This archive report was first published on 30 October 2019.
Published on October 30, 2019, a landmark court decision in Brisbane has significant implications for Australia's 'backpacker tax'.
The tax, which was introduced in 2017, applies a 15 percent levy to every dollar earned by working holiday visa holders in two categories linked to seasonal labor.
However, a Brisbane court has ruled that the levy cannot be applied to a British woman due to a double taxation treaty between Australia and the UK.
Similar agreements are also in place with the United States, Germany, Finland, Chile, Japan, Norway, and Turkey, according to international accounting firm Taxback.com.
"That is a disguised form of discrimination based on nationality," Judge John Logan said in the landmark decision.
The Australian Tax Office has stated that it is considering whether to appeal the decision, which it claims only affects a minority of working holiday makers who are also residents and only those from countries affected by a similar clause in the double tax agreement with their home country.
However, Taxback.com CEO Joanna Murphy has argued that the tax was introduced in 2016 with the intention of discriminating against foreign workers and breaching several international tax agreements.
The public broadcaster estimates that up to 75,000 backpackers could be in line for a refund worth hundreds of millions of dollars following the court's decision.
