Don't let a Working Holiday visa tax your whole super at 65%

When you claim your super on leaving (DASP), the tax depends on the visa you held while the money was contributed: 65% for Working Holiday Makers, 35% for student and most other temporary visas. The trap: when contributions from different visas are mixed in the same fund account, the higher 65% rate can be applied to the entire balance, including the part that should have been taxed at 35%.

How it happens

You arrive on a Working Holiday visa and your farm employer opens a super fund for you. Later you switch to a student visa, take a café job, and hand them the same fund details because it's easier. More money goes in, now under your student visa. On departure, that account holds a mix, but because it received WHV contributions, the fund can report it at the WHM rate, and the ATO taxes the lot at 65%. On a $12,000 balance, that can be thousands of dollars more than if the visas had been kept in separate funds.

How to avoid it

1. 1The moment your visa changes, open a NEW super fund (a different fund, to keep it clearly separate).
2. 2Give the new employer the new fund's details, never your old WHV fund.
3. 3Leave the old WHV fund alone; you'll claim it as DASP after you leave.
4. 4If you already mixed them, ask your old fund whether it can split contributions by visa period, provide your visa grant notices as evidence. Some can, some can't.