Sooty and Sweep

Good Morning, or Evening.

Just wondering, if say for 2 years you are a permanent resident in Australia for tax purposes. You still have savings in the UK, in a UK based institution, you are paying tax at source in the UK at 20%.

To live, you are using your interest off your savings, and using some of the capital, so your savings balance is diminishing over the two years.

You have no earnings in Australia, no savings interest in Australia, no nothing which is Australian based and taxable. You transfer across each month enought to live on, then you spend it the following month to live.

So really. you are a tax resident, but you are on a sebatical?


Do you still have to fill out a tax return come July each year?


I ask, because when i calculated the interest earned in the UK, the tax paid to the HMRC in the UK, it is more tax than i would have paid to the ATO, at any exchange rate. You cannot claim tax back in Australia from the ATO, if you have paid none to the ATO.


You can claim it back from the HMRC, using up your personal allowance, but then you will only owe it to the ATO?


Any help. please post any feedback. Thankyou Sooty

Grayling

The ATO tax you on your WORLDWIDE income so that would include any interest from investments in the UK.

You would have to declare it and them claim any offsets allowable.

There are also different rules for temporary visa holders

G

Sooty and Sweep

G,

So you would have to file a tax return in Australia, even with no income coming from Australia, basically you file, declare overseas interest income from the UK, declare tax paid to the HMRC, it will show the ATO owe you some money back, but you have paid nothing to the ATO, so then you you file a R40 form to the HMRC, they pay you back your personal allowance, savings interest repayment form, you now owe the ATO some money, so you must file another tax return here in Australia, crazy?


Thanks for replying anyway G, Sooty!

Grayling

Not quite

Most of my income is in sterling.

I do not pay any tax in the UK under the double taxation agreement between the two countries and my income is taxed, as usual, in Australia.

Because I am resident in Australia

G

Sooty and Sweep

G,

My income will be in sterling, in a Fixed rate bond, taxed at source in sterling by the HMRC at 20%, the institution will not pay interest Gross, so my predicament is slightly different.

Sooty.

Sooty and Sweep

Hello,

I have just spent twelve weeks in Australia, extended holiday, but i am a PR on a 136 visa so, for twelve weeks i was a permanent resident for tax purposes i suppose? I did not work, and have no money in Australia, i was on a reccie type holiday, but in reality lived there for twelve weeks. I am back in the UK now, and have savings in the UK, which pay me an income in Sterling, this was paid while i was in Australia for the twelve week period. In the twelve weeks i probably recieved in STERLING equal to over $3000.00 dollars gross in interest payments for twelve weeks.


Do i need to submit a tax return in Australia, or would you submit a tax return in Australia, i know for sure i owe the ATO no money's due to the double taxation treaty between the UK and Australia, as i was taxed at source in the UK at 20% on savings interest.

Thanks for any help.

Bermudashorts

Sooty and Sweep - before anything else you need to make a distinction between your tax status and your visa status. They are not the same thing.

Having a PR visa does not make you tax resident.

Your tax residency status depends upon WHERE YOU LIVE. It is impossible to answer your questions without establishing first of all where you are resident for for tax purposes.

Keith Moon

Oula,


I have the same sort of problem as smutty; i spent 6 months on holiday in Australia, did not work, got no dollar in Oz!!!!!!!!!! Just CHILLAXED!


I am a PR Visa holder in Australia. But only stayed six months for personal reasons, i live in the UK before i went, and now i am back i live in the UK, i don't live in Oz, but i did for six months.


Got some savings in GB, but not alot, i got some interest on my savings in the UK, again not alot, but........................ do i do a Oz TAX return or not for 09 to 10?

Complicated this stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Keith

Scotty1

I think the key is you saying you were here on an extended holiday. If you did not move over, did not apply for a Tax file number and did not plan on staying, you may have PR but you are not living here.
I had PR for a while before moving over, visited a number of times etc but never considered myself resident. Need to look at one now however.
Tax residence is a complex issue (ask paul hogan!) but key thing is where was your home? As bermuda shorts says, having PR does not mean tax residency.

Scotty1

Keith

you may find this helpful

http://calculators.ato.gov.au/script...ge10.XR4&go=ok

It will take you through whether you need to lodge or not

scotty

Pollyana

If you didn't work and didn't earn anything, and presumably didn't recieve any benefits, then to be honest it just sounds like an extra long holiday to validate your visa.........in which case, as a tourist, you aren't liable to do a tax return

ExSmoggie

This is the link to the ATO web page that gives information on how to determine if you are a resident for tax purposes.

http://www.ato.gov.au/individuals/co...tent/33860.htm

If you determine you are a resident for tax purposes, you need to lodge an Australian tax return and declare all world wide income.

If you determine that you are not a resident for tax purposes, you only need to lodge a return if you have income derived in Australia.

From the circumstances descriped by OP, it sounds like you are not a resident for tax purposes and have not derived any Australian income therfore do not need to lodge an Australian return.
Hope this helps.

Keith Moon

Cheers Pollyana,

Its a wierd one, i did move to live, i did apply for a TFN number but did not work, claimed nothing, not earn any interest, so in the end i was on holiday for just under six months. I was acutually in Australia for a period of five months and twenty eight days in total.

This bit gets me;

Am I an Australian resident for tax purposes?

Generally, we consider you to be an Australian resident for tax purposes if you:

Have always lived in Australia or you have come to Australia to live
have been in Australia for more than half of the income year (unless your usual home is overseas and you do not intend to live in Australia – for example, you are a working holiday maker),

My home was before and is now overseas in the UK.

If i do not fill one out will they come looking for me as i have a TFN number?

Its just i am returning for good before my visa runs out, just don't want any problems when i do eventually have to do a tax reurn>?


Cheers Keith

Rossi

I would think a simple email to the ATO outlining the situation will give you the "true" answers and is a lot cheaper than using an accountant and the same goes for the UK tax office - I have always found them very helpful even to the extent of reducing my tax bill.......... as they say, "we're not here to rip you off -- just get what is owed to us"

Pollyana

They won't come looking for you, you haven't earned anything here, you don't owe them anything and you don't live here - yet.

To reassure you - someone who comes on a WHV will get a TFN, they then go back home and don't file tax returns while they aren't tax resident here. If they later migrate to Aus and come back, they just start using the same TFN again and state the new date that they have become tax resident again.