The withholding declaration form, known as NAT 3093, is what you give your employer when something about your tax situation changes so the right amount of PAYG tax comes out of each pay. You can complete it online through ATO online services linked to your myGov account, or download the PDF from the ATO website and fill it in by hand or on screen.1Australian Taxation Office. Withholding declaration You give the completed form to your employer, not to the ATO.
When to Lodge a New Declaration
You only need this form when something has changed since you started your job. The main triggers are specific.
- Your tax residency changes. Moving between Australian resident and foreign resident (or picking up working holiday maker status) changes the withholding scale your employer uses and whether you can access the tax-free threshold.
- You want to start or stop claiming the tax-free threshold. The first $18,200 of annual income is tax-free for Australian residents, but you should only claim it from one payer. If you take a second job or switch employers, lodge a new declaration so the threshold sits with the right pay source.2Australian Taxation Office. Tax-free threshold
- You take on, or finish paying off, a study or training loan (HELP, VSL, SSL, or AASL). Your employer needs to start extra withholding when the debt begins and stop it once the balance is zero.
- You become entitled to a tax offset, or lose eligibility for one. This includes the Seniors and Pensioners Tax Offset.
A practical rule: whenever something happens that would change what you owe at year-end, lodge a new declaration rather than waiting for your tax return to sort it out.
Where to Get the Form
The quickest route is ATO online services. Link your myGov account to the ATO and complete the declaration directly online. The online version covers employment payments as well as non-employment payments such as superannuation income streams and compensation, and the information flows straight into your employer’s payroll system, which reduces manual data-entry errors.1Australian Taxation Office. Withholding declaration
If you prefer paper, download the current NAT 3093 PDF from the ATO website. You can complete it on screen and print it, or print it blank and write it out. Using an outdated version of the form can cause processing delays, so check you have the latest one. Sign and date it before handing it over.
Filling in Section A
NAT 3093 has two parts. Section A is for you (the payee); Section B is filled in by your employer. You only complete Section A, which contains eight questions plus your signature.1Australian Taxation Office. Withholding declaration
Questions 1 to 3: Your Details and TFN
Questions 1 and 2 ask for your full legal name and date of birth. Use the name exactly as it appears on your official records; a mismatch can cause payroll to reject the update. Question 3 asks for your Tax File Number. You aren’t legally required to quote it, but if you leave it blank your employer must withhold at the top marginal rate, which is far more than most people actually owe.1Australian Taxation Office. Withholding declaration
Question 4: Tax Residency
Say whether you’re an Australian resident for tax purposes or a working holiday maker. Tax residency is not the same as immigration status. You can hold a permanent visa and still be a foreign resident for tax purposes if your primary home is overseas. If you’re on a subclass 417 or 462 visa, mark the working holiday maker box.
Question 5: Tax-Free Threshold
Answer “Yes” if you want to claim the $18,200 tax-free threshold from this employer. Most people answer yes for their main job and no for any secondary job. If you became an Australian resident partway through the financial year, the threshold is worked out with a formula: $13,464 plus $4,736 multiplied by the number of months you were a resident, divided by 12. The month you arrived counts as a full month.3Australian Taxation Office. Tax-free threshold for newcomers to Australia Working holiday makers must answer “No” here regardless of how many employers they have.1Australian Taxation Office. Withholding declaration
Question 6: Study and Training Loans
Tick the relevant box if you have a HELP debt (including the old HECS-HELP), VET Student Loan, Financial Supplement, Student Start-up Loan, or Australian Apprenticeship Support Loan. This tells your employer to apply the loan-specific withholding schedule so extra tax comes out to cover your compulsory repayment. Once your balance is fully repaid, submit a new declaration with the box unticked so the extra withholding stops. Otherwise you’ll keep having too much tax taken from your pay until year-end.
Question 7: Tax Offsets
This question lets you reduce the amount withheld from your pay if you expect to be entitled to certain tax offsets at year-end, such as the zone tax offset for people living in remote areas. Claiming here spreads the benefit across every pay rather than waiting for a larger refund. Only claim offsets you’re genuinely entitled to. Overestimating leaves you with a debt at tax time.
Question 8: Seniors and Pensioners Tax Offset
Question 8 is specifically for SAPTO. To be eligible you need to receive an Australian Government pension or allowance such as the Age Pension, Carer Payment, or Disability Support Pension, and your rebate income must fall below the relevant cut-out threshold for your circumstances (single, member of a couple, or member of an illness-separated couple). Claiming SAPTO on the declaration reduces your withholding across the year rather than making you wait for your tax return.4Australian Taxation Office. Seniors and pensioners tax offset
If You’re a Working Holiday Maker
Holders of a subclass 417 (Working Holiday) or 462 (Work and Holiday) visa are treated as working holiday makers for tax purposes and use a separate tax schedule.5Australian Taxation Office. Tax rates – working holiday maker On NAT 3093, mark the working holiday maker box at Question 4 and answer “No” to Question 5. You cannot claim the tax-free threshold. If your employer isn’t registered with the ATO as a working holiday maker employer, they must withhold at a flat 15 percent on the first $45,000 regardless of what your declaration says.
Handing It to Your Employer
Give the completed form to your employer. Do not send it to the ATO. Your employer keeps it with your employee records and does not forward it to the tax office either.6Australian Taxation Office. Tax file number and withholding declarations If you lodge it online through ATO online services, the information is transmitted to your employer’s payroll system electronically.
The declaration takes effect from the first payment your employer makes after receiving it.6Australian Taxation Office. Tax file number and withholding declarations It is not applied retroactively. Hand it in early enough in the pay cycle for payroll to process it before the next pay run, or the changes will only show up the pay after that.
What Happens If You Get It Wrong
False or misleading information on a withholding declaration can attract administrative penalties under the Taxation Administration Act 1953. The base penalty depends on culpability: 20 penalty units for a statement made without reasonable care, 40 for a reckless statement, and 60 for intentional disregard of the rules.7Australian Taxation Office. Compliance – administrative and failure to lodge penalties The dollar value of a penalty unit is set by the Commonwealth and changes periodically, so check the current ATO rate for the period in question.
Most errors on the form are not deliberate. The two common ones are claiming the tax-free threshold from two employers at once and forgetting to tick the study loan box after starting a HELP-funded course. These usually don’t draw a penalty by themselves, but they do produce an underpayment that lands as a debt on your next notice of assessment. Updating your declaration as soon as your circumstances change is the simplest way to avoid that.