Returning to Australia?
Where should I invest?
What rules are there?
If you need help in applying this information
to your own situation, contact us direct on
Australia (07) 5443 5577 or email.

At Professional Investment Services we receive many enquiries from Australian expatriates wishing to invest in Australian assets. Sunshine Coast and South East Queensland are experiencing the fastest population growth in Australia.

This is an ongoing resource for Australian expats who want to make informed investment decisions about Australia and the Sunshine Coast.

Residency - overview

To understand your tax situation, the first thing you need to do is to work out whether you are an Australian resident for tax purposes. Australian residents are generally taxed on their worldwide income whereas non-residents are generally taxed only on their Australian-sourced income.

This page outlines the residency tests for individuals. Different tests apply to companies and trusts - read Residency requirements for companies and trusts .

The residency tests the Tax office use to determine your residency status for tax purposes are not the same as those used by other Australian agencies for other purposes such as immigration.

Generally, you are an Australian resident for tax purposes if you have:

• always lived in Australia
• moved to Australia and live here permanently
• been in Australia continuously for six months or more and for most of the time you have been
• in the one job and
• living in the same place, or
• been in Australia for more than half of the financial year, unless
• your usual home is overseas, and
• you do not intend to live in Australia.

Some common situations

The following table shows your residency status in some common situations, though it may depend on whether the country you are going to or coming from has a tax treaty with Australia.

If you ...	then you ...
go overseas temporarily, and do not set up a permanent home in another country	are generally an Australian resident for tax purposes.
are an overseas student enrolled in a course at an Australian institution that is more than six months long	are generally an Australian resident for tax purposes.
are visiting Australia for more than six months and for most of that time work in the one job and live at the same place	are generally an Australian resident for tax purposes.
are holidaying in Australia, or are visiting for less than six months	are generally not an Australian resident for tax purposes.
migrate to Australia, and intend to reside here permanently	are generally an Australian resident for tax purposes.
leave Australia permanently	are generally not treated as an Australian resident for tax purposes from the date of your departure.

For some example scenarios, read Examples of residents and non-residents .

The government is continually reviewing international tax arrangements.

If you need help in applying this information to your own situation, contact us direct on Australia (07) 5443 5577 or email.