Holiday Makers

---

A British woman has won a legal battle against Australia's so-called " backpacker Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax " in a ruling that may have implications for other travellers.

Catherine Addy argued she was unfairly taxed on pay she earned while working as a waitress in Sydney in 2017.

The Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax - imposed that Com /person/year-whois.html'>Year - had discriminated against her on the basis of her nationality, Com /person/she_said-whois.html'>She Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said .

Other backpackers affected by the same rule have been waiting on the decision by Australia's highest court.

They may now be able to ask Australian authorities to review their Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax assessments.

The ruling relates to a working holiday Com /person/visa-whois.html'>Visa - known as the 417 - offered to foreigners aged between 18 and 31.

They are subject to a 15% Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax on income up to A$37,000 (£20,200; $27,500), which is paid from Com /person/the_first-whois.html'>The First dollar they earn.

This is a higher rate than for Australians, who get a Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax -free threshold of A$18,200.

Ms Addy's lawyers argued Com /person/the_rules-whois.html'>The Rules were at odds with an international " double Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax " agreement Australia has with Britain and several other nations. Citizens of those countries should be taxed like Australians, they Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said .

In a judgement delivered on Wednesday, Com /person/the_high-whois.html'>The High Court of Australia Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said : " The question is whether that more burdensome taxation was imposed on Ms Addy owing to her nationality. The short answer is yes. "

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said the decision was only relevant in cases where the working holiday-maker had been resident in Australia for Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax purposes since 2017. It applied only to people from the UK, Germany, Israel, Japan, Norway, Finland, Tukey or Chile.

" Most working Com /person/holiday_makers-whois.html'>Holiday Makers will be non-residents as they are in Australia to have a holiday and working to support that holiday, " a spokesperson Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said .

The ATO had argued to Com /person/the_court-whois.html'>The Court that there was no discrimination based Com /person/on_nationality-whois.html'>On Nationality .

It had Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said the Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax was designed to help backpackers avoid the higher rates of Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax imposed on other foreign workers.

Ms Addy worked as a waitress in two Sydney pubs between January 2017 and May 2017 - earning A$26,576.

Court submissions Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said that while she had to pay Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax of A$3,986, when an Australian on the same income would have paid $1,591.

Taxback. Com - which helped Ms Addy bring the case - Com /person/said-whois.html'>Said the controversial Com /person/tax-whois.html'>Tax had been seen as a " disincentive to working holiday-makers to take up much-needed seasonal picking work while visiting Australia".

You might also be interested in:

This video can not be played

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Media caption, Covid: Australia's Flying Doctors take vaccines to vast remote areas

Reporting by Com /person/the_bbc-whois.html'>The Bbc 's Simon Atkinson

Source of news: bbc.com