Questions 1 and 2
Complete with your personal information.
Question 3
What is your tax file number (TFN)?
It is not an offence not to quote your TFN. However, your payer is required to withhold the top rate of tax plus the Medicare levy from all payments made to you if you do not either:
- quote your TFN
- claim an exemption from quoting your TFN.
How do you find your TFN?
You will find your TFN on one of the following:
- your income tax notice of assessment
- correspondence we send
- a payment summary issued by your payer.
If you have a tax agent, they may also be able to tell you your TFN.
If you still can't find your TFN you can:
If you phone or visit us we need to know we are talking to the correct person before discussing your tax affairs. We will ask you for details only you, or your authorised representative, would know.
Print X in the appropriate box if you:
- have lodged a Tax file number - application or enquiry for individuals (NAT 1432) or made a phone or counter enquiry to obtain your TFN
- are claiming an exemption from quoting a TFN. You are exempt from quoting your TFN if you either
- receive certain Centrelink pensions, benefits or allowances or a service pension from the Department of Veterans' Affairs. However you will need to quote your TFN if you receive Austudy, Newstart, sickness or parenting allowance
- receive benefits from the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission.
Question 4
This question has been removed. From 1 July 2007 your payer must pass your TFN to the superannuation fund to which the payer is making contributions. Giving your TFN to your super fund will:
- make it easier to trace different super accounts in your name so that you receive all your super when you retire
- allow your super fund to accept all types of contributions to your accounts
- ensure that the tax on contributions to your super accounts will not increase.
Question 5
Are you an Australian resident for tax purposes?
Generally, we consider you to be an Australian resident for tax purposes if you:
- have always lived in Australia or you have come to Australia and now live here permanently
- are an overseas student doing a course that takes more than six months to complete
- have been in Australia continuously for six months or more and for most of that time you worked in the one job and lived in the same place
- will be or have been in Australia for more than half the financial year (unless your usual home is overseas and you do not intend to live in Australia).
If you go overseas temporarily and do not set up a permanent home in another country, you may continue to be treated as an Australian resident for tax purposes.
The criteria we use to determine your residency status are not the same as those used by:
- the Department of Immigration and Citizenship
- the Department of Human Services.
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Foreign resident tax rates are different
A higher rate of tax applies to a foreign resident's taxable income and foreign residents are not entitled to a tax-free threshold.
You are not entitled to claim the tax-free threshold and tax offsets if you are not an Australian resident for tax purposes. However, there is an exception with zone or overseas forces tax offsets.
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If you need help deciding whether or not you are an Australian resident for tax purposes, see More information.
Answer no to this question if you are not an Australian resident for tax purposes. You must also answer no to question 6.
Question 6
Are you claiming or do you want to claim the tax-free threshold from this payer?
The tax-free threshold is the amount of income you can earn each financial year that is not taxed. It is only available to people who are Australian residents for tax purposes (that is, people who answered yes at question 5). From 1 July 2012, the tax-free threshold has increased to $18,200.
Answer yes if you want to claim the tax-free threshold, you are an Australian resident for tax purposes and one of the following applies:
- you are not currently claiming the tax-free threshold from another payer
- you are currently claiming the tax-free threshold from another payer and your total income from all sources will be less than $18,200.
Answer no if one of the following applies:
- you answered no at question 5
- you have claimed the tax-free threshold from another payer and your total income from all sources will be more than $18,200
- you do not want to claim the tax-free threshold.
Do you have more than one job or payer?
If you are certain that your total income for the year from all sources will be less than $18,200, you can claim the tax-free threshold from all of your employers or other payers.
If your total income from all sources will be more than $18,200 you can only claim the tax-free threshold from one employer or payer at the same time. Generally you would choose the one you expect will pay you the most during the year.
If your circumstances change, you must advise your employers or other payers by completing a Withholding declaration (NAT 3093).
If you earn more than $18,200 from all sources and you have claimed the tax-free threshold with more than one payer you may end up with a tax debt at the end of the financial year. To avoid having a debt, you should ask one or more of your payers to withhold additional amounts by completing a Withholding declaration - upwards variation (NAT 5367).
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If you receive any taxable government payments or allowances such as Newstart, Austudy or Youth Allowance, you are likely to be already claiming the tax-free threshold from that payment.
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Question 7
Do you want to claim the seniors and pensioners tax offset by reducing the amount withheld from payments made to you?
Answer no if you are either:
- not eligible for the SAPTO
- eligible and want to claim your entitlement to the tax offset as a lump sum in your end-of-year income tax assessment.
Answer yes if you are eligible and you choose to receive the SAPTO by reducing the amount withheld from payments made to you during the year.
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Claim the tax offset with only one payer
You are not entitled to claim tax offsets with more than one payer at the same time.
If your income comes from more than one source, do not complete this question for any of your payers. Contact us for More information.
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To be eligible for the SAPTO, you must meet conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4 explained below.
Condition 1: Age
To meet this condition, on 30 June 2013 you must be either:
- a male aged 65 years or more, or a female aged 64 years and six months or more
- a male veteran or war widower aged 60 years or more, or a female veteran or war widow aged 59 years and six months or more who meets the veteran pension age test.
Veteran pension age test
You meet the veteran pension age test if one of the following applies to you and you would be eligible for a pension, allowance or benefit under the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986:
- you have eligible war service, that is, service in World War II or operational service as a member of Australia's defence forces
- you are a Commonwealth or allied veteran who served in a conflict in which Australia's defence forces were engaged during a period of hostilities, that is, World War II, or in Korea, Malaya, Indonesia or Vietnam
- you are an Australian or allied mariner who served during World War II
- you are the war widow or war widower of a former member of Australia's defence forces.
'Pension, allowance or benefit' includes disability pension, service pension and white or gold Repatriation Health Cards for treatment entitlements.
If you are unsure whether you meet the veteran pension age test, contact the Department of Veterans' Affairs, see More information.
Condition 2: Eligibility for an Australian Government age pension or similar type of payment
To meet this condition, you must fit into one of the following categories:
- You are receiving an Australian Government age pension, or a pension allowance or benefit from the Department of Veterans' Affairs, at any time during the 2012-13 income year.
- You would be eligible for an Australian Government age pension, but are not receiving one because you have not made a claim or because of the application of the income test or the assets test and you satisfy one of the following
- you have been an Australian resident for age pension purposes for either 10 continuous years, or for more than 10 years, of which five years were continuous
- you have a qualifying residence exemption (because you arrived in Australia as a refugee or under a special humanitarian program)
- you are a woman who was widowed in Australia (at a time when both you and your late partner were Australian residents) and you have made a claim for the age pension and you had two years' residence immediately prior to your claim
- you received a widow B pension, widow allowance, mature age allowance or partner allowance immediately before turning the age pension age
- you qualify under an international social security agreement.
- You are a veteran with eligible war service or a Commonwealth veteran, allied veteran or allied mariner with qualifying service and you are eligible for a pension, allowance or benefit from the Department of Veterans' Affairs but are not receiving it because you have not made a claim or because of the application of the income test or the assets test.
See More information if you need help working out your eligibility for:
- social security or Centrelink pension - contact Department of Human Services
- a veteran payment - contact the Department of Veterans' Affairs
- all other enquiries relating to the SAPTO - contact us.
Condition 3: Rebate income threshold
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Your rebate income is used to determine your eligibility for the SAPTO. Your rebate income includes your:
- taxable income
- adjusted fringe benefits (reportable fringe benefits multiplied by 0.535)
- total net investment loss (this includes both net financial investment loss and net rental property loss)
- reportable super contributions (this includes both reportable employer super contributions and deductible personal super contributions)
For more information, refer to Income tests: an overview (NAT 72974).
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To meet this condition for the 2012-13 income year, you must satisfy one of these rebate income thresholds:
- you do not have a spouse and your rebate income will be less than $50,120
- you have a spouse and your combined rebate income will be less than $83,581
- you have a spouse, and for some or all of the income year you have to live apart due to illness or because one of you is in a nursing home, and you and your spouse's combined rebate income will be less than $95,199.
Your spouse includes another person (whether of the same or opposite sex) who:
- you are in a relationship that is registered under a prescribed state or territory law
- although not legally married to you lives with you on a genuine domestic basis in a relationship as a couple.
The threshold amounts shown here relate to determining your eligibility for the SAPTO - they are not tax-free thresholds.
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The term 'have to live apart due to illness' applies when you and your spouse are paying higher living expenses because:
- one or both of you has a continuing illness or infirmity
- you cannot live together in your home as a result.
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Condition 4: Not in jail
To meet this condition, you must not have been in jail for the whole income year (1 July 2012 to 30 June 2013).
How your rebate income affects the amount of your tax offset
If you meet conditions 1, 2, 3 and 4 described above, you are eligible for the SAPTO. Being eligible means that you may receive the SAPTO. Your own rebate income will be used to work out the amount of your tax offset. The combined rebate income amounts set out in condition 3 are used for eligibility purposes and not for working out the amount you will receive.
You will receive the maximum SAPTO if your rebate income is equal to or below the rebate income thresholds shown in column 1 in table A. A reduced tax offset will apply where your rebate income is above the thresholds shown in column 1 but less than the cut-out threshold shown in column 2.
Contact us for more information about the SAPTO.
Table A: Rebate income thresholds for senior Australians tax offset
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Column 1
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Column 2
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Seniors and pensioners
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Tax-free threshold
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Cut-out threshold
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Single
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$32,279
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$50,119
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Each member of a couple
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$28,974
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$41,790
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Each member of an illness-separated couple
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$31,279
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$47,599
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This section is to be completed by the payer. The following information will help you comply with your pay as you go (PAYG) withholding obligations.
Payer obligations
If you withhold amounts from payments, or are likely to withhold amounts, your payee may give you this form with section A completed. A Withholding declaration applies to payments made after the declaration is provided to you. The information provided on this form is used to determine the amount of tax to be withheld from payments based on the PAYG withholding tax tables we publish. If the payee gives you another declaration, it overrides any previous declarations.
Storing and disposing of withholding declarations
The information in the completed Withholding declaration form must be treated in confidence. Once you have completed, signed and dated the declaration, file the declaration form. Do not send the declaration to us.
Under the TFN guidelines in the Privacy Act 1988, you must use secure methods when storing and disposing of TFN information. Under tax laws, if your payee submits a new Withholding declaration or leaves your employment, you must still keep this declaration for the current and next financial year.
Declaration
Make sure that you have signed and dated the declaration. Give your completed declaration to your payer.
More information
Useful products
You can get the following forms and publications from our online ordering service or by phoning 1300 720 092 (some of these products are also available from most newsagents):
For more information about income tests for a number of tax offsets and government benefits, refer to Income tests: an overview (NAT 72974).
For personal tax enquiries, phone us on 13 28 61 between 8.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. You can:
- get help to complete this form
- receive information about
- claiming the tax-free threshold
- Australian residency
- SAPTO.
For PAYG withholding variation enquiries, phone us on 1300 360 221 between 8.00am and 6.00pm, Monday to Friday. If you have income from more than one source, you can also receive information about claiming the tax offset.
If you do not speak English well and need help from the ATO, phone the Translating and Interpreting Service on 13 14 50.
If you are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment, phone the ATO through the National Relay Service (NRS) on the numbers listed below:
- TTY users, phone 13 36 77 and ask for the ATO number you need
- Speak and Listen (speech-to-speech relay) users, phone 1300 555 727 and ask for the ATO number you need
- internet relay users, connect to the NRS on www.relayservice.com.au and ask for the ATO number you need.
If you would like further information about the NRS, phone 1800 555 660 or email helpdesk@relayservice.com.au
Other agencies
Department of Human Services
For help working out your eligibility for a social security or Centrelink pension:
Department of Veterans' Affairs
If you are a veteran and not sure whether you are eligible for a payment:
- visit www.dva.gov.au
- phone 13 32 54 between 8.30am and 5.00pm, Monday to Friday.
Last Modified: Friday, 17 August 2012