Leaving Australia? What your super is worth after the 65% backpacker rate, priced from a year of hospitality shifts

A year of weekend-heavy bar shifts in Sydney puts about $5,750 of super into your fund. If you leave on a working holiday visa and claim it back, roughly $1,710 reaches your bank account. The rest goes in two cuts of tax, and most backpackers only know about the second one.

That's still $1,710 worth claiming, and plenty of people never do. Below is the money traced shift by shift, the two taxes that shrink it, and the steps that get it paid without a fight from overseas.

Quick answer: on a 417 or 462 working holiday visa, the departing Australia superannuation payment (DASP) is taxed at 65%. Before that, your fund has already taken 15% contributions tax as the money went in. So about 30 cents of every super dollar your venue paid comes back to you. You can only claim after you've left Australia and your visa has expired or been cancelled. This is general information, not financial or tax advice: check your own situation with the ATO or your fund.

What DASP is, and who can claim it

DASP is how a temporary resident takes their Australian super home. According to the ATO, you can generally claim if you built up super on a temporary visa, your visa has ceased (expired or cancelled), you've left Australia and you hold no other active Australian visa, and you're not an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident.

The application itself is free through the ATO's DASP online system. You can start it and save it while you're still here, but you can't submit it until you've gone.

Pricing a year of hospitality shifts

Here's a realistic working holiday roster: a casual Level 2 food and beverage attendant under the Hospitality Industry (General) Award, working 25 hours a week. That's two 5-hour weekday shifts plus 7.5 hours on Saturday and 7.5 on Sunday, for 48 weeks. The rates are the award minimums from 1 July 2026.

Super is 12% of what you earn in ordinary hours, and the ATO counts casual loading and shift penalties, weekends included, as earnings that attract super. Overtime generally doesn't. So the weekend shifts that pay best also build the most super.

Where the super goes: the two cuts

The real number will move a bit. Fund admin fees and any insurance premiums come out of your balance, and investment returns add to it. Ask your fund for a current balance before you leave, and run this maths on that figure.

Of every $100 a venue pays into your super on a working holiday visa, about $30 comes home with you.

Why 65%, and why one visa can change the whole payment

The ATO sets two DASP rates. Most temporary residents pay 35% on the taxed element of their super, and working holiday makers pay 65%. On the same $4,889.05 balance, that's the difference between $3,177.88 and $1,711.17 in your hand.

That last row catches people who switch to a student visa. The ATO is clear that the working holiday rate applies to the entire payment, including super earned on a different visa, if any of it came from your working holiday time. It doesn't matter when you held the 417 or 462. If you're moving visas, read our guide on working holiday to student visa changes as well.

The 65% is a final tax. The ATO says not to include DASP in a tax return, so there's nothing to get back on it later. That's a separate question from the tax on your wages, which our backpacker tax guide covers.

The 6-month clock, and what happens if you miss it

If you don't claim, your fund hands your super to the ATO as unclaimed money once 6 months have passed since you left and your visa has ceased. It isn't lost. You can still claim it from the ATO as a DASP, at the same tax rate.

There's one practical catch. The ATO pays ATO-held super only by EFT to an Australian bank account in your name, or by cheque. Close your Aussie account before you fly out and you've made getting it back harder.

Your checklist before the flight home

1. Find every fund. If you worked across several venues, you may have more than one account. Search through ATO online services in myGov or the ATO app.
2. Check every venue has paid. Since 1 July 2026, employers pay super for each payday, so it should show in your fund within days, not months. Compare your last payslips against your fund's transactions. Our payday super guide shows how.
3. Ask about combining accounts. Fewer accounts means fewer sets of fees. Your funds can tell you how.
4. Start the DASP online application while you're still here, and write down the details you enter. You'll need them to reopen it after you leave.
5. Sort out your ID copies in Australia if a balance is $5,000 or more. That fund may ask for copies signed off by an authorised person, and the ATO says that's much easier to arrange before you leave.
6. Keep your Australian bank account open until the money lands. The ATO says DASP is generally paid within 28 days of a complete application.
7. Submit after you've left and your visa has ceased, then keep the DASP payment summary your fund sends within 14 days.

Making the most of the shifts before you go

Your super is a fixed share of what you earn, so the real lever is the shifts themselves: more hours, more weekend penalties, and pay you can check line by line. Shiftly is free workforce management for venues with an on-demand staffing network built in, so the roster fills itself. Workers on the network get offered nearby hospitality shifts along the east coast, see the pay before they accept, and get paid fast.

On those shifts the venue engages you directly as an independent contractor, at rates at or above award minimums, plus super, and you pay an 8% service fee. Find shifts on Shiftly.

Frequently asked questions

How much super can you claim back on a working holiday visa?

Your fund balance minus 65% DASP tax on the taxable component. Because the fund already took 15% contributions tax on the way in, you end up with roughly 30% of what your employers contributed, before fees and returns. On a year of 25-hour weeks at Level 2 casual hospitality rates, that's about $1,711.

Can I claim my super before I leave Australia?

No. You can start and save the online application in Australia, but you can only submit it once you've left and your visa has ceased to be in effect. The ATO recommends getting everything ready before you go.

Will claiming DASP affect a future Australian visa?

The ATO says claiming a DASP won't affect any future visa applications. You can come back on a new visa later.

What if my fund took too much tax?

Ask the fund for a refund in the same financial year it paid you. After that, or if the ATO paid your DASP, you write to the ATO with evidence of the incorrect withholding.