Careers & Work
A Free Tax File Number and Two Forms Decide What Your First Pay Looks Like
A person starting a first job in Australia is asked for three things in the opening days: a tax file number, a completed tax file number declaration and a choice of superannuation fund. The first is free and is issued by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The other two are forms completed on day one, and between them they decide how much tax is withheld from the first pay and where the super goes. The position of this article is that a new worker should apply for the number personally through the ATO, complete the declaration and make the super choice on the first day, and not begin work on the assumption that the number can wait. Where an employer holds neither a number nor a statement that one has been applied for, then, as this article reads the ATO’s guidance to payers, the top marginal rate applies from the first payslip, and the difference returns only through a tax return. The checklist below sets out the sequence in the order in which it happens.
First-job starter pack
0 of 11Before the first shift
On the first day
After the first payslip
General information only. Check the ATO for the current rules.
Apply for the number yourself, and only once
A tax file number (TFN) is a unique number issued by the ATO, and Moneysmart notes that it is quoted to employers, benefit providers, banks and other investment bodies. The myGov guidance states that it is free to apply for if a person has never had one, and that a person needs to apply only once. A person who has applied before already has a number, so the first task in that case is to find it rather than to apply again. For a lost number, myGov describes the route: sign in to myGov, open the ATO service and choose “Find my TFN”, which requires the ATO’s online services to be linked to the account.
The route for a first application depends on the applicant. myGov lists separate paths for citizens with an Australian passport, residents, holders of a foreign passport, permanent migrants, people outside Australia, residents of Norfolk Island, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The correct path is the one that matches the person, and the ATO is the authority on the documents it asks for. The application should be made before the first shift, with allowance for the number to arrive in the myGov inbox or by post.
A school leaver is the reader most likely to be in this position, since the first casual job often arrives in the same weeks as results. The site’s explainer on how ATAR scaling works covers the results side of that period, and this article covers the paperwork side.
One condition applies throughout. A business that charges a fee to apply for a TFN, or to speed an application up, is not the ATO. myGov directs applicants to the ATO and states that the application is free, so there is nothing to purchase.
The tax file number declaration
On starting work, the employer asks the new worker to complete a TFN declaration. The myGov guidance on how tax works describes it as the form that records the TFN, the worker’s residency and other personal information, so that the employer can work out how much tax to withhold. The form also asks for personal details such as a name and address, and whether a study or training loan applies. The current form on the ATO’s website is the authority on its exact questions.
The declaration goes to the employer, which uses it to set the withholding. The worker does not send it to the ATO. For that reason the answers are the worker’s responsibility, and a copy of what was signed is worth keeping, because it is the only record of what the payroll system was told.
The declaration also asks whether the tax-free threshold is to be claimed. myGov states that the threshold is claimed on the declaration when a new job starts and that, with more than one employer, it is generally claimed from one only. For a worker with a single job, that single job is the one. The mechanics of holding two jobs are outside the scope of this article.
If the worker is on a working holiday visa, different rates apply, and the ATO should be checked for them.
What the “28 days” claim does and does not cover
Pages written for new workers commonly say that there are 28 days from the start date in which to provide a number. The wording can be read in two ways, and the difference matters.
The first reading treats the 28 days as a general deadline that every new worker holds, whatever is written on the form. The second reading follows the ATO’s guidance to payers. As this article reads that guidance, any allowance for a number still to arrive belongs to a worker who tells the employer, on the declaration, that an application has been made or that an enquiry has begun. The employer may then withhold on the usual basis while the number is awaited. Where the declaration gives no number and says nothing else, the top marginal rate applies from the first payment.
This article rules for the second reading, for a practical reason. A worker who writes nothing is not covered by a grace period of any length, while a worker who completes the “applied for” entry is the person the guidance contemplates. A third version, that ticking a box buys a month of grace, is at best half right, because the box is the declaration, and the declaration has to be completed accurately.
The ATO sets the exact period and the rate, and both can change. The current wording on the ATO’s page for payers should be read before any of this is relied on. The course that holds under either reading is the same: apply first, make the “applied for” entry if the number has not arrived by the first day, and give the employer the number as soon as it comes.
A first fortnight, with and without the number
Take a hypothetical student paid $620 gross for a fortnight. The hours, the pay and the employer are invented for illustration, and the table is a worked example, not a payslip.
| Hypothetical fortnight, $620 gross | Gross | Withheld | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|
| No TFN and no “applied for” entry | $620 | The top marginal rate applied to the whole $620 | The gross less that amount |
| TFN given, threshold claimed | $620 | Little or nothing; the exact figure comes from the ATO’s withholding tables | Most or all of the $620 |
The first row can be checked by any reader. The check is to take the top marginal rate shown in the ATO’s tax tables for payers and apply it to the $620. If the same fortnight were repeated six times, the amount withheld would be six times the first, and it would return only when the worker lodges a tax return after the financial year ends on 30 June.
The second row rests on one calculation. A pay of $620 a fortnight, over the 26 fortnights of a year, comes to $16,120, and that sum is under the threshold. A payroll system that annualises the pay in this way therefore withholds little or nothing. This article gives no dollar figure for that row, because the withholding tables are the ATO’s, and they should be read directly.
The example has limits. It excludes study loan repayments, bonuses, any second job and part-year effects. It assumes a worker who has no other income for the year. It describes no real person, and a real payslip may differ.
Super choice on day one
The employer will also ask which fund the super is to be paid into. myGov states that a worker can usually choose the fund. Where no choice is made, the employer still pays, either to the worker’s existing (stapled) fund or to the employer’s default fund. A worker who has held an earlier job may therefore already have a fund that follows them to the new employer. myGov also states that the fund can be changed at any time.
That last statement answers a common view among new workers online, which is that the decision is not worth agonising over. The first half of the view is fair, since a choice made in the first week can be revised. The second half needs a condition. Super is invested over decades, and small differences between funds compound, so the choice deserves a proper look once the first few weeks have passed and there is time to compare. The myGov page on choosing a fund is the place to begin.
On the day itself, the practical steps are short. Bring the name of any existing fund, tell the employer which fund is wanted or ask which fund will be used if no choice is made, and note the answer. This article does not name or rank any fund, and the choice remains the worker’s own.
Bank details and the first payslip
The employer also needs the worker’s bank details, which should be entered carefully and checked twice, because a mistyped account number delays the pay. A copy of what was signed is worth keeping with the declaration.
A payslip should arrive promptly after each payday, and the first one deserves a careful read. The items to check are the worker’s name, the pay period, the hours and the rate, the tax withheld, and the super amount with the name of the fund. Where the tax looks high, the first step is to ask payroll which declaration answers it holds on file, before concluding that anything is wrong. A missing number or an unanswered threshold question is a common explanation, and each is a quick fix when raised early.
The first pay is also a convenient point to start a saving habit. Setting aside a small fixed portion towards an emergency fund worked out from your own bills is easier than starting after months of spending the whole amount.
Three claims that need correcting
A common view among new workers online is that a refund is free savings. A refund is the worker’s own money returned without interest, having been lent to the ATO in the meantime. The fair point in the view is that a lump sum does feel like saving. A regular transfer to a savings account gives the same discipline without the loan.
A second claim is that ticking a box gives a month of grace. The section above explains why that reading is unsafe: the box is the declaration, and a blank declaration carries no allowance.
A third claim is that a website that charges a fee can obtain a number faster. It cannot. The application is made to the ATO, and the ATO charges nothing.
What to have sorted before the first payday
The sequence is short. Apply for the number through the ATO, or find the existing one through myGov. Complete the declaration on the first day, with the number or the “applied for” entry. Make the super choice, or ask which fund will be used. Give accurate bank details, keep a copy of what was signed, and read the first payslip against that copy.
Entitlements such as long service leave, which follows different state rules, accumulate over years, and they rely on the same records kept from the first week.
This article is general information only and does not take account of any individual’s circumstances. For anything specific, check with the ATO or a registered tax agent.
Sources: Get or find your tax file number, myGov (https://my.gov.au/en/services/work/currently-employed/tax-when-you-work/getting-a-tax-file-number); How tax works and how much you pay, myGov (https://my.gov.au/en/services/work/currently-employed/tax-when-you-work/paying-tax/how-tax-works-and-how-much-you-pay); How super works and choosing a fund, myGov (https://my.gov.au/en/services/work/currently-employed/superannuation/how-super-works-and-choosing-a-fund); Tax file number (TFN) glossary definition, Moneysmart (https://moneysmart.gov.au/glossary/tax-file-number-tfn); Payer information and obligations for the tax file number declaration, Australian Taxation Office
Long service leave is not a national entitlement. The Fair Work Ombudsman states that most employees’ entitlement to long service leave comes from the long service leave laws of the state or territory in which they work, and those laws set both how long a person must serve before the entitlement begins and how much leave follows from that service. The consequence is practical rather than academic: two employees with identical years of service can hold different positions, because the wait in one jurisdiction is seven years and in another it is ten. This article sets out which rule applies, how the leave accrues on the published formulas, what happens to the entitlement when employment ends, and where a question should be taken. The agencies named by the Ombudsman, one for each jurisdiction, are WorkSafe ACT, NSW Industrial Relations, the Northern Territory Government, Queensland Industrial Relations, SafeWork SA, WorkSafe Tasmania, the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria, and the WA Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety.
Indicative long service leave weeks
Enter whole years of continuous service with the one employer and the state or territory whose law applies. This returns weeks on the published formulas. It does not calculate pay.
Indicative only - your employer's records and your state agency decide the entitlement.
Enter your whole years of service to see the estimate.
Whole years only, counting continuous service with the one employer.
This tool returns weeks only. No dollars, no payout estimate, no tax. Amounts paid are a separate question for the employer and the state agency.
No published formula is used here for Queensland or any other state or territory without one. Check the agency for your state or territory.
The waiting periods that catch people out
The qualifying period is a condition that precedes every benefit described in this article. A calculation of weeks is not meaningful until it is met, and it is set by the law of the jurisdiction rather than by the employer.
There is no national figure to fall back on. That is the substance of the Ombudsman’s position, and it is why the agency list is the practical part of this article.
Victoria provides the clearest example in the sources. The Victorian Government states that most Victorian workers qualify for long service leave if they have worked continuously with one employer for at least 7 years, and the entitlement applies to casual work as well.
New South Wales sets a longer wait. NSW Industrial Relations states that 10 years of continuous service produces 8.67 weeks, which the agency expresses as two months of paid leave.
Queensland operates under its own legislation. The Industrial Relations Act 2016 provides entitlements for most Queensland employees, including casual, regular part-time and seasonal employees, subject to conditions; where no federal entitlement exists, the state Act applies.
Other jurisdictions set their own thresholds, and the sources read for this article do not state them. The pattern described here is illustrative rather than universal, and the operating rule for an employee outside the three states above is the agency list: the threshold is stated by the agency, not inferred from a neighbouring jurisdiction.
The Ombudsman’s own page frames the same point from the other direction: the state laws set how long a worker must serve, its example being a service period of 7 years, and how much leave follows. The jurisdiction therefore has to be established before any estimate of weeks can mean anything, including the estimate the widget above returns.
Two qualifications sit over the state laws. Pre-modern federal awards can override them, and an enterprise agreement made from 1 January 2010 can contain its own long service leave terms. The state law is the default, not the only possible source.
| Jurisdiction | Qualifying service | Source |
|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 10 years of continuous service with the one employer | NSW Industrial Relations |
| Victoria | At least 7 years of continuous service with the one employer | Victorian Government |
| Queensland | Conditions set by the Industrial Relations Act 2016, which covers casual, regular part-time and seasonal employees subject to conditions | Queensland Government |
| Another state or territory | Set by the jurisdiction; check the agency | Fair Work Ombudsman agency list |
How the leave accrues
Two worked examples give the shape of the accrual, and the widget above applies the same arithmetic to the years of service a reader enters.
In New South Wales the entitlement is measured in weeks. Ten years of continuous service produces 8.67 weeks. Each additional five years adds one month, defined by NSW Industrial Relations as 4.33 weeks, so 15 years produces 13 weeks and 20 years produces 17.33 weeks. The agency states its measuring rule plainly: a month is 4 1/3 weeks, and the entitlement is measured in weeks rather than days or hours.
In Victoria the rate is different. The Victorian Government states that long service leave accrues at one week for every 60 weeks of continuous service, which is about 0.866 of a week for each year. At the 7-year threshold the same rate produces about six weeks, and the accrual continues for as long as the service continues.
An employee can use the two examples to sanity check a figure they have been given. A New South Wales total that does not land on the published steps, or a Victorian total that does not line up with the 60-week rate, is a figure worth querying with the agency. The check is arithmetic, and it is available to anyone with the service dates.
The two examples also carry a warning about comparison. The New South Wales formula releases a defined block at the threshold and steps up every five years; the Victorian rate grows in a straight line year by year. An employee weighing one jurisdiction against another is comparing two different shapes, and the state agency is the authority for whichever one applies.
One element is common to both. The entitlement is expressed in weeks rather than in dollars, which is why the widget returns weeks, and why the sources can be checked without any figure for pay entering the discussion. Pay is a separate question, set by the employee’s rate and the instrument that applies to the employment, and it is not one this article or the calculator attempts.
Casual and part-time workers
Coverage of casual work is not an edge case, and it is not uniform between jurisdictions.
New South Wales covers full-time, part-time and casual workers. Victoria applies to casual work. Queensland covers casual employees, together with regular part-time and seasonal employees, subject to conditions under its Act.
The Ombudsman defines a long-serving casual, for these purposes, as an employee engaged by the same employer on a regular and systematic basis for at least 12 months. The definition matters: the test is the pattern of the engagement, and a state that covers casual work applies the entitlement through that test.
The definition also explains why records matter more for casual employees than for anyone else. Continuous service under the Ombudsman’s test is established by the pattern of the engagement, and that pattern is recorded in rosters, payslips and letters of engagement rather than in a single contract.
None of the three jurisdictions described here excludes part-time work. New South Wales covers part-time workers expressly, and Queensland names regular part-time employees in its Act.
The condition to establish first is the state. Coverage differs between jurisdictions, and the position of a casual employee in one state does not describe the position in another.
Portable schemes, for four industries
For four industries, the entitlement is portable. Portable means the entitlement is kept when the worker moves between employers, so the service follows the worker rather than resting with the last employer.
The Ombudsman lists the industries: building and construction, contract cleaning, community services, and security. Portable schemes operate across the states and territories for these industries, and a national scheme covers coal mining. In New South Wales, black coal mining accrues under Commonwealth legislation rather than the state arrangement.
The practical consequence is that a worker in one of these industries does not lose the clock by changing employer. The Ombudsman’s page names the authority that administers the scheme in each jurisdiction, and that authority is where a portable worker should check the state of their own record.
The arrangement exists so that the clock does not stop at the gate. An employee in one of these industries who changes employer keeps the service accrued to that point, and the preservation of service is the difference a portable scheme makes.
Enterprise agreements and cashing out
An enterprise agreement made from 1 January 2010 can include long service leave terms, and the Ombudsman names portable long service leave and cashing out among the terms that can appear. The condition comes first: whether an employee can cash out depends on the agreement that covers them, not on a general rule.
The same applies to portability through an agreement. Where the terms are present, those terms govern; where they are absent, the state or territory law applies as the default.
An employee who wishes to know whether their own agreement carries long service leave terms can look to the agreement itself. The Ombudsman identifies agreements made from 1 January 2010 as the instruments that may contain them, which gives the search a starting point: the document, and its commencement date.
An employee who receives a payment while also earning from another source will find the tax-time questions set out in the site’s explainer on income from more than one source.
What leaving does to the entitlement
The question behind this article is usually a leaving question, and the sources answer part of it expressly.
Victoria states that if the business is sold or its ownership transfers, the years of service still count and the new owner takes on the existing entitlement. Service is not reset by a change of owner, which is the reassurance the rule provides.
The sources do not set out a general rule for every resignation or payment scenario, and this article does not invent one. What they support is a set of checks: find the employer’s records, confirm the start date the employer holds, and establish which state or territory’s agency covers the industry. Where an accountant is part of the picture, the same discipline of keeping documents is the subject of the site’s guide to what you are really paying a tax agent for.
A question about the start date on the employer’s record is a records question, and it can be raised without a dispute. Where the records do not answer the question, the agency for the jurisdiction is where it should be taken.
The distinction between a service question and a payment question is useful for an employee preparing to leave. Service is a record of time with the employer. The payment is what the law, and any agreement that applies, say follows from that service, and the two questions are answered from different documents.
Your records are the claim
An entitlement of this kind is proved by records, and the records are usually assembled rather than found.
The agencies, once more, are the practical map: WorkSafe ACT, NSW Industrial Relations, the Northern Territory Government, Queensland Industrial Relations, SafeWork SA, WorkSafe Tasmania, the Workforce Inspectorate Victoria, and the WA Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety.
Two things should be ready before a query is put to any of them. The first is the start date the employer holds, together with the service and leave records that support it. The second is the state or territory whose law applies to the employment, and the industry, because a portable scheme changes which body holds the record.
A request for the employment record can be made in writing, and the reply kept. The agencies work from documents rather than recollections, and the employee preparing a question for them is best served by doing the same.
The entitlement is not decided by memory, and it is not decided by a calculator, including the one above. It is decided by the records and by the agency for the jurisdiction. The first useful step is a request for the employment record, and the second is a call to the agency that keeps the rules.
Sources: Fair Work Ombudsman – Long service leave · NSW Industrial Relations – Long service leave · Victoria – Long service leave (Victorian Government) · Queensland Government – Long service leave entitlements and continuous service
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