Before you start

You must already be in Australia to apply for a TFN online
A foreign passport or travel document
A visa with work rights
An Australian postal address that will still be yours in a month

Step-by-step

1
Apply for a TFN through Individual Auto Registration
The ATO's online form matches your passport and visa against Home Affairs records in real time. Free, no appointment, no interview, and it requires a work-rights visa.
OnlineWho: YouAbout 20 minutesFree
2
Wait for the TFN letter by post
The number is never displayed on screen and never emailed. It is posted to the Australian address you gave, which is why that address must still be yours in four weeks.
OnlineWho: ATOAllow up to about 28 days
3
Complete the TFN declaration for your employer
Usually inside the payroll onboarding or through myGov in your first days. Tell payroll you have applied if the number has not arrived — that preserves a 28-day grace period at ordinary withholding rates.
Via employerWho: YouWithin 14 days of starting
4
Check which industrial relations system covers you
Ask whether your employer is a constitutional corporation — a Pty Ltd or Ltd company — or an unincorporated business. Companies fall under federal Fair Work; sole traders, partnerships and unincorporated trusts fall under the WA state system, with its own awards, its own minimum wage and different long service leave rules.
Via employerWho: You
5
Nominate a super fund and lodge a return after 30 June
Your employer pays 12% of ordinary time earnings into super; you can choose the fund. The tax year runs 1 July to 30 June, self-lodged returns are due 31 October through myTax, and a registered agent engaged before that date extends the deadline.
OnlineWho: YouAnnually

Documents you’ll need

Foreign passport or travel document
Valid visa with work rights
Australian postal address
Australian bank account details for refunds
Employment contract, which should identify the applicable award or agreement

Things most newcomers don’t know

WA is the only state where your employer's legal structure decides which employment law covers you.

Every other state referred its private-sector industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth. WA did not. If you work for a sole trader, a partnership or an unincorporated business here, you sit under the WA Industrial Relations Commission rather than Fair Work — a separate state minimum wage (AUD 998.30 a week from 1 July 2026, reset in a State Wage Case each year), separate awards, and different long service leave entitlements. Two people doing identical work in Perth can be under different legal systems.

Source: WA Industrial Relations Commission — State Wage Case; Consumer Protection WA

FIFO pay looks enormous until you separate the allowances from the base.

Site allowances, camp accommodation, travel and roster loadings can make a package look far above an equivalent city salary, but they are treated differently for superannuation, for leave accrual and for the salary tests on employer-sponsored visas. Ask specifically what the guaranteed base is, what super is calculated on, and whether allowances continue during leave.

Source: community-reported, consistent with ATO ordinary time earnings guidance

Superannuation reached 12% on 1 July 2025, and the wording of your offer decides who gets it.

An offer quoted as base 'plus super' versus 'package including super' differs by roughly AUD 14,000 on a AUD 130,000 figure. Resources employers commonly quote inclusive packages, which is legitimate but makes a Perth offer look larger against an exclusive-quoted eastern-states one when it may not be.

Source: ATO — super guarantee percentage

WA charges 7% foreign buyer duty but, unlike the eastern states, no foreign owner land tax surcharge.

Buying is dearer for a foreign purchaser here — 7% on top of ordinary transfer duty on residential property — but holding is not. Victoria adds a 4% absentee owner surcharge every year, New South Wales 5% and Queensland 3%; WA has introduced no equivalent annual surcharge. For a foreign owner planning to hold long term, the annual carrying cost of a Perth property is materially lower than the equivalent in Melbourne. Confirm the position with RevenueWA before you buy — this is exactly the kind of settings state budgets change.

Source: RevenueWA — foreign buyers duty

Common mistakes to avoid

Applying for a TFN before arriving — the online route requires you to be in Australia.
Giving a hotel address for the TFN letter and moving out before it arrives.
Missing the 28-day grace period and being withheld at 45–47% on your first pay runs.
Assuming Fair Work covers you when your employer is an unincorporated WA business under the state system.
Comparing a FIFO package against a city salary without separating guaranteed base pay from allowances.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.