Access and complete employment forms in ATO online

When to use the forms

Use the online employment forms New employment and Employment details to provide your tax details or super fund choice or both to your employer. These online forms are an alternative to the paper forms for the:

• Tax file number (TFN) declaration
• Withholding declaration
• Medicare levy variation declaration
• Superannuation (super) standard choice.

When we say employer, we mean the business or individual making payments to you. This applies even if you're not receiving payments for work or services – for example, a payer of a superannuation income stream or compensation payments.

Before you start

Your employer may have their own electronic employment form, check with them before completing the online form in ATO online.

If your employer:

• has their own electronic form, complete their form
• doesn't have their own electronic form, complete the form in ATO online.

How to get the online forms

To access these forms, you need to link your myGov account to the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

Sign in to myGov and go to your linked services, then:

• select Australian Tax Office
• select Employment from the menu.
• select either
  • New employment – to complete your tax details or choose a super fund or both for a new employer, or provide your tax file number to your superannuation fund.
  • Employment details – to view and update your tax or super details with your current employer.
    • Select the dropdown box beside your current employer’s business name/ABN to view your tax and super details. If your current employer is not displayed or the Update button is not available, select New employment.
    • Your tax and super details for current and past employers provided to the ATO since September 2017 are shown in the Current tab. If you update your tax and super details for your current employer, your previous details will then show in the History tab.
    • Tax and super details for past employers are shown for record purposes only.

How to complete the forms

To complete the New employment form, you will need:

• your employer's Australian business number (ABN) or withholding payer number (WPN)
• your employment type – for example, full time, part time, casual.

For your super fund choice, you will need:

• the details of your self-managed super fund (SMSF) if you're choosing your SMSF, including
  • electronic service address
  • account name
  • BSB and account number
• the details of your employer's default super fund if you're choosing the default fund, including
  • super fund's name
  • unique superannuation identifier (USI)

We prefill some of your information and display questions that are applicable to your personal circumstances – for example, education loans.

Once the form is completed, you must print your employee tax or tax and super details summary and give it to your employer. The information you provide will allow your employer to work out the amount of tax to be withheld from payments. It will also allow them to make contributions to your chosen super fund, if you provide super fund details.

Complete or check your details are correct in the following sections of the form:

• Employer ABN or WPN
• Employer branch ID
• Employment type
• Tax and super details
• Personal details
• Residency status
• Tax withholding details
• Education loan withholding
• Offsets and rebates
• Medicare levy variation
• Super fund choice details
• Summary and declaration

Employer ABN or WPN

Type your employer's 'ABN' or 'WPN' in the field provided. You will need to validate the employer ABN or WPN by using the search button.

Employer branch ID

Type your employer's 'branch ID' if known. For example, 001.

This field can be left blank if unknown.

Employment type

Select your employment type from the options listed in the form.

Tax and super details

Select the details you will provide to your employer.

Select the box beside Tax details to provide the tax withholding details that are present on the paper form for the:

• TFN declaration
• Withholding declaration
• Medicare levy variation

Select the box beside Super details to provide your super fund choice.

Personal details

We pre-fill this information from the personal details recorded in ATO online services. You will need to check that your personal details are correct.

Residency status

Select your residency status for tax purposes from the options in the form.

Your residency status determines the amount of tax that will be withheld by your employer.

If your form has a residency status selected and it's incorrect, select your correct residency status.

Tax withholding details

Complete the following sections for your tax withholding details.

Tax free threshold

You don't pay tax on income you earn each year under the tax-free threshold.

You can claim the tax-free threshold from an employer if:

• they are your only employer
• this employer pays you the most, if you have more than one employer
• your income from all sources is less than tax-free threshold.

Select an option, yes or no to I want to claim the tax-free threshold.

Withholding amount

Some people find that the tax that their employer withholds from their pay is too little, resulting in a tax bill when they lodge their tax return. You can choose for your employer to take more tax out of your pay throughout the year. This will make it more likely that you get a refund when you lodge your tax return.

You can increase the amount of tax withheld by your employer by a set amount or percentage rate above the standard withholding amount.

The additional amount of tax withheld will commence after you give your employee tax or tax and super details summary to your employer.

Select an option, yes or no to Would you like this employer to withhold more tax from your pay each period?

If yes, select an option, to Set the additional withholding amount per payment by either:

• Specific amount – type the Additional amount (on top of standard withholding amounts)
• Percentage rate – type the Additional percentage (on top of standard withholding amounts).

To cease the additional withholding, you need to update your tax details using the Employment details or New Employment form and print the summary and give it to your employer.

For more information about tax rates and calculating withheld amounts, see:

• Tax tables
• Tax withheld calculators
• Paying tax on your income

Education loan withholding

If you have an education loan and your yearly income exceeds a minimum repayment threshold, you will have to make repayments towards your loan. Your employer must withhold extra tax from your pay to cover these repayments. These loans include:

• Higher Education Loan Program (HELP)
• VET Student Loan (VSL)
• Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS)
• Student Start-up Loan (SSL) and ABSTUDY Student Start-up Loan (ABSTUDY SSL)
• Trade Support Loan (TSL).

If you don't have an education loan

If you don't have an education loan, you won't see this section online or in your printed employee tax or tax and super details summary.

If you have repaid your education loan in full

If you repaid your education loan in full when you lodged your last tax return, you won't see this section online. It also won't appear in your employee tax or tax and super details summary. You will need to print your summary and give to your employer to notify them to stop withholding the extra tax from your pay. 

If you have an education loan, or had one during the year

Select an option, yes or no to Have you fully repaid any of the above loans since you lodged your last tax return?

• Yes – If you have fully repaid one or more education loans since you lodged your last tax return, you can select those loans below so your employer does not withhold extra tax from your pay. These loans will not appear in your employee tax or tax and super details summary, which you will need to print and give to your employer. This will notify your employer to stop withholding the extra tax from your pay. 
• No – proceed to the next question. The loans will appear in your employee tax or tax and super details summary, which you will need to print and give to your employer. This will inform your employer that they need to continue withholding the extra tax from your pay.

For more information on types of loans and repayments, see Study and training support loans.

Offsets and rebates

Tax offsets and rebates are special life circumstances which reduce the tax your employer will withhold from your pay.

Offsets can be claimed on your next tax return even if you do not claim them now.

Select the options that match your circumstances:

• Senior or pensioner
  • Determine your eligibility for seniors and pensioners tax offset
  • Select either
    • Single
    • A member of an illness-separated couple
    • A member of a couple
• Invalid or invalid carer
  • Determine your eligibility and calculate the offset amount for invalid and invalid carer tax offset
  • An invalid is someone who has received either a disability support pension, a special needs disability support pension, or an invalidity service pension.
  • Type the calculated amount into the provided field.
• Live in a remote area (zone) or serve in overseas forces
  • Determine your eligibility and calculate the offset amount for zone or overseas forces tax offset
  • Type the calculated amount into the provided field.

Medicare levy variation

Your employer withholds an additional 2% of your pay to cover your contribution to the national Medicare levy. In some circumstances, your contribution can also be reduced or increased.

Select from the options in the form the circumstance that best applies to you:

• Exempt from Medicare levy
• Liable for Medicare levy surcharge
• Entitled to Medicare levy reduction
• None of the above

To work out if you are eligible, see to:

• Medicare levy exemption
• Medicare levy surcharge
• Medicare levy reduction

Super fund choice details

Let your employer know the details of your super fund account so they can pay contributions into your chosen fund.

Select from the options in the form where your super should be paid:

• Choose an existing super fund account – this option is available if you already have a super fund
• Choose your SMSF - type your SMSF details into the fields provided.
• Choose your employer's default super fund – type your employer's default super fund details into the fields provided.
• I don't want to choose a super fund right now.

Summary and declaration

A summary of your details will be displayed. Depending on the information you have provided, you will see your tax details, super details, or both.

Use the Back button to correct any information.

You will be declaring that the information you have provided is true and correct to submit the form. Select the box at Tick the box to sign the declaration with the identification details you used to log in, then select Finalise.

To complete this process, you will need to print the summary and give it to your employer.

Privacy of information

We respect your privacy and only collect and disclose information, including your tax file number, as authorised by taxation law.

Use ATO online to complete forms online for new employment, or to update tax and super details with your employer.