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The advice I was given was that the pre-approval process we have been through is indicative, rather than a contractual commitment, but it's exactly the same in the UK. I've had HSBC UK walk back on a mortgage offer after they agreed in principal because they suddenly decided at the point I had put an offer on the house, that my income was about a third of what was evidenced to them previously. So I went to a broker with more experience of contractors and got a mortgage through the UK's largest lender just fine. We've gone for approval with LaTrobe due to our circumstances, I have no idea if they underwrite their own stuff, but they are at least willing to deal with us at this stage. I'm not honestly seeing Australia as any worse than other countries here, and I have no particular expectations due to our circumstances. Again, I'm just asking if anyone knows if there are any specialist brokers for contractors and/or new arrivals, rather than looking for reasons it might not work, I have enough of those already!

I mentioned the UK history because both ANZ and the lender for our current offer have asked about it, and in the case of the lender they specifically requested business and personal tax records from the UK going back a few years to show I was able to consistently generate income. It may not be relevant to most mainstream lenders, which is why I was asking if anyone knew of any specialist brokers that may be worth approaching. We're both PR. If there are none, no worries.

Hey folks, I just thought I'd ask, does anyone have any advice on a good way to go about getting a mortgage? We arrived in Aus last August, I started work as a contractor in November (for the same UK company I'd been working with for a year before that, and I've been contracting in the UK for ten years), my partner started a perm role in February. We've got about a 33% deposit on the sort of house we want, and have approached a broker. They managed to find two lenders who would even consider us, and we chose to apply for pre-approval on the one offering about a 4% variable rate. When the preapproval came through, they'd bumped it up to 6%, which is pretty outrageous IMHO, and eats up most of the slack in our budget (which I had allowed because I think rates are going to keep rising for a while). So we can't really accept it as if rates continue to rise we could be pretty screwed! My bank (ANZ) said they would be open to discussing mortgages after we have a complete tax return, which means July (not far now) but I was wondering, does anyone have any suggestions of other banks/brokers/organisations which might be worth a try? At this point there's a lot of muttering about price drops so maybe it's in our interest to hang on anyway. Rent isn't cheap, but at about half the mortgage payments (if we took on 6%) it's also pretty sustainable and we can save each month at the moment...

Thanks, I just wanted some reassurance that it wasn’t going to get complicated. I got everything signed and sealed before leaving the UK specifically to avoid any cross-border complications. My accountant seemed unsure.

In general, it is my understanding that you are automatically eligible for an RRV if you have been resident in Australia for at least two years of the last five years. You can apply for one in other circumstances if you can show ties to Australia. I have applied for two RRVs in my life - the first one was as I was leaving here 10 years ago, after being resident for two and a half years. I was instantly granted a 5 year RRV. That expired after five years, then about 2 years ago I asked for an RRV based on ties to Australia. I was not entitled to the visa, but I was allowed to apply (anyone who has been PR before can apply, but it is their discretion on whether to grant) and thankfully I was granted a 1-year RRV after a wait of about 3 months. I'm now waiting until I am automatically eligible for the 5-year one again, but I guess it makes sense that if I can demonstrate I have a life here, I can apply earlier. (To answer directly, no I have not applied for another one since I got here)

Will do if things go beyond "possibly maybe next summer", ta

Oh that's interesting. I'm currently in Australia, I entered last year a couple of months before my RRV expired, but I'm now in the "wait two years until you're entitled to get a new RRV" phase of things and stuck on-shore, which I'm really not complaining about all that much. My partner has been granted PR as my spouse and can come and go as she pleases (and we can thank paulhand for that!). Are you saying that, should I want to have an overseas holiday early next year, it's worth a go applying for another RRV based on the evidence that we've leased a place (may even have bought by then), I've been working, etc etc ?

Hi there, Hopefully this is a quick and easy answer from someone with a bit of knowledge in the area. I was a Ltd company director in the UK for 9 years and I put my company into voluntary liquidation before I left the UK last August. There was a final payout of the remaining funds in the company before we left (literally the day before we flew out). I will be paying UK-relevant taxes on everything and am doing my self-assessment with my UK accountant right now. As it was a liquidation that sum will be handled under capital gains (I think, I'm not an expert!) What I need to know - is there any Australian tax liability here? Or is this not relevant to the ATO as it was all completed before I became resident in Australia? Thanks for your help

Thanks, I hope to be on a reasonably high income, but it's always worth keeping these things in mind. I'll take a look at the super website as well and figure out what's what there.

Thanks for that. After talking to a couple of IT folks I know locally in Perth as well, I've decided to apply for an ABN and register for GST, and use PwC's 'AirTax' app to keep me legal. I'm going to open a business account with Wise which will allow me to receive payments in GBP, to a UK account number and sort code (my customer is currently UK based) and transfer the money to AUD with minimum fuss and fees. Right, thanks for your input folks, hopefully you'll not be getting a thread about how I screwed up and the ATO are after me six months down the line (I have an existing super account with Australian Super, I'll see about chucking 10% in there. I'm definitely at a time in life when I view it as an investment!)

OK interesting ... Know any good ones?

-- later -- OK I've done some more reading and it seems like setting up a company is not anecessary in order to get and ABN or get GST registration, or the various insurances or whatever else. I think this is what I was missing, that it's actually more 'normal' to run as an ABN/GST-registered sole trader here.

Hi Ken, I've run a company in the UK for the best part of ten years, I'm well aware of the need to keep the finances separate! This confuses me though - In the UK there are virtually zero 'self employed' computer contractors. You either run a Ltd company or you work through an umbrella company, meaning you have a separate legal entity (your own or someone else's) that receives the money, pays the right taxes, then pays you. Are there significant numbers of professional contractors who are 'sole traders' here in Australia?

Interesting, thanks. So it sounds like ABN + accountant. It’s difficult to know if I should register for GST, as I don’t know how long the contracting phase will carry on. If it’s more than a few months then it will break the threshold. Also from what I can tell I may have to register for GST but as I would be selling the service overseas, not actually have to charge it? And this would definitely come under PSI so I need to figure out how to pay myself too. I assume, like the UK, getting a separate company bank account is the done thing? Does anyone know of a specific contractor forum for Aus? Or other resource that would be useful? Thanks!

Hi there, Just moved (back) to WA and I'm trying to figure out how best to approach to an employment finance issue, (so I hope I'm posting in the right section!) I worked as a contractor in the UK with my own company, for about 10 years. My last client, who I worked with for a while this year and last year, would like to continue the relationship and may want to employ me when they expand into Australia sometime next year. But until that happens, does anyone know the best way to continue to work for them, bill them in the UK and take the income here in Australia, while complying with all the Australian tax rules? I'm thinking that engaging an umbrella company might be the easiest way - that way I'm sort-of employed here in Australia, the UK company pays the Australian umbrella, tax and fees are deducted at that point, and I get paid quite normally. Is this a workable plan? Does anyone know any good umbrella companies? Or should I be getting an ABN and invoicing directly, then working out the tax myself/getting an accountant? Is it worth the hassle for what might only be six months? I've been a contractor in the UK for a decade, but am quite unsure of the rules here! Cheers!