Australian Tax

Moving to another country, whether temporary or permanent, will come with a range of challenges. From a personal perspective, there is a natural assumption that the tax affairs will change, but how does that impact your business?

With major data sharing developments in recent years by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and other Government departments, the ATO has access to more data than ever before. It receives data from a variety of sources, such as employers, financial institutions, other government departments, e-commerce platforms, online payment and trading gateways and so on.

Over the last decade, many Australians have taken up work in other parts of the world. We receive many queries in relation to ongoing taxation requirements of Australian expats that have been living abroad for a number of years.

Until the COVID outbreak, the international labour movement into Australian skilled professions was ever-increasing. In the 2019/20 financial year, the Migration Program outcome delivered 140,366 places of which 95,843 Skill stream places. The effects were dampened due to COVID in comparison to the prior year, when the Migration Program outcome delivered 160,323 places, of which 109,713 Skill stream places. COVID has caused an international rethink of the workforce where working from home became popularised, and a remote, international workforce thrived in service industries.¹

Whether you’re a business owner, an expat, a migrant, or have never left Australia, from 1 July each year tax season starts again and you will need to lodge an income tax return. As experienced tax professionals, we’ve drafted a list of 5 tips to help you with your taxes.

An Australian/US dual citizen who is an Australian tax resident is employed by a multinational company, and received a US Economic Impact Payment. The US Tax Accountant advised that it doesn’t need to be reported as taxable income in Australia. It is very common that dual citizens receive income from their country of origin whilst living in Australia permanently. Often, we can address the tax treaty between these two (2) countries to determine which country has taxing rights to this income. Frequently it is the country of tax residency.