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jackie377(Newbie)Newbie
7 May 2024

I have a joint account with my son in an Australian bank. I set up Term Deposits there. All funds are from me (not from my son). My son is Australia permanent resident residing in Australia while I am non-resident residing outside Australia. The bank told me that a 10% tax will be automatically deducted when it matures. My questions are:

  • whether my son need to declare the interest earned in his annual tax return (he has employment income)
  • if so, should he assume 50% of the interest earned is in his account
  • will the tax payable be even higher than 10% since total income including employment + interest will be at a higher tax bracket

2,980 views
3 replies
2,980 views
3 replies

Most helpful response

Most helpful reply

TeddyATO(Community Support)Community Support
10 May 2024

Hello @Jackie377,


Ordinarily a joint account is an equal split between the account owners. So unless you have informed the bank otherwise then it would be an equal split in the interest and also the tax obligations. So yes in the case of your son they would have an amount applied to them, which would become part of their end of year assessable income. This can potentially push them into a higher tax bracket depending on the amount earned.


If you have specific questions about the term deposit you should seek guidance from the bank in question.

All replies

Most helpful reply

TeddyATO(Community Support)Community Support
10 May 2024

Hello @Jackie377,


Ordinarily a joint account is an equal split between the account owners. So unless you have informed the bank otherwise then it would be an equal split in the interest and also the tax obligations. So yes in the case of your son they would have an amount applied to them, which would become part of their end of year assessable income. This can potentially push them into a higher tax bracket depending on the amount earned.


If you have specific questions about the term deposit you should seek guidance from the bank in question.

jackie377(Newbie)Newbie
13 May 2024

I did check with bank and below are their answers and refer me to check with ATO.

1)     Flat rate of 10% will be automatically deducted from the interest earned.

2)     Since the Term Deposit accounts are joint accounts and one of the account holders is non-resident, the 10% still applies. 

3)     Kindly refer to ATO for the query of whether your son need to report anything in this tax return if he does not claim any refund.

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How will term deposit interest be charged for joint account? | ATO Community