Skilling Australians Fund (SAF) Levy for a 482 Nomination

The Skilling Australians Fund levy on a 482 nomination is $1,200 for each year nominated when the employer’s annual turnover is under $10 million, and $1,800 a year otherwise, paid in full when the nomination is lodged. A 4-year nomination by a business with turnover of $10 million or more therefore carries a levy of $7,200, the example Home Affairs gives on its cost of sponsoring page. The employer pays it in ImmiAccount with the $330 nomination fee (the form works out the amount from the turnover and the years selected) and must not pass it on to the worker.

The calculator below adds up the employer’s total; the SAF levy is its third line, after the sponsorship and nomination fees.

How much is the levy?

The levy is $1,200 or $1,800 for each year of the nominated period. Section 5(2) of the Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Regulations 2018 sets the formula: a base amount, which depends on turnover, multiplied by the number of years in the period of stay proposed in the nomination. That period is 1, 2, 3 or 4 whole years, so a part year never arises. Home Affairs’ own example is a business with turnover over $10 million nominating a worker for 4 years, which pays $7,200.

The levy is payable on every 482 nomination, including one lodged so a 482 holder can change employer or occupation. Labour agreement sponsors pay it too. The only nil rate, in section 5(3), is for ministers of religion and religious assistants nominated in the Labour Agreement stream.

By contrast, a 186 nomination carries a one-off levy of $3,000 or $5,000 under section 6, whatever the period. The levy has applied since 12 August 2018. Added to the sponsorship and nomination fees, it makes up most of the total sponsor cost.

What is its legal name?

The Skilling Australians Fund levy is the “nomination training contribution charge” in section 140ZM of the Migration Act 1958, imposed by the Migration (Skilling Australians Fund) Charges Act 2018. Home Affairs calculates and collects it at nomination. Its revenue supports skills and training for Australians, and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations publishes information about the Fund.

How is turnover worked out?

Section 4 of the Charges Regulations defines annual turnover in two ways:

• A business operating in Australia: its total ordinary income, within the meaning of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, for the most recent income year ending before the day the nomination is made.
• Any other business: its total income from the ordinary course of business for the most recent financial year ending before that day.

If the employer entered the wrong turnover or the wrong nomination period, it can withdraw the nomination before a decision and ask for a refund under regulation 2.73AA(3A) of the Migration Regulations 1994.

When is the levy refunded?

Not when the nomination is refused. The Home Affairs cost of sponsoring page says costs are not refunded if the application is not successful. A refund is available only in these cases:

1. The nomination and the visa were approved, but the worker never arrived or never started work.
2. The nomination was approved, but the visa was refused on health or character grounds.
3. The employer withdrew the nomination because it entered the wrong turnover or nomination period.
4. A Labour Agreement stream nomination was withdrawn before the agreement was made.
5. A Labour Agreement stream nomination was withdrawn because the yearly cap was reached or the wrong occupation was entered.
6. The worker left within the first 12 months of a nomination longer than 12 months (refund of unused full years only).
7. The nomination was withdrawn because a sponsorship application lodged with it was refused or withdrawn.

Two further cases on the Home Affairs list, a wrong stream or a wrong occupation in a 186 or 494 nomination, do not apply to a 482.

How much comes back if the worker leaves early?

Under regulation 2.73AA(3F), the refund is the levy paid, less the amount that would have been payable for a 1-year nomination. A business with turnover under $10 million that nominated a worker for 4 years paid $4,800; if the worker leaves in month 10, the refund on written request is $3,600. A worker who leaves after the first 12 months, or who moves from the 482 to a 186 with the same employer, does not create a refund case. The refusal side is covered under 482 nomination refused.

How do you ask for a refund?

The person who paid the levy makes a written request, and any refund is paid back to that person (regulation 2.73AA(1)(b) and (4)). Home Affairs decides each request against the listed cases.

An Australian migration lawyer makes a good outcome more likely here because the levy is fixed the moment the nomination is lodged (the turnover figure and the years chosen decide the amount), and a nomination refused for a salary or labour market testing defect keeps the whole levy. No adviser can promise an outcome.

Can the levy be passed to the worker?

No. Home Affairs states that employers must not pass the levy on to the visa applicant. Regulation 2.87 of the Migration Regulations 1994 also stops a sponsor recovering sponsorship, nomination or recruitment costs from the worker. Asking for, or receiving, a benefit in return for sponsorship is an offence and a civil penalty under section 245AR of the Migration Act 1958.

A worker who is asked to repay the levy, or who has it deducted from pay, can report the sponsor through Border Watch, as the Home Affairs migrant worker protections page explains.

Is the levy tax deductible?

Yes. Home Affairs states on its cost of sponsoring page that levy payments are tax deductible. Home Affairs does not publish anything on fringe benefits tax and the levy, so this guide does not answer that question.