Claiming Super When You Leave Australia (DASP)

If you worked in Australia and went home, you almost certainly left money behind. Your employer paid at least 12% of your pay into a super fund, and on a working holiday that can be a few thousand dollars. Getting it out is called a departing Australia superannuation payment, or DASP.

Who Can Claim

You generally need all of these:

• You accumulated the super while on an eligible temporary visa, which includes the 417 and 462.
• You have left Australia.
• Your visa has expired or been cancelled.
• You do not hold any other active Australian visa.

You apply after you have left. The full rules are on the ATO DASP page.

The Tax Rate Is Brutal

DASP is taxed at 65% on the taxable component. The tax-free component is not taxed. That means if you have $4,000 sitting there, you do not get $4,000 back.

It is still usually worth claiming, because the alternative is money you cannot use until retirement in a country you may never live in again.

Why I Could Not Claim Mine

I did not claim DASP, and the reason is simple: I never actually left for good. I came back, I studied, I stayed. DASP is for people whose Australian working life is over and who hold no other visa.

If you are leaving but think you might return on another visa, be careful. Claiming when you are not eligible is a problem, and claiming too early can complicate a later visa application. Talk to a registered tax agent or the ATO before you pull the trigger.

My Super Fund Story

The bigger lesson in my case was not DASP, it was the fund itself.

I did not choose a fund deliberately. I ended up in one that gave me poor advice, lost money, and ended up in a class action. When that class action settled, I got about $300 back. My super had missed out on roughly $100,000 over the years. That is not a typo, and it is the reason I now tell everyone to pick their own fund, check the fees, and consolidate.

Read superannuation for backpackers for how to avoid that, and superannuation vs pension if you are not sure what the money actually is.

Find Super You Forgot About

People change jobs, change addresses, and lose track. The ATO has a free lost and unclaimed super service that searches by your TFN. Do this before you leave, while you still have an Australian phone number and address.

If you do not claim within the relevant period, your super is generally transferred to the ATO as unclaimed money. It is not gone, but it is much harder to claim from overseas.

The Leaving Checklist

1. Find every super account you have, using the ATO search.

2. Consolidate into one low-fee fund while you are still in Australia.

3. Check your fund has your TFN, or you will be taxed more.

4. Lodge your final tax return.

5. After you leave, apply for DASP through the ATO.

6. Keep the paperwork. You may need it for tax in your home country, and expat tax in Australia explains how the two systems interact.

7. Decide what the money is for before it arrives. Managing your money as you travel is the short version.

Keep reading:

• Superannuation for Backpackers
• Working Holiday Tax Return Australia
• The Difference Between Superannuation and Pension