Pommie Granite

Hi all ,

Apologies for this following mind numbingly intense question on a Monday morning , but any advice would be appreciated.

Just wondering whether any of you who migrated to Oz, transfered funds prior to becoming residents upon arrival in Oz ? (eg 1 month before)

The reason I ask is that I would ideally like to transfer now and take advantage of the better interest rate available from my newly opened ANZ account.

Does anyone know what the ATO's take on doing this is, and in particular how this is treated on one's year end tax return?


Thanks

PG

JAJ

What makes you think they would even care in a situation like this?

Pommie Granite

i don't know.

but I would have thought that earning interest as a non resident would be treated differently...or is it something that I don't even mention at year end tax return?

ianandhelena

you can put your money into any account you wish-i think all the ATO care about is that you pay the appropriate amount of tax on any interest you earn from the date you become an Aus tax resident.
you do not pay tax on any money that you own, only on what you earn once tax resident.

Saint Andy

Hi,
You are going to need a tax file number TFN otherwise you will be taxed on the interest earned, by the bank.
You are going to need an Aussie address before they'll give you a TFN.
Good luck,
Andy

Poppy

Hi

Why don't you secure the rate now, but you don't have to send it over, just need a deposit to secure it. We are going to use Halo www.halofinancial.com the guy, Alastair has been very helpful and from what I can see, by looking at various websites over the last few weeks, they have the best rates. Then when you are ready to go, you pay them the oustanding balance (the amount you wanted transferring, minus the deposit you paid) and they transfer your money at the secured rate even if it has dropped considerably. The deposit is from 5 to 10%.

All the best

JAJ

If you are non-resident the bank will deduct 10% from the interest. You can reclaim this on your UK tax return. Interest income earned by a non-resident does not need to be reported on an Australian tax return.

(this should all be explained on the ATO website)

Pommie Granite

Thanks...thats what we've done....I just wanted to transfer now to take advantage of higher interest rates in Oz.

Thanks Jaj for answergin my question in that the non-residents are charged 10% on the interest. I think even with this 10% charge, I would still be better off!!!

JAJ

You're still liable for UK income tax, most likely.