DEPARTING AUSTRALIA? Don’t forget these 5 steps!

Every good story comes to an end… so it’s time to say goodbye! We are so proud to have seen you learning, having fun and growing in Australia, and we wish you all the best for your future trips. We hope to see you again in Australia, you know Go Study will help you again to make this possible! However, before organising a massive farewell party or going to travel the East Coast you shouldn’t forget to wrap up your financial matters in Australia: 

1. CLAIMING YOUR TAX BACK IN AUSTRALIA

After working in Australia you must submit your Tax Return at the end of every financial year (1st of July). You may be eligible to get some of your tax paid back to you. How much you get depends on

• The visa you were on
• If you worked with ABN or TFN
• How long you stayed in Australia, and
• How much you got paid in all your jobs.

So you may receive some money back, or you may have to pay more if you didn’t pay enough tax up don't… . But you must submit the Tax Return, by law. Here is how you do it: Using a Professional Service: For a small fee, professional services such as TaxBack will do your taxes for your and claim the MAXIMUM amount back. Although they do cost some money upfront, they may help you get hundreds, sometimes thousands more in tax refunds. Go Study recommends TaxBack as they have offices in most major cities and specialise in student and working holiday visa returns. TaxBack will be able to get you the maximum back by claiming for things such as uniform allowance, travel and other elements you may not have been aware you can claim back. Mention Go Study for special prices and promotions.  

Why choose TaxBack.com?

  Free Refund Estimation  Offices in Sydney, Cairns, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne & Darwin Friendly Tax Specialists 24-hour Online Chat Support

Calculate your refund

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2. CLAIM YOUR SUPERANNUATION IN AUSTRALIA

From every salary get paid in Australia there is an additional amount (9.5%) held under a Superannuation account. It means you have been paying your retirement in Australia, and once you depart the country permanently you can claim for it. If you leave the country and you are not sure if you will be back you can claim it as well, you won’t have any problem to come back in the future. Depending on your visa you will have a different percentage of the total money paid back (Students get a 70% while Work and Holidays get a 35%). To get the Superannuation back you have to make sure you have departed Australia and your visa is expired/cancelled*. After, you should go to the DASP portal (Departing Australia Superannuation Payment), and you will also be required to have a My Gov account to log in into the system. Other info you will need to have:

• Your Tax File Number
• Your Payment Summary or the last payslip of every job you had
• Your Superannuation details (you may have only one Super Account or many), but you will be asked to have: Fund ABN, Member/Account Number, SPIN, Client ID,

Once you log in into the DASP portal you will fill it with your personal information, the bank account you want to receive the money (we recommend to put your Australian one). After you will need to add a new application for every superannuation account you had, and you may be requested to have your employer’s details (they are on the payslip). Once you submit all the applications you will receive a confirmation email and you will get your superannuation paid in a few weeks! In case you have further questions about it or you want to make sure there are no mistakes in your Tax Back or Superannuation application we recommend to see an accountant, which will make sure your application is correct and will solve all your questions. How to cancel your visa in Australia * To cancel your visa you have to do it from your Immi Account, logging in with your details and get to your current visa to click on View details. After this, go to Update details, and next click on Request to cancel a temporary resident visa. Then you will have to provide your personal details and the date you departed Australia (only do it if you are not in Australia anymore!). You will get the cancellation confirmation via email between 2 and 4 weeks.

3. CLOSE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT

Before leaving Australia it’s really important to create a contact in your Commonwealth App with your home bank account details, so you can make a transfer without being asked for any confirmation SMS (you won’t receive it if you are not in Australia). Once you depart Australia and you get your taxes and your superannuation to your bank account, you will send this money to your home bank account. After, when there’s no money left you’ll need to close your Australian bank account. It’s really easy to do it, you only need to send an email to [email protected] saying that you want to close your bank account and attached a certified copy of your passport. Keep in mind that once your student visa expires (so you are not a student in Australia anymore) you will be charged around 6$ per month of maintenance fee. So close your bank account immediately after transferring your money to your country, before your account balance is -6$.

4. HOW TO SEND YOUR LUGGAGE BACK HOME FROM AUSTRALIA

Are you going to travel around Asia before going back home and you have lots of bags in Australia? You can either give us all your cool stuff (joke) or send your luggage to your home country. There are several companies to do it, you can have a look at:

• Australia Post: is usually the cheapest option, but they put some conditions: your luggage cannot exceed some dimensions and weight (140cm girth and 22kg), which means that big suitcases won’t fit in this filter.
• Sin Maletas: It’s quite recommended, a bit more expensive than AusPost, but you can send pretty much everything (any size and weight). Using the discount code GOSTUDY you will get a 15% off.
• 7 Seas: Cheap option to send lots of stuff, any weight and large sizes. However, it can take up to 3 months, you can get a quotation on their website.

5. CLAIM BACK TAXES ON ITEMS PURCHASED (Tourist Refund Scheme)

Another tip before departing Australia is that you can claim back the GST (taxes) of some of the goods you bought in Australia during the last 60 days before your departure. You can submit this claim on the airport, after passing the security arch, looking for the Tourist Refund Scheme (TRS) area. To make it faster you can previously fill the form online or using the TRS mobile app you can find in Google Play or Apple Store. However, some conditions apply:

• The goods have to be over 300$ (spent in the same business)
• Have paid for the goods yourself
• You must show the original tax invoice of the purchase
• Carry the good with you (so keep them in your carry-on baggage, don’t check them in!)

That’s some sweet advice from Go Study - We hope it was useful and that it helps you wrap up your experience in Australia. We look forward to seeing you somewhere in the world sooner than later! Safe trip mate! The Go Study Team