kips

Oh I forgot to mention going to live football games and you can't beat the fantastic atmosphere of an FA Cup Final at Wembley.

ROMFT_WO2RN

is it the house or the location you can't afford? The tax free thing is interesting, i take it Oz doesn't do the: if you're out of the country for more than 6 months of each tax year you don't pay tax?

Don't think I'll be living off just my immediate pension

Rambi

Check this out
http://comparativetaxation.treasury....pter_10-01.asp

ROMFT_WO2RN

cheers Rambi

so on a quick scan, I could live in Oz yetwork offshore and not pay tax as long as I'm offshore for 6 months and a day? Pretty much the same as UK.

mmm now where's that list of NATO jobs

min of a year off so plenty of time to research

Rambi

You have to be a little careful that you don't fall foul of some other rules (on things like intention blah-de-blah) but that's generally the case.

Be careful with the UK as they are not as generous as you think. Read their rules further down the page.

ROMFT_WO2RN

UK not too bothered about and have plenty of experience listening to the canteen man discussing the rules in the mess annoying when they're tax free on the same ship as you but you're not

Rambi

I can see that being complicated as well as annoying.

ROMFT_WO2RN

Allowed for Civvys, including RFA, but not for military Even more annoying when septics and ozzies turn up in theatre and are tax free . The difference being though, we're better paid on normal ops, despite the usual wailing from retired officers

As for intentions mentioned earlier, mine is to live and work in Oz but never say never to a good gig offshore on FIFO

Beedubya

I couldn't agree more Chris, I really don't know where some of these people have lived or more likely what paper they were reading........

Well I am off to the local shop, I will try to avoid knives, hoodies, chavs, the riot squad and murders......

BTW this is the view from my back window, watch out for the gangs hiding in the bushes.

verystormy

The offshore tax loop hole allowing offshore staff to be tax free was closed last year. Now all must pay. Hence we dont see anywhere near as many Ozzies in my game working outside Australia.

It is still though ok to do it in the UK. Though the rules are harder than they used to be, most of the guys manage to be tax free from the UK.

Its the house and location we cant afford. Dont want a fixer upper and want to be close to the beach - that was a big part in our reasoning for comming to Oz.

toodlepip

I think you do what's right for you and your family. We're heading back after almost 5 years, like someone else said we didn't come here because we thought England was a shithole, we came to experience life in a different country and for adventure.

I'm completely bemused by responses from people when I tell them we're heading back, it's almost always 'Don't you like it here?' or 'Do you hate Australia that much'. Why does it have to be 'England Bad, Australia Good' or vice versa? Really simplistic thinking yet it seems to be how so many people see it (both English & Aussie!). My Aussie mum is taking me wanting to come home to UK as a personal rejection of her country when it's not at all. We have no regrets about coming, but I know we'll regret staying any longer - that's a personal decision about what's right for me and my family and there will always be people who think we've done the right thing, and people who think we're nuts - really I don't care what other people think! (though wouldn't mind some pithy responses as I'm getting bored with continually having the same conversation in response to 'don't you like it here anymore' - said plaintively )

These threads always degenerate into a 'which country is better' competition. It's perfectly possible to like both! The oft quoted phrase 'same shit, different bucket' springs to mind - some of us just like changing the bucket more often than others -because we're all different!

Good luck with what you decide to do, it sounds like you all want to go home - so try it, from my experience once the thought of 'I could do it' enters your head, it doesn't go away! It's a good time to go in terms of the exchange rate etc, and presumably you have citizenship - you can always come back to Australia again .

ROMFT_WO2RN

Seems fair enough then. If you're mobile enough then go for it

northernbird

Not everyone trashes the UK as a whole, maybe just their little part of it. My life in the UK was crap. We couldn't move to anywhere else that was nicer due to my husband having to be close to London or live away from us during the week. Some peoples lives improve immeasurably by emigrating to the otherside of the planet. Why is trashing the UK any different to the likes of you who would move back trashing Australia??

Deancm_MKII

Need to become non-resident for tax.

Weebie

The UK is not a bad place and has some superior opportunities that Australia will never have such as culture, international feel, europe on your doorstep, career opporunities etc