Oldies help!!!!

Old Oct 10th 2003, 7:05 pm
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Default Oldies help!!!!

Hello!

Could some of the " Oldies " please respond and give a kind of definitive list of " Things to do before we leave " please...

I.E - What to do about your tax details over here and how soon must you register with the aussie tax people,
Pensions - do you need to pay an expert to deal with it all - transferring it all etc,
Child Benefit - when to notify them before you leave and how soon to apply in Aus for it,
NHS - medical records and childrens red health books etc,
Banks - when do you close your accounts - or do you close them at all?
- when can you open an Aus account - I read that you need only to have put your main app in?...

Medicare - how to apply/when to apply - plus private health plans etc.

PLUS anything I am blissfully unaware of at the mo!

Would appreciate any info - Thanks!!!
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Old Oct 10th 2003, 8:00 pm
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Carrieanne did a great thread on this a while back - I couldn't find it when I searched. I will pm her and see if she can post it again.
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Old Oct 10th 2003, 9:06 pm
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Default Re: Oldies help!!!!

Originally posted by steandleigh
Hello!

Could some of the " Oldies " please respond and give a kind of definitive list of " Things to do before we leave " please...

I.E - What to do about your tax details over here and how soon must you register with the aussie tax people,
Pensions - do you need to pay an expert to deal with it all - transferring it all etc,
Child Benefit - when to notify them before you leave and how soon to apply in Aus for it,
NHS - medical records and childrens red health books etc,
Banks - when do you close your accounts - or do you close them at all?
- when can you open an Aus account - I read that you need only to have put your main app in?...

Medicare - how to apply/when to apply - plus private health plans etc.

PLUS anything I am blissfully unaware of at the mo!

Would appreciate any info - Thanks!!!
For tax there is a leave the country form. I got back all the tax I had paid for the year but each situation is different. When you get here go to your nearest Australian Tax Office (ATO www.ato.gov.au) office, and apply for a Tax File Number (TFN). You will be sent it in the post. When you apply for a job you provide the number.

For pensions take professional advice as it is complicated and a minefield. Alan Collett from go Matilda is highly rated on the forum. He knows both the UK and Australian tax system and how they inter-relate.

I left my bank accounts and UK credit cards at my parents address and I operate them online. Very useful for buying presents and paying people.

You apply for a medicare card when you get here at a medicare office. Show them your visa and they will eventually get round to posting you a card. Took a month for me.

You can open commonwealth bank accounts in the UK and this has been covered before. The consensus for banks appeared to be HSBC. You need to bring in enough ID including some with an address.

I found the Australian drivers license the most valuable piece of ID.

Child benefits and and medical records I will have to leave to someone else.
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Old Oct 10th 2003, 11:22 pm
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Keep your UK bank account going - with internet banking it can be very useful, similarly UK credit cards; I'm running mine from a trustworthy friends address when I leave - when the bills come in, he will scan them on and email them to me.
The tax form is http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/cnr/p85_p85s.htm
fill it in when you have your P45. You can get a TFN in Oz as soon as you validate your visa - do it on line at the website BondiPom mentions.
Get a copy of your medical records and take them with you - Data Protection Act says you are entitled to them - they won't be forwarded, you have to take them if you want the info to reach the doctors in Oz.

Hope that helps,

Pollyana
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Old Oct 10th 2003, 11:33 pm
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Default Re: Oldies help!!!!

Originally posted by steandleigh
Hello!



Medicare - how to apply/when to apply - plus private health plans etc.
When you arrive in Oz, go to your nearest medicare centre about aweek after arriving so they have all your details on the computer, apply in person for medicare card.

Child benefit go to the nearest centrelink office, you will get a form to fill out, if you are renting you will also get rent assistance so remember to tell them that, they will give you another form for your landlord to sign, you won't get any money though until they have your tax file number, we waited a fare few weeks to be told this, we were advised by friends to ring the tax office to get our tax file numbers, which we did and took them ourselves back to centrelink, they hadn't got them in all those weeks of appling, it helped though got the benefits pretty quickly after that. back pay too.

hope this helps
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Old Oct 11th 2003, 12:39 am
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Just a couple of comments -

Family Allowance etc is all means tested, if you earn over a certain amount (I think its $80k for one child & $100K for 2 or more) you wont be eligible. Make sure you check, dont just assume you will get a payment, we get nothing.

Agree completely with keeping a UK bank account & credit card, only comment I have to make is that if keep a credit card, be warned that when you come to borrow money for a mortgage, it will affect the amount of money you can borrow. Banks here take your credit limit & basically take it off the amount of money you can effectivly borrow plus some, in some weird & wonderful equation. Fine if you only have a GBP1000 limit or something, not good if you have a GBP35K limit like Dagboy did LOL. Also, why dont you guys just change your address with the bank rather than going through the drama of getting the statements scanned etc?
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Old Oct 11th 2003, 7:47 am
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Hi Mrs Dagboy,
I'm not sure about the truth in it, but a couple of people have said that some UK credit cards can get a bit funny if you no longer have a UK address. So I shall probaly end up telling the main bank that I'm with, but not everyone else!
Useful point about the credit cards limits - didn't know about that one.
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Old Oct 11th 2003, 8:22 am
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Originally posted by Pollyana
Hi Mrs Dagboy,
I'm not sure about the truth in it, but a couple of people have said that some UK credit cards can get a bit funny if you no longer have a UK address. So I shall probaly end up telling the main bank that I'm with, but not everyone else!
Useful point about the credit cards limits - didn't know about that one.
Polly, OK, I can only go on our experience with First Direct, but they didnt have a problem, we still have an account with them (cheque/savings I think) & our statements come here. We still had credit cards in the UK until we cancelled them 11 months ago (Dagboys been here 2.5 years). I guess it probably depends on which bank it is.
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Old Oct 11th 2003, 8:36 am
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Agree with Mrs Dagboy's comments: we had to cancel our UK credit cards in order for our mortgage to be agreed - it was one of the conditions. We gave Lloyds our new address here in Oz and we receive our statements no problem.

Completing all the forms (i.e. tax, medicare, child benefit etc...) is actually all very straight forward. Some can be done on line, the rest in person - just allow time to queue! Child Benefit with Centrelink once set up can be modified over the phone as your situation changes (i.e getting a job). I have just arranged the child care payment over the phone as I start work on Monday and the children will go to after school care.

UK tax rebate - make sure you take the forms with you when leave UK (if working until last minute as hubby did) then when you have P45 you can send it all off to the Inland Revenue - the money will be paid directly into your bank account.

It's not that complicated really.

Dawn
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Old Oct 11th 2003, 8:42 am
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Hi

Carrianne`s thread was `All the info you need Part 1, 2 and 3.

I am sure a search will find them.

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Old Oct 11th 2003, 9:22 am
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Originally posted by MrsDagboy
Polly, OK, I can only go on our experience with First Direct, but they didnt have a problem, we still have an account with them (cheque/savings I think) & our statements come here. We still had credit cards in the UK until we cancelled them 11 months ago (Dagboys been here 2.5 years). I guess it probably depends on which bank it is.
We have First direct to and have let us keep an account open with them. Its great cos i can do everything on line and they also give you a special phone number so that you jump the queue when phoning from abroad!! oh and they are open 24/7
Cheers for all the other info regarding medicare etc. About the rent allowance, don't think you can do that if you are on a 139, does anyone know???? Not that i have ever claimed rent allowence evr before, but we might be really skint
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Old Oct 11th 2003, 9:35 am
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Hi Mrs Dagboy,
I'm not sure about the truth in it, but a couple of people have said that some UK credit cards can get a bit funny if you no longer have a UK address. So I shall probaly end up telling the main bank that I'm with, but not everyone else!
Useful point about the credit cards limits - didn't know about that one.
This is right, also some UK savings company's only let you have an account if you have a UK residential address, EGG is one of them, also some Banks will not allow you to have statements sent abroad if they think its a permie move or if no UK residential address think a lot is to do with who you speak to on the day. !

Would agree with Mrs Dagboy about keeping a UK account, it makes life a lot easier especially if you get tax returns or any rebates etc. etc. paid to you after leaving UK as it will be in £s.


The posts that tina refered to above from Carianne are

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hreadid=171254

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hreadid=171255

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...hreadid=171256

Last edited by karawara88; Oct 11th 2003 at 9:47 am.
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Old Oct 11th 2003, 4:33 pm
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Thanks for all the info guys - appreciate it!
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