sarahhartopp

I have been in OZ for 3 years now and i have just transfered a fairly large amount of money over to my account. someone has told me that i will have to pay 40% tax on the interest i earned on the money in the UK since i have been over here !!!!!!!! does anyone know if this correct ?

some body also told me about if i said the money was a gift from someone but apprently there is a limit on how much you can give somebody each year, does anyone know what it is and also if it is more how much do you have to pay. have been to a couple of banks and they dont have a clue, they said i should speak to an accountant, however i didnt really want to pay to speak to one, if im going to be paying out to the australian government anyway !!!!!!

any sites that can be recomended for me to go on if people dont know the answers ?????
Cheers

blackcab

http://www.ato.gov.au/rba/content.as...1645656132.htm

Forex gains. In todays enviroment you have no worries...No tax payable unless your rate at Forex on entry to Oz was less than 1.54, which i bet it was not. Sleep well.

Grayling

any interest the money has earned should have been declared as part of your worldwide income and therefore liable for Australian tax.......whether you move it or not.

OriginalSunshine

Does Australia have any dual-tax agreements with other countries - i,e, if you pay tax in the UK on interest you dont have to pay it in Aus?

sarahhartopp

no idea and a bank dosnt seem to know either, was hoping there was an accountant on here that may know rather than me go pay to see one !!!

Bermudashorts

You are mixing up a couple of matters here. Firstly to income tax, if you are a permanent resident or citizen of Australia then you should be paying tax on your worldwide income. I am not sure why you are so incredulous about this, it is perfectly normal for many countries.

The rate of tax you would pay would depend upon your marginal tax rate, there are no 40% tax rates so it won't be that. Perhaps it is 37% or 45% though.

Yes there is a taxation agreement which stipulates how different types of income should be paid and where. See Article 11.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxtreaties/i...tralia-dtc.pdf

To the inheritance or "gift" tax matters. There is no such thing as gift tax in either country. There is also no limit on gifts, although there is a limit on the amount of gifts that can be made without having ingeritance tax implications. If the person making the gift survives another 7 years then there are no implications whatsoever.

If you are suggesting that you would pretend this money is a gift to avoid paying tax then you should be aware that this is the criminal offence of tax fraud.

I would suggest you pay your tax that is due, I think it would be worth seeing an accountant to be honest. You might have overpaid in the UK and also there is potentially a forex loss, although I am not up to speed, always lots of debate on that topic.

sarahhartopp

I have already paid tax on my interest earned on my money in the UK, so why do i have to pay tax again over here. i am aware that everyone has to pay tax and am not trying to get out of it but i am a bit miffed at paying tax twice !!!!!

mand8002

As far as I am aware you won't pay tax twice as there is a double tax agreement with the UK. You will get a credit for the tax paid in the UK which will be put against the tax owing here and then you just pay the difference, if any

Bermudashorts

Did you read my post?

I have explained that there is a treaty that stipulates in which country you should pay the tax, you don't get to choose which country you pay it in. I also mentioned that there could be an overpayment in UK. I say "could be" as your UK personal allowance might have covered or reduced it.

When you asked about pretending it was a gift, this appeared to be as a way of getting out of it and your only expressed concern was whether there was a limit on the amount, not whether it is legal or not. If I misunderstood that, apologies but it probably is down to how it was worded.

Regarding the comment about hoping there was an accountant on here that could save you having to pay one, I would just say that it is a bit much to expect free advice and then adopt that tone with the person giving you said free advice. Suggest you open your wallet in future. In fact, I still think you might want to get one to help you sort this out properly.

Pollyana

Try contacting someone like Alan Collett of Go Matilda, experienced in tax matters in both countries

sarahhartopp

I was led to believe that these kinds of sites were for people to ask questions. as lots of people going through the same situation, for all i new there could and still maybe someone on here who also kept some money in the UK once they had moved out here hoping for a better echange rate to happen ( which of course has not yet) and then cut there losses and transfered it over after the 6 month grace period.
so rather than me pay $100 (approx) to speak to an accountant for 5 minutes i thought some kind/helpful person on here would maybe have an answer.
i would like to credit myself with some intelligence and if i was going to commit fraud i dont think i would go onto a public site like this.
so all i wanted to know was which route would be better for me, pay the 40% tax on interest earned since i have been over here ( baring in mind i have paid tax on it once already in the UK) or see if i could say it was a gift from somebody.
most of us including myself are hard working citizens and would like to hold onto as much money as possible that belongs to us rather than give it to somebody else.

i used this site 3 yrs ago while doing my own visa process and got a great deal of help and advice from it, rather than pay an agent !!!

sarahhartopp

ok thank you i will Google him

Pollyana

He posts on here a lot, under his own name so should be easy to find very helpful guy

sarahhartopp

OK cool thanks for that, can i ask how you know that, is it from when you did your tax return or off a website, on some sites it can be quite confusing with the jargon they use.

sarahhartopp

ok cool thank you