Have you worked in Australia?

Mr E

I heard on the radio this morning that anyone who has worked in Australia in the last few years is entitled to a windfall....

Aussie employers are required by law to $9 or something like that into a pension fund for each employee. Since you are no longer working there, the Aussie PM wants to give it back to you! Value is up to $1000, I believe....

Can't remember the website, but surely someone must have heard it? (It was mentioned on the Full Irish this morning on 2FM - there is an article in one of todays newspapers about it)

- Dave.

Scruff

heard it too but i was half asleep on the way to work. thought they said it was 9% that the employer had to put away.
Know a few people who would be eager to get more info. Suppose one way would be to ring the oz embassy\consulate and ask them.

hussey

Yeah but you are taxed on it

my friend got hers back and was taxed a large amount

Genghis

'Superannuation' - all employers in Australia have to pay 9% of your salary in to a retirement fund / superannuation policy. By law Australians cannot access these monies until retirement (i.e. 60/65 years old). That law also applied to backpackers on one-year visas in the sense that no differentiation was made. However, given that most backpackers will not be in Australia to claim it a at the time the Australian government recently allowed backpackers to apply for it back.

I got a letter about this recently, but had some trouble trying to get it back. Like most people on working holiday visas, I had a few casuall jobs, all of whom set up policies for me. I tried to contact them, and just one of 3 or 4 were able to give me details. A search through the Australian Tax office 'lost pension enquiry service' also returned nothing. In the end, the amount I could claim back was about €100, and would involve serious paperwork, etc, so I decided to leave it.

Didn't realise you would be taxed on it, though. Do you know if it was the Austrlian Tax Office or the revenue that taxed your friends payment?

silver surfer

The details are on the the ATO website - see :

http://ato.gov.au/super/content.asp?doc=/content/23357.htm

You will need to send an email or letter to 'DASPmail@ato.gov.au', although I have sent an email and it says it will take 14 days to get a reply to find out what details I need to send in the letter.

It's a lot easier if you have your ATO tax number (which I don't). If you dont have your tax number you can write off with all details you have eg places of employment and home addresses etc. and they should get back to you within 3 months.

Bearing in mind the only reason the Oz govt are doing this is to release money from Super funds into the state coffers (they are taking 30% of each refund !).

BrianD

The other reason they are giving it back is that in 40-50 years time the relatively small amount that you have paid in superannuation will have earned a nice bit of interest. It will cause all kinds of problems if backpackers come back to claim their money sometime in the future!!!

Assuming that you keep your records up to date you could have a nice little nest egg in Aussie dollars quietly earning away.