers you probably have several funds – and you must make a separate DASP claim for each fund. Roll everything into one fund through myGov (ATO online services: Super – Manage – Transfer super) before you go. One account means one claim, one set of fees, one wait.
- Write down your details: fund name, member number, the fund’s ABN, your current balance, your tax file number, and the passport number and country of issue matching your visa records.
- Sort certified ID early. For balances of $5,000 or more, funds commonly require certified proof of identity – far easier to arrange while you are still in Australia.
- Start your DASP application on the ATO’s free DASP online system and save it. You cannot submit until you have left and your visa has ceased, but having it ready saves scrambling later.
- Keep your Australian bank account open. The payment (usually within 28 days) needs somewhere to land; ATO-held money in particular is generally paid to an Australian bank account in your name or by cheque. Close the account after the money arrives, then move it home however you like.
- Plan your final tax return. DASP itself does not go in a return, but any Australian wages or other income for the year might still need one – sort this before you lose access to myGov-linked services.
After you leave
- Wait until your temporary visa has ceased (expired or cancelled) and you hold no other Australian visa.
- Submit the DASP online application. The system checks your immigration status with the Department of Home Affairs automatically.
- Payment is generally made within 28 days of a complete application. Your DASP payment summary must be issued within 14 days of payment – keep it for your records and for any tax filings in your new country of residence.
You can do all of this yourself for free. Paid agents exist and can be useful if you had many employers and no idea where your super is, but check whether they charge a flat fee or a percentage – a percentage of a large balance gets expensive fast.
Common mistakes that shrink your payout
- Assuming you can leave super sitting in Australia indefinitely. If 6 months or more pass after you leave with your visa ceased and you have not claimed, your fund transfers the balance to the ATO as unclaimed super money. You can still claim it from the ATO – but it stops earning fund returns in the meantime, and the same DASP tax rates apply.
- The WHM surprise. See above: one working holiday visa years ago = 65% on the whole payment. Budget for it.
- Multiple funds, multiple claims. Every fund needs its own application. Consolidate first.
- Closing your Australian bank account too soon. If there is nowhere to pay the money, everything stalls.
- Paying for “help” you do not need. The ATO’s DASP online system is free and works well for simple cases.
- Forgetting the final tax return. Your last Australian pay, unused leave payouts and any investment income may still need a return – DASP being tax-free-in-a-return does not make the rest of your affairs disappear.
- Ignoring fees on the way out. Fund exit or transfer fees, plus your bank’s inbound fees or currency conversion spread, sit on top of DASP tax and quietly shave the final amount.
What if I left years ago and never claimed?
Your super is very likely sitting with the ATO as unclaimed money – and it is still yours. Claims can go back a long way (some agents report successful claims on super earned decades ago). Apply through the same ATO DASP process; the ATO-held balance is paid out under the same DASP tax rates, including the 65% rate if you ever held a working holiday maker visa.
FAQ
Can Australian citizens or permanent residents claim a DASP?
No. DASP is only for former temporary residents. If you are emigrating as a citizen or PR, your super stays preserved, keeps growing, and becomes available under the normal conditions of release – it can usually be paid to an overseas bank account at that point.
Do I include the DASP in my Australian tax return?
No. DASP is a final withholding tax taken at the time of payment. It is not assessable income and does not go in your return. You may still need a final return for other Australian income.
How long does a DASP take?
The ATO and funds generally process complete applications within 28 days. Make sure your application is actually complete – missing ID or fund details are the usual cause of delays.
I had three jobs and three super funds. One claim or three?
Three – one DASP application per fund. This is why consolidating into a single fund through myGov before you leave is the highest-value hour you will spend on this.
Can the money be paid to my bank account back home?
In practice, keep an Australian bank account open until the payment lands. ATO-held DASP money is generally paid to an Australian account in your name or by cheque, and funds have their own payment processes. Transfer the money home afterwards.
I was on a working holiday visa in 2019, then a student visa until 2025. Which rate?
Almost certainly 65% on the whole payment, because you held a WHM visa at some point. Check the DASP payment summary: an “H” indicator on an ATO-issued summary confirms the WHM rate was used.
The bottom line
A DASP is simple to claim and brutal to be taxed on: 35% for most former temporary residents, 65% if a working holiday visa ever touched your immigration history, all withheld before the money reaches you. The expensive mistakes are all avoidable – consolidate your funds before you leave, sort your ID while it is easy, keep a bank account open until the payment lands, and go in with your eyes open about the rate that applies to you. If you are still working in Australia, our superannuation calculator shows what your employer contributions are building up, and our working holiday maker tax guide covers the income-tax side of backpacker life. Leaving permanently but unsure where you stand on residency? Read tax residency in Australia first – and if super rules generally confuse you, super withdrawal tax and the super guarantee rate guide fill in the background.
