d&g

Dear All

Quick practical problem. I have a share ISA in the UK -- if I move to Oz what is the tax position there?

I am sure this is answered elsewhere but cannot find it

Cheers

Grayling

Any overseas investments can be a nightmare as they are subject to Australian Tax on the annual growth.
This is an area to take specialist advice.

Have a look here:
http://www.ato.gov.au/large/content....tent/46852.htm

Good luck

G

Al H

We are cashing in our ISAs - the hassles of the tax issues are too great to worry about. If you want to reinvest when you get to Oz then do so, but then at least the tax situation will be clearer. Also if you keep you ISA you will also be exposing yourself to currency risk as the £/$ rate will undoubtedly change over time.

Alastair

markeh

Hi,
I think it also depends on the value you hold, I think under $50K and you don't have to declare, but remember the TAX man khas loose lips and shares all your info with the Oz tax office.

There are profesionals on here who can tell you the answer, i'm sure they will post soon.

Bye
Markeh

mlbonner

I moved here with a mini-isa account. The position I am now in is; able to accrue interest on the account still, and withdraw on it, but not able to add any more money to it while my registered address is non-UK.

JAJ

There is a Foreign Investment Fund exemption of AUD50k, but this refers to the value of all FIFs, including shares.

Also note - it does not exempt you from tax on interest or dividends actually received.

Jeremy

kirsty&al

Also, the 50k allowance is for the whole family (or associates as they are known here) not per person.

Regards
Alistair

JAJ

The bottom line is that once resident in Australia there is no tax benefit on ISAs and possibly some disadvantage. However, it may still be worth retaining these investments if:

- there is any prospect of returning to the UK in future; or
- the pre-tax return is attractive; or
- you want to retain an exposure to the UK or leave part of your assets in sterling

Some people wait a few years before taking a final decision.

Jeremy

Sharpy67

Says who?
Is this fact or urban myth?
Does this meant the UK tax office also shares info with the US IRS, the french tax office, the Chinese?????!

kirsty&al

Probably an urban myth. However the Australians have AUSTRAC.

http://www.austrac.gov.au/

Big Galah

1. The Australian Tax Office don't know about your UK ISA unless you tell them.

2. Despite all the crap you read here they're unlikely to find out.

3. If you were seriously rich and into wealth management and tax erm, aviodance, you probably wouldn't be on this forum anyway - they are the people who need to worry about different countries' tax people talking to each other.

4. This doesn't take away from the fact that making a false tax return is illegal.

5 .Whoever you took your ISA out with would advise you as to the legal situation were you to move overseas.

6. An IFA, if they value their job, would tell you to declare it on an Australian Tax Return.

Your call.

markeh

I remember reading somewhere that the tax poeple share the information. The current concern about terorism means that more interest will also be payed to changing money and moving it about.

Bye
Mark

JAJ

Australia has double taxation agreements with countries like the UK, US etc and sharing of information often occurs in these contexts.

For example, if you claim a repayment (as a non resident) of interest deducted on a bank account in the UK, that fact *could* find its way to the ATO.

Another way the ATO could find out about overseas investments would be by looking at your Australian bank accounts to see if any traces were to be found there.

Jeremy

Kiwipaul

I believe unless the tax office is suspicious of you, or the police believe you are breaking the law they have no way of obtaining info from what is effectively foreign gov unless they obtain a court order. Their are privacy laws here that stop one gov dept obtaining info from another gov dept unless a law has been broken and they have evidence of this. So how much harder is it to get that info from half way around the world.

Also the Oz gov don't have your NI no (which is what the UK tax office use to track you) and even if they had your UK address I don't think they can track your tax from that. I've lost my NI no and I cannot figure a way to find out what is was as I cannot remember the tax office that handled my tax in the UK before I left.

One example is Rene Rifkin (Oz resident) who salted away $50 million in a Swiss bank account and didn't declare it 10 years ago. This later came up in a Swiss court (about 2 years ago) that Rene was the owner of this money but nothing seems to have happened about it. If The Oz taxman cannot be bothered to chase up $50 M I reckon your stash is quite safe.

Also the mind boggles at the no of international money transfers into and out of Oz per day so unless you raise suspicion I cannot see you having a problem.

Ozbound7

But I gather that Austrac get details of each transfer of greater than $10000 in or out of Australia.