Taxation ? and time out of country?

[UDH]

If you are out of the country for greater than 183 days in the fin. year.. how does that impact on your tax payable?
My accountant is saying that I should pay more tax as I am only part year resident, but this does not sound correct.

Any ideas ??


UDH.

[Islander Jock]

UDH,
You might like to start looking here http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/content.asp?doc=/content/64144.htm&pc=001/002/012/014/005&mnu=1113&mfp=001/002&st=&cy=1 but I have found the o'seas thing to be very confusing. There are a lot of considerations to be taken into account and it will depend on such factors as to whether or not the income was exempt from tax in the country where it was earned.

[Balthazar_777]

I am by no means a tax expert, but for whats its worth, i believe that he old 183 day thing is dead.

If your family is in Oz, and you can be shown to be effectively an Oz resident for tax purposes (which i believe you would for 183 days), your tax would be higher because you don't qualify for the tax free threshold.

I am lead to believe that about 106 days is the limit.

There has been much discussion here about this, and others can probably help you more.

Beware the Aussie tax man. They take no prisoners.

[404 Titan]

Balthazar_777

No there hasn’t been any change to the 183 days in Aus rule. It is though only one piece of the jigsaw puzzle the ATO uses to determine if you are a resident for tax purposes. Other things looked at and they aren’t exhaustive are:

• Where your family live?
• Your primary place of abode?
• Are you liable to foreign tax?
• Etc etc

While UDH is probably a resident for tax purposes, he hasn’t really given us all the details to be sure 100%.

[BurglarsDog]

Currently working overseas and understand that I need to be out of the country for min 93 days continuously to be exempted from paying tax on my pay whilst abroad. Sincerely hope this the case or its all not worth it!

DogGone:{

[onya]

It's a very hard thing to avoid.
If you have dependants living here than you are a resident for tax purposes.
If you own property here then you are a resident for tax purposes.
You can be out of the country for 360 days a year but if you satisfy the first 2 points......then you are a resident for tax purposes.
And yes, it sux monumentally.
If you are purposely concerned call the ATO. They'll straighten out the whole issue.......and again....it sux.
Wish sincerely it was not the case, but alas it is.

Onya

[404 Titan]

BurglarsDog

183 days is the rule and it doesn’t need to be consecutive. It just neds to be within the financial year.

onya
If you have dependants living here than you are a resident for tax purposes.
This is not necessarily correct. If your family are living in Australia against your will then you will most likely not be considered a resident for tax purposes.
If you own property here then you are a resident for tax purposes.
No correct. You can own property in Australia and not be a resident for tax purposes. I have a few residential investment properties and pay tax on the rent but it is taxed as a non resident for tax purposes by the ATO.

[Metro man]

ATO have a checklist they go through to determine residency, and if you maintain a home in Australia and your family live there, you are on very shaky ground claiming to be non resident. A few Cathay pilots came short on this one, trying to quietly ease into an Australian base after a few years in Hong Kong. Spend less than six months at home, use a mates address in HKG and hope the ATO don't notice.
Best bet is to find a GOOD accountant (not one sitting at a desk in a shopping centre doing $65 tax returns), get him to set things up for you to avoid any expensive mistakes.
Note that if you are non resident you are taxed 29% from the first $ on all Australian income, ie renting your house out. :(

If you can get out of the Aussie tax system it's well worth a few sacrifices. Over here I worked six months of the tax year and only paid $3100 on a reasonable F/O salary. Did my own tax return in about 20 minutes, tax form is only two small pages. Even as a Captain I won't make the top rate of 20% as that only kicks in above AU$250 000 :)

[Defenestrator]

Metro and 404 Titan,

Please get back to me as I've just been slogged from the ATO. Thought I was doing the right thing. If you can direct me to good acountant please respond.

With Thanks
D

[BurglarsDog]

OK.
Been misinformed - so best dig a bit deeper on this one!
Looks like I may need another contract between now and June!

DogGone:(