Working Holiday Maker Super (DASP): Eligibility, Tax, 6-Month Rule

If you worked in Australia on a Subclass 417 or 462 visa, your working holiday maker superannuation refund is claimed through a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment, or DASP, once you’ve left the country and your visa has expired. The application is free and runs through the ATO’s online system. The hard part isn’t the paperwork. It’s the tax: 65% of the taxable portion of your balance is withheld before the rest is paid to you.

Who Can Claim a DASP

You qualify if all four of these are true:

You worked in Australia on a temporary visa. For working holiday makers, that means a Subclass 417 (Working Holiday) or Subclass 462 (Work and Holiday).
You have left Australia. The ATO’s system verifies your departure with the Department of Home Affairs.¹
Your visa has expired or been cancelled. You cannot apply while it is still active, even after you’ve flown home.²
You are not an Australian or New Zealand citizen. New Zealanders are excluded under separate bilateral arrangements.²

A frequent snag hits people who held second or third-year 417 visas granted while they were still in Australia. That earlier visa can remain “active” in the system after you leave, and the DASP portal will refuse the application. To fix it, you request a formal cancellation from the Department of Home Affairs. That requires paying a non-refundable $55 fee for a Certification of Immigration Status.³

How Much Tax You Actually Pay

The ATO applies a flat 65% tax to the taxable components of a DASP paid to anyone who held a 417 or 462 visa. That rate applies to both the taxed element and the untaxed element of your balance. Only the tax-free component is taxed at 0%, and for most working holiday makers that component is negligible.¹

Now the detail that costs people money. If you held a WHM visa at any point and later switched to a different visa class (a student visa or a sponsored work visa, for instance), and contributions from both periods sat in the same super account, the fund taxes the entire balance in that account at the 65% WHM rate. Funds do not split balances and apply different rates to different contribution periods.⁴ If you’re planning to move from a working holiday visa onto something else, open a new super account with your next employer so the earlier contributions and the later ones stay separated.

What to Have Ready Before You Apply

Most application delays come from mismatched details. Gather everything first:

Your Tax File Number. Technically optional on the form, but entering it lets the system show every super account linked to your name, which matters if you worked several jobs.⁵
Passport details. The number, country of issue, and expiry date from the passport you used to enter Australia. If you have since renewed your passport, use the old details, not the new ones. A new passport number won’t match what Home Affairs has on file, and the system will reject the application.⁶
Super fund details. The fund’s name, its Australian Business Number (ABN), and your member account number. These are on any annual statement, or you can look up the fund at superfundlookup.gov.au.⁵

How to Submit and Get Paid

The ATO’s DASP online application system is at applicant.tr.super.ato.gov.au. It is free to use and confirms your immigration status directly with Home Affairs on submission.¹

For balances under $5,000, the online system handles everything. For balances of $5,000 or more, your fund may ask for certified copies of your ID before releasing the money. Some funds require certified copies for any balance, so check with yours. Outside Australia, certification is usually done by a notary public or an Australian consular official.¹

Once a fund has a complete application, standard processing takes 28 days. If they come back to you for more information, that clock resets.⁶

Three payment options are available while your money is still held by a fund:¹

Electronic funds transfer to an Australian bank account. This is the ATO’s recommended option and the fastest. Keep your Australian account open until the payment clears, then move the money home.
An Australian dollar cheque mailed to your address. Slower, and harder to cash from overseas.
International money transfer straight to an overseas account. Not every fund offers it, and currency conversion fees apply.

The Six-Month Clock

There is no hard deadline for claiming a DASP, but the money doesn’t stay with your fund forever. Once six months have passed since you left Australia and your visa has ceased to be in effect, your fund is required to transfer your balance to the ATO as unclaimed super.¹

You can still claim it after that. The same DASP online system works for ATO-held super, or you can submit paper form NAT 74880. But two things change. International money transfer is no longer available as a payment method; you’re limited to EFT into an Australian bank account or a cheque. And money held by the ATO doesn’t earn the investment returns it would have inside a fund. Claiming within six months of leaving is the cleaner path.

Tracking Down Accounts From Different Jobs

Casual work across states often means super scattered across several funds. Fruit picking in Queensland, hospitality in Melbourne, farm work in Western Australia, each employer picking a default fund. Two ways to find them all:

Enter your TFN in the DASP online system. It will display every super account linked to your name.⁵
Call the ATO’s lost super search line and give them your TFN, name, date of birth, and employment history.⁷

Each fund requires a separate DASP application, so finding every account first saves you from repeating the process.

Fees and Insurance Can Shrink Your Balance

Super accounts aren’t free to hold. Many funds charge administration fees and automatically attach insurance policies (life cover, income protection) that deduct premiums from your balance. Left alone for months while you’re overseas, these charges can quietly grind down a small balance.

There is some legal protection. Accounts under $6,000 that have been inactive for 16 months with no insurance attached get transferred to the ATO, which stops the fee drain.⁸ If your account has insurance attached, or the balance is above $6,000, it stays with the fund and fees keep coming out. If you can’t claim your DASP straight away, log into your fund’s member portal and cancel any insurance on the account.

Mistakes That Delay or Reduce Your Payout

Applying before your visa expires. The system will reject you. Wait for the visa to lapse, or pay the $55 Certification of Immigration Status fee to have it cancelled.⁶
Using a renewed passport number that doesn’t match the visa database. Use the passport details from your original visa application.
Mixing WHM and non-WHM contributions in a single account. Once the balance is combined, 65% applies to all of it.
Closing your Australian bank account too early. EFT is the fastest way to be paid; without an Australian account you’re left with a cheque or, if the fund offers it, an international transfer.¹
Forgetting accounts from earlier jobs. Enter your TFN in the application to surface all of them.

If the DASP system shows visa information you know is wrong (for instance, listing a WHM visa you never held), don’t submit. Email DASPmail@ato.gov.au first and have the record corrected.⁶

1
Australian Taxation Office. Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP)
2
Australian Taxation Office. How Superannuation Applies to Temporary Residents
3
Department of Home Affairs. Certification of Immigration Status – Charging Arrangement
4
Australian Taxation Office. Working Holiday Makers
5
Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. DASP Online Application Factsheet
6
Australian Taxation Office. Help With the DASP Online Application System
7
Australian Taxation Office. Searching for Lost Super
8
Australian Taxation Office. Inactive Low-Balance Super Accounts