charlie5

Hi

You certainly need to tell the UK tax office if you are becoming an Australian resident. Otherwise you will pay double tax - not a good idea.

Best of luck

Charlie

K and M

Mazie, as Charlie said you need to inform HMRC otherwise it can be expensive, something I mentioned in a previous post:

Before leaving make sure you fill in a HMRC P85 tax form, this will ensure that future overseas revenue is exempt UK tax. You may even be entitled to a tax rebate. If you are working up to your departure you will need to submit parts 2&3 of you P45 when you fill in the P85 form see: www.hmrc.gov.uk/

Don’t forget your state pension, before leaving make sure that you qualify for a full one by checking that you have 30 qualifying years. You can check this by : www.hmrc.gov.uk/pdfs/ca3638.pdf

Good luck with the journey!!

DaveandLinda

Hi Mazie

We are also going through the what ifs etc and we are not even as far down the road as you. We may have to rent our house out as well.

On another note - is anyone leaving any of their children behind? Our son was intending to move to Australia with his partner and we were hoping that they would be able to go about the same time as us. It was part of our justification for spending such a huge amount of money on a visa, that there was no point in being in the UK if both our children were in Oz.

We are devastated as he has just announced that they are splitting up - a mutual decision - and that she will be moving to Australia on her own. We are now having the wobbles about whether we are doing the right thing. He has not other close family in the vicinity.

sandch

Hello Dave and Linda

We have 2 daughters and one will be here in England. It is a mistake to try to follow your kids around we're told, and in our case it's sort of impossible. But the idea is that if we can get dual citizenship before we get to advanced years, at least the choice will be available. It may be a more important option one day if only one parent remains - not a nice thought, but an unavoidable one.

We've looked at it as a sort of investment / insurance policy for the future, and can't really know how it will evolve. In our case we arranged our finances early on to include the visas. We were lucky with the exchange rate and if we were going through it now we'd have to think carefully about whether to defer it.

Your son might consider going over on a remaining relative visa if he still likes the idea of Oz. It's become more difficult recently and would require you to already be permanent residents.

Good luck with a difficult decision.

Best wishes

Steve

Barbaran

Hi all with the collywobbles,

We all get them especially if you think about it too deeply. We are going on the premise of "Jump and the net will appear" We had some great news which we have been sworn not to share yet by the family and in the end its where you feel you will be happiest I suppose. Good luck with the tough decisions but think of yourselves too.

yomvard

Like you say Steve, it is an insurance policy. Even if both children are in Aus,it doesn't mean it will suit us but at least with dual passports there are choices which isnt bad. We all wake up at 4 in the morning and think what are we doing, and how will we manage but got to try it.If not there is always wondering what if.......
regards and have a good trip. See you in Melbourne next year!!!
Sandy

DaveandLinda

Thanks everyone for your replies. Thank goodness for this thread, it helps keep a sense of perspective and I know all about waking up at 4 am and thinking about pros and cons!

SUKE

Hi everyone,

Haven't posted for a while, but we are still following the thread, it seems to be answering all our queries as we think of them.
We will also be looking for jobs when we get to Brisbane, I keep worrying about the affordability of it all, but my hubby is confident that we will survive.
Congratulations to everyone who has moved that step closer to their new life in Oz.

Sue & Kev

Les Avalook

We too will leave a son in the UK if we move to Oz, with us it was always likely as our youngest son has never wanted to move out to Oz (yet).

Also we have lately taken the view like Steve that we will pay for the visa but may not fully commit to burning every tie with the UK, we may leave the house for the time being and see how we get on in Oz for the first 12 months (a senior gap year) and then see where that takes us.

The break up of any of our children's relationships is always a back of the mind nightmare, so sorry it has happen for you just at this time.

Les Avalook

I must be a heavy sleeper as I usually get to 4.30pm.

But then I always find Wanda wide awake already.

But we never find any answers to 'what are we doing'?

Les Avalook

Sorry, Sirmatt and I have got first dibs at any work in Brisbane.

fiz

And I too will have a daughter still in the UK but with two children and 4 grandsons in Oz, my rationale is that at least I can pay for her to visit Oz more easily than paying for the two Oz families to visit the UK.....however I too will be leaving a very small flat here just in case...(and till the property market recovers...)

Fiz

coloneldube

We are too are leaving one of our four daughters behind and we are finding that thought very difficult. But as someone else already said you have to do what you think is best. All our grandchildren are in Oz and it brought it home to me last month when our middle daughter's baby was still born just how hard it is to be so far away. The decision is made, the money is spent, the house is sold and we just have to get on that plane on the 28th November.

On the tax front, I spoke to the tax office last week and they were very helpful. They are sending the form I need to have UK income paid gross. There is a different form for Australia I'm told, I'm thinking it could be connected with freezing the state pension I suspect.

Our GP printed off our medical records - free of charge! He's been very helpful. So not much more to do now, just stop shopping I think.

K and M

'Decent' state pension could be £140 a week

The state pension could be increased to about £140 a week under Government plans to ensure everybody has a "decent" income in retirement.

So the big question is will all those that have moved to Australia but still entitled to a UK state pension receive the £140 a week.???

I would suspect that only those that have moved across after 2015 when this increase is supposed to commence will receive it.

fiz

I wondered that too but think it's highly unlikely! I have however discovered that if you can delay taking your pension even for just a few months it increases in value quite quickly-i.e. by 10 per cent if you delay for a year. I am however unclear as to whether you can delay claiming your state pension if you are living in Oz-does anyone know?