Tax in your first year in Australia, for OTs, speech pathologists and physios

Written by Callum Trevorrow. Last checked 28 October 2026 against official sources.

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Your visa doesn’t decide your tax residency in Australia; the ATO’s residency tests do. But working holiday income on a 417 or 462 has its own rates: working holiday makers are usually treated as foreign residents and pay 15% from the first dollar up to A$45,000 (ATO 2025–26 working holiday maker rates; from 1 July 2026, registered employers withhold the same 15% up to A$45,000), while a clinician who becomes a resident partway through the year gets a reduced tax-free threshold of at least A$13,464, not the full A$18,200.

This page is general information about how the rules work, not tax advice. Your own residency and tax position depend on your facts, so check them with the ATO or a registered tax agent before you budget around any number here.

How the ATO decides if you’re a resident for tax

The ATO uses four tests: the resides test (the main one), the domicile test, the 183-day test and the superannuation test. Under the resides test it looks at your physical presence, your intention and purpose, your behaviour, your family, business and employment ties, where your assets are, and your social and living arrangements. No single factor decides it.

Tax residency is a separate question from your visa, and it can change during your stay.

What that means on each kind of visa

General patterns from the ATO’s guidance, not an assessment of you:

If you’re a temporary visa holder, there’s one more rule worth knowing. The ATO says most foreign income of temporary residents isn’t taxed in Australia, but income from employment or services you perform overseas while you’re a temporary resident may be. If you plan to keep any work going back home, ask a tax agent before you start it.

Working holiday maker rates

These are the ATO’s working holiday maker rates. They apply to working holiday income for 417 and 462 holders who are foreign residents, and to residents who aren’t from a country covered by a “non-discriminatory article” in a tax treaty with Australia (ask a tax agent whether that applies to you).

These are the 2025–26 rates, the latest the ATO had published when I checked on 28 October 2026. It hadn’t yet posted a 2026–27 table, so check the ATO page before you rely on them.

What comes out of your pay: for payments from 1 July 2026, an employer registered with the ATO as a working holiday maker employer withholds a flat 15% on the first A$45,000 you’re paid that year. An employer that hasn’t registered must withhold at foreign resident rates instead. Ask your employer whether they’re registered before your first pay.

Resident rates, and the part-year tax-free threshold

If you’re a resident for tax, these are the 2026–27 rates. They don’t include the 2% Medicare levy.

The first A$18,200 is only tax-free in full if you’re a resident for the whole year. If you become a resident during the year, the ATO adjusts it:

• A flat A$13,464, plus
• A$4,736 shared across the months you were in Australia that year, counting the month you arrived.

The ATO’s own example: someone who arrived three months before 30 June gets A$13,464 + (A$4,736 × 3 ÷ 12) = A$14,648. The Australian tax year runs 1 July to 30 June, so a clinician who arrives in, say, February has a short first year and a lower threshold. The adjustment is worked out when you lodge your return.

You claim the tax-free threshold (or not) on the TFN declaration you give your employer. If you’re a non-resident for the full year, you can’t claim it. If you’re not sure which you are, ask a tax agent before you tick the box, because it changes how much your employer withholds from every pay.

Your tax file number: when to apply

• When: once you’re in Australia on a visa with work rights. The free online route is for people located in Australia, and it isn’t available on a visa with a no-work condition (8101, 8103 or 8116).
• Cost: free, online.
• How long: the ATO posts your TFN to your Australian address within 28 days of receiving your application. So you need a postal address you’ll still be at, and it’s worth applying in your first week.

The Medicare levy

Residents generally pay a Medicare levy of 2% of taxable income on top of the rates above. Two exemptions matter for new arrivals:

• Foreign residents for the full year can claim a full exemption. If you were a foreign resident for only part of the year, you can claim it for that period only if you had no dependants, or all of them were also in an exemption category.
• People not entitled to Medicare benefits have their own exemption category. Whether you’re entitled depends on your visa and, for UK, Irish and NZ clinicians, the reciprocal agreements. See Medicare and health cover by country, then check the exemption rules on the ATO page.

Super (the 12% your employer pays on top of salary) is a separate system; see super on a temporary visa and DASP.

Where I come in

I’ve walked overseas clinicians through working holiday and Skills in Demand visas alongside registered migration agents, so your visa advice comes from someone licensed to give it. Tax works the same way: we aren’t tax agents and can’t advise on your tax position, but knowing which of these rules might apply to you means you can ask a registered tax agent the right question before your first pay, not after your first return.

Your next step

Your start date sets your first tax year, so it helps to know your registration timeline before you plan the money.

• OTs: your Occupational Therapy Board route comes first, and it depends on where you trained. A UK (HCPC-approved, completed 2010–2030) or Irish (CORU-approved, 2015–2030) qualification, or a degree on the Board’s recognised list (30 listed programs from Canada, South Africa and the USA), goes to registration (A$250 application plus A$138 registration). New Zealand OTs with current registration and a practising certificate use Trans-Tasman mutual recognition. Otherwise it’s a portfolio assessment (A$688). OT registration for overseas OTs.
• Speech pathologists: you aren’t registered with Ahpra; Speech Pathology Australia assesses you, through the MRA (A$825, up to 7 weeks; Canadian S-LPs can’t currently use it) or the OSQCA (A$2,000 across four stages). Speech routes by country.
• Physios: your Australian Physiotherapy Council route comes first (Express FLYR A$1,742, FLYR A$3,490 or APEP A$8,321), then Physiotherapy Board registration (A$452 application plus A$220 registration). Physio routes by country.
• Pay, for all three: the award minimum for a first-year health professional (AQF 7) is A$1,308.80 a week, and Queensland Health’s HP3 grade starts at A$83,824. What you keep depends on which tax table applies to you.

The pathway check works out your route and likely start, and tells you whether an info session or a call is the right next step. For your own tax position, talk to a registered tax agent.