I am an intl student who is doing casual job now. Early next year I will start my grad program job. Do I need to change my "claim tax free threshold" in my current casual job knowing that I will earn more income from my next job ?
Hi @luckyman,
If you're leaving the casual job to then start the permanent one, you won't need to change anything. In this case you can then start claiming the tax-free threshold from the new employer. It's a good idea to make sure there's no double up on getting pays with both having the threshold claimed. You may want to stop claiming the threshold at the old job before you receive your first pay at the new one. If you'll instead be working both jobs, you should only claim it from one employer so it'll be up to you to choose which one you claim it with. You'd usually claim it from the one you earn the most from. Our page on income from more than one job runs through this a bit more too.
Hi @luckyman,
If you're leaving the casual job to then start the permanent one, you won't need to change anything. In this case you can then start claiming the tax-free threshold from the new employer. It's a good idea to make sure there's no double up on getting pays with both having the threshold claimed. You may want to stop claiming the threshold at the old job before you receive your first pay at the new one. If you'll instead be working both jobs, you should only claim it from one employer so it'll be up to you to choose which one you claim it with. You'd usually claim it from the one you earn the most from. Our page on income from more than one job runs through this a bit more too.
Hi Ethan,
Thank you for the very clear explanation. Yes I forgot to mention that I will be leaving my casual job and only have my grad job as my source of income.
If I may, I have another question related to the tax threshold. Since the new financial year (01 July), I worked a couple of weeks with the wrong tax option (I chose foreign tax resident) and hence my deduction was a bit high compared to what would be if I chose Australian resident instead. Should I claim tax offset to my current employer ? How will this complicate my tax return since I will be earning a bit more once I start my full time job next year ? Thank you once again.
Hi @luckyman,
That should be all good then - glad it all made sense! If you've had too much tax withheld from your employer, you'll get it back when you lodge your return for the year. We'll see that too much tax was withheld, and any overpaid amount will be refunded. You won't need to claim any offsets with your employer, but you can have a chat with them to see if they're willing to adjust your tax over a couple of pays. What they could do is withheld a little less for a few pays to cover the overpaid amount. This would give you a little bit more after tax pay each pay until the amount is adjusted correctly. If they're unable to do this, you'll need to wait until you lodge your return to get it back instead! This also won't complicate anything with your new employer. Once you start working for them they'll tax you based on how much you're being paid. Having a bit too much withheld from your old job won't change anything with the new one.
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