tax

[michael.rankin12@bt]

do british expats in queensland state pay higher rate of tax than aussies?

[Quoll]

Income tax is a national tax so it doesnt matter where you live in Australia. If you are a (short term) temporary resident then you pay more tax than a permanent resident see here Individual income tax rates It is not your expat-ness which decides how much you pay, rather the visa you arrive on and the length of time you are in the country for so, yes, it is quite possible that as an expat you may be paying a higher rate of tax than an Australian citizen or even another expat who happens to be here on a permanent visa. Hope that helps.

[beermeister]

From memory, tax for Australian non-residents is a flat 29% which, unless you're a very high income earner, is higher than most residents (I haven't looked at resident's tax rate for a while so they might have changed).

The rules on whether you're an Australian resident or not is so open to interpretation, not like the clear-cut UK rules on residency. Have a look on the ATO website and it gives a few examples. It claims that being resident or non-resident is a matter of fact, but it depends on things like family connections and long term intent, which I think is so subjective and hard to prove. My personal advice is try and work out what scenario means paying the least tax and see if your personal circumstances align with that - at the end of the day, tax in Australia is based on self-assessment which you can get caught out IF audited (this does happen - I've been personally audited) and penalised if it's blatantly wrong, but if you have a compelling story you can appeal against their decisions.