Withholding Declaration Form: Payroll Changes

A withholding declaration form lets an employee change the tax choices their employer uses to calculate withholding. Use the ATO’s Withholding declaration, NAT 3093, after the employee’s initial TFN declaration, then check the changed payroll treatment before the next payment.

Choose the Correct Declaration

Use NAT 3093 when an employee changes their residency answer, tax-free-threshold claim, study-loan answer or tax-offset claim with an existing payer. The payer must already have a valid TFN declaration form quoting the employee’s TFN or an exemption.

A request to reduce withholding because of unusually high deductions needs the separate PAYG withholding variation application route. A changed election on NAT 3093 does not authorise an arbitrary lower rate. For extra withholding, an employee can make a written upward-variation agreement with the payer.

Incorrect: A bookkeeper lowers an employee’s tax rate because the employee expects a large deduction. Correct: The employee obtains the applicable ATO variation before payroll applies that reduced withholding.

Get the Official Form

Get the form through the ATO’s withholding declaration instructions. The Withholding declaration PDF is also available from the ATO Publication Ordering Service. Use the complete instructions and payer’s copy together.

The employee can complete a withholding declaration through ATO online services linked to myGov. The ATO’s online employment forms provide an alternative to the paper form. Where the employer supplies its own electronic employment form, establish that route before asking the employee to complete another version.

For the paper route, the employee completes Section A and gives the signed form to the payer. The payer completes Section B and files it. The form expressly says to keep it rather than send it to the ATO. Do not copy the lodgement steps for NAT 3092 onto NAT 3093.

Check the Employee’s Changed Choices

Ask the employee to complete every applicable answer, even when only one choice has changed. Explain what each question controls, while leaving the employee to make and sign their personal claims.

The threshold instructions allow an exception where total income from all sources will be below the threshold. Foreign residents and working holiday makers generally answer No to the threshold question. The form specifies an exception for a foreign resident receiving an Australian Government pension or allowance. Resolve conflicting answers with the employee before changing payroll. Do not choose which employer receives their claim.

For a fictional example, an employee repays their HELP debt in full and has no other listed study or training loan. They provide a signed declaration answering No at question 6. Remove the study-loan setting for their next payment, while preserving their unchanged residency and threshold choices. An employee who still has another listed debt must answer Yes.

Complete the Payer’s Part

Complete Section B for the employer paying the employee. Check the payer’s registered business or trading name and ABN, or withholding payer number (WPN) where applicable. Match those details to the payroll employer, especially when your client has several entities.

1. Check the employee’s name and date of birth against the employee record. Confirm the TFN or exemption details and the prerequisite declaration.
2. Review Section A for complete answers, the employee’s signature and the declaration date. Return an unsigned form for completion before treating it as authority.
3. Complete the payer details and arrange the payer’s signature and date. Keep both sections together.
4. Record receipt of the declaration and the first payment it affects. The withholding schedules give a new declaration effect from the next payment.
5. Update the employee’s withholding settings from the authorised answers. Use the applicable pay-frequency tax treatment, study-loan setting and permitted offsets.

Verify Payroll and Retain the Record

Check the next payment against the declaration and the applicable ATO withholding tables. Compare the saved employee settings with the pay calculation before authorising the pay run. A changed setting does not always change the dollar withholding, particularly where earnings fall below a repayment threshold.

If question 6 says No but the payroll record still has a study-loan flag, correct the flag and recalculate. If the employee reports an outstanding listed loan despite answering No, ask them to correct their declaration first. Keep the correction and the resulting payroll change traceable.

Retain the active declaration securely. When the employee gives a replacement declaration or leaves employment, the form requires retention for the current and following financial year. Keep the superseded version with its receipt and replacement details. Consider any separate record-keeping duties before disposal.

The OAIC’s TFN guidance requires access to be restricted to people who need TFN information for authorised purposes. Store paper copies in locked storage and electronic copies with restricted access. Once retention and lawful-use needs end, securely destroy or permanently de-identify TFN information. Shred paper and use secure deletion for electronic copies, including unnecessary duplicates.

Finish the task only when the retained declaration, saved payroll settings and next payment all support the employee’s authorised choices.