Confusion/Help needed!
 

Hello All,

Really after some help and guidance! I work for a large company based in the UK who have asked me to go to work in our Sydney office for minimum of 3 months in just over 2 weeks, I have had my visa sorted so far.


As its not really a regular occurrence that people from my company go and work abroad the people who are organising things are not really clued up. I was wondering if someone could help me with the below or point me in the right direction!!

I was told i'd be classed as a local employee but wanted to know the following

1) Is the pay frequency in Australia similar to the UK i.e paid monthly or is it different in Australia?

2)I understand I'd have to pay into a Super when I'm there, is this something that I could just expect to come out of my salary like in the UK?

3)Rate of tax for a non resident?

I know they might seem like questions my company should be answering but I thought I'd ask as a general question

Thanks in advance!

Rich

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

1) fortnightly pay is more common.

2) yes super will come out of your pay, but you should clarify whether the salary you are quoted includes it or not.

3) Tax will be quite punitive for a non resident, can't remember it but it will be 30+% and no personal allowance, so make sure this is factored into your agreed contract rate.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

I am here on a 457 visa and get paid monthly, note that when you leave Australia you can take your superannuation with you as a lump sum but it will be heavily taxed. My company compensated for the lack of personal allowance by increasing the gross pay etc.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

I understand from previous posts that you have been in Australia for 18 months. There is certainly more to being tax resident than a specific time frame, but I do find it surprising that you would be being taxed as a non resident.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

Yes, not entirely sure what the reasoning was behind the financial side of the relocation, maybe I misunderstood but there was definitely a portion of the "uplift" I received for the move that was deemed as 'tax compensation" not just cost of living type increase. Anyway, I guess for the OP these things will be worked out at the company level but as ever it is helpful to have forums like BE to be forewarned what different scenarios might be.

The biggest surprise I had was that I had believed that I would be eligible for Medicare being a Brit, what I had not appreciated at the time I was negotiating the relocation was that because I had not been resident in the UK immediately prior to relocating to Australia that I would not be eligible for Medicare and would have to have private health cover (not just for the levy surcharge purposes) - had I known that I might have negotiated for inclusive private health insurance as part of the package.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

OP should not rely upon the compamy to evaluate his tax position, it is his responsibility not theirs.

Back to you, are you sure you are being taxed as a non resident? It really is something you should evaluate if so. There really is not a whole lot of difference between average tax rates in UK versus Australia for tax residents, but massive difference for the Australian non resident for tax.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

No, not sure - was just going by the fact that I know part of my relocation uplift was to do with tax compensation and as the company's accountants do the tax returns for ex-pats I admit to never having looked into it. Thanks for the advice, as we are coming up to my first full AU tax year for this year's return I probably need to pay more attention!

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

I really don't understand tax matters but, due to 'our' circumstances I became a 'resident for tax purposes' whilst still on my tourist visa. This was within a few months of my arrival in Australia. I had to speak with a specialist at the ATO who, after asking me a bunch of questions, confirmed that this was the case. I have had to do tax returns since 2013 :(

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

I my experience company accountants and HR have no clue as to situations outside their own place of residence.

This is definately a DIY research task. Never rely on the advice given by HR and the bean counters.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

If by bean counters you mean accountants then that is exactly who one should rely upon for tax matters.

What one should do though, is appoint one's own bean counter / accountant not rely upon some company appointed one who is more interested in keeping the company happy than anyone else.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

Have a look at the front page of your tax return - it asks whether you are a resident or a non resident for tax purposes.

Given the length of time you have been in Australia I would expect you to be taxed as a resident.

Best regards.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

If you are/were a resident for tax purposes holding a temporary visa remember that only Australian source income is/was subject to tax in Australia.

Best regards.

Re: Confusion/Help needed!
 

Thank you Alan, checked the tax return for the part year last year that Deloittes did and apparently I am 'resident for tax purposes" as you thought.