YvonnePaul

Hiya,

my husband and I are thinking of heading to Perth on a SIR visa. We really only plan to stay there for 2/3 years and therefore we will rent our house out using an agent. We have a bit of money and plan to use this to fund the beginning of our journey i.e. visas, flights, rental deposits etc. We would also have to keep our savings and bank accounts open in the UK as well as make monthly transfers of the equivalent of £200 back to the UK.

This all seems relatively straight forward to us but I am worried that we are missing something important somewhere and someone will eventually come knocking for X amount of £'s or $'s!!

I realise that the money complications may come if and when we decide to try for a permanent visa i.e. the transfer of our savings (if we have any left!) and the sale of our house from the other side of the planet.

Has anyone else been in a similar position? Does anyone have advice or glaringly obvious points to make??

Thanks in advance for any help.

Sandersons

Grayling

You will need to check the tax implications which vary according to visa.

As an Australian PR you would be taxed on your worldwide income...this includes rental income and income from investments overseas.

G

YvonnePaul

Hi G,

thanks for the reply. If we were going to consider PR after our initial 2 or 3 years we would sell our house and transfer all monies from the UK to AU either before we began the process or once we had been given a PR visa (whichever makes most sense at that time.) Would we face tax implications on "the past" as we would no longer own the house? Off the top of your head do you know the rate at which we would pay tax?

I'll go and check around but if you know the answer then that would be great!

Thanks again.


Sandersons

Grayling

Sorry....these things are a little too complex for me.

However overseas income will be treated as part of your annual income and subject to regular tax....even investments which are tax free in the UK such as endowments.There are offsers for outgoing expenses.

I do not know about your particular visa but, no doubt, there will be someone who does.

Look here:

www.ato.gov.au

G

wannabauzzienurse

Did you realise you can't live in Perth on a SIR visa, it's not regional. here is a link to the areas that apply

hope it helps

http://www.acacia-au.com/regional.php

Sandersons

Oops, yeah we know that. What I didn't mention was that we would be heading to Mandurah/Peel which falls within the designated postcode areas.

Yvonne

Caroline G

Convert your UK mortgage to interest only (you only get tax relief from the interest element of the payment).

Have you got life cover? We got life cover in the UK and we made sure the insurer knew of our plans to come to Australia so that we were still covered.

Nationwide offer a good account with credit card that can be used abroad without hefty charges.

That's what springs to my mind!
Caroline