Hi, this is my first post. I'm doing a lot of research on Australia because I'm going to be moving to Australia from Canada in 2009. I've been trying to find more information on Australian taxes but I can't figure out the Superannualation thing. Can someone please explain this to me?

Your tax system seems pretty straight forward and very similar to the Canadian system. There's tax brackets (as we call it) and if you make 0 to X, you get taxed this much and from X to Y, this percentage. It seems to be a very straight forward system with only one total income tax versus ours which is a combo of federal and provincial (state) tax.

My question is how does the superannulation work? In our system, your employer takes a mandontary x% from your paycheck to pay to the government into what we call a CPP (Canadian Pension Plan). And when you retire, you get Z amount from the government per month based on what you have payed to the government over your lifetime. Is your Superannulation the same as our CPP?

Or is it more like our RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan), when you can choose contribute to it (up to 18% per year) or not. The contributed amount is not taxed, and as it grows inside the RRSP account, it does not get taxed. If you withdraw from it before your retirement age, you will have to pay it back at y% interest over 15 years. Once you retire and withdraw from it, you will be taxed the income tax rate (but at that time it will be minimal since it will be your only income). Also, some employers match your RRSP contributions as fringe benefits.

I can't figure out if the Superannulation is money put away for you by your employer on top of your salary or % of your salary paid to the government on your behalf. Can someone please help?

Also, is there any other taxes/fees other than personal income tax, and GST? Thank you for the responses!