[datum1m]

Originally Posted by AndrewL

Hello Nigel,

The first thing is the visa that people are entering on. If It's a PR visa, then if they intend to come to Australia for greater than six months (this is the main test but there are others), then Australian CGT will apply, as well as UK CGT. If they are coming for less than six months, then no issue. Hence, a "recon trip" to Australia is fine and I think this is what your migration agent was talking about at the seminar.

If you don't come in on a PR visa, then there's no Australian tax implication at all.

If you are an Australian tax resident, then if you have more than A$250k in a bank account overseas, you have an issue. Australia will seek to tax the foreign exchange rate gain. Now, if you sold a house, for instance, and then left he money in a UK account, this issue could occur.

In terms of just transferring money between the two countries, ordinarily there is not an issue from either end.

There's a whole of rules that come into play with cross-border issues and UK migration agents (even if they are an expert in that field) are being negligent by offering complex tax advice, covering two tax jurisdictions.

Cheers, Andrew

Hi Andrew,

Are you saying the information in my original message is correct if migrating to Australia on a permanent resident’s visa?

If the property to be sold in the UK is your sole residence and you have lived in it for more than a year I didn’t think CGT applied to any of the money you may make from its sale.

When the information was given at the seminar I felt it was unfair that you had to sell your home in the UK and bring your money across within the six month period or have to pay CGT, because with the exchange rates and UK housing market being so bad at the moment it doesn’t give you the opportunity to hold onto your property for say a year to see how the market performs or sell it now and wait longer than six months to see if the exchange rate improves. Although the second option may be ok if you could open a Pound Sterling account with an Australian bank, because you would have then brought your money into Australia within the six month period and also have the opportunity to convert it into dollars when the exchange rates improve.


Regards

Nigel