hmsmark
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Everything posted by hmsmark
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Hello, I worked a portion of the year in Australia and am entitled to a tax refund. I went through expresstaxback.com.au which claims tax back in 7 days. I opted to have a cheque mailed. I have not received the cheque and it has been over a month. I've been communicating with them, and they initially said just to give it a few more days. Now, they don't respond to my emails. I was just wondering if anyone has worked with these people and actually received their money? It appears they have been around for a few years... Thanks for any help!
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Who was the on-line accountant? I worked in Oz last financial year and am entitled to a refund. I used expresstaxback.com.au which also operates under xtax.com.au. It has been more than a month and I have not received a refund. It looked legit before I signed up with a registered tax agent affiliated. Now I can't get emails answered. I'm just checking around before contacting the AFP and ATO.
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Looking to go bankrupt in the UK, living in Australia - any advice?
hmsmark replied to thekennys's topic in Money & Finance
It will have no issue in Australia. There won't be a UK credit file pulled. Completely separate. You should probably look at doing this now, since you're likely to be in Oz for awhile and the sooner you get it going, the sooner it goes away in the UK. -
No, you are essentially talking about skipping out on a debt. Similar to if you skipped out on a mobile phone contract. This is not a criminal offence. You won't be prosecuted or extradited to stand trial. While they can pursue you in the UK, it is very costly to do so as that it requires going to court in two nations. Likely this is not going to happen since we are probably talking about a sum under 10 grand. Also, you don't have to tell them where you're going to be living in the UK. If they can't find you, they can't pursue you even if they wanted to. Of course, you have already accepted the fact that your bond will be taken, so really no reason to leave a forwarding address. This will mean not telling the neighbors or any other creditors, as well...
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Oz has one of the highest base interest rates in the western world. The US is at 0.25. Europe has been low for awhile. RBA has room to stave off recession, or at least reduce it's impact. The sky is not falling, IMHO.
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If your medicals were sent to Global Health in Sydney via Courier or Post, then the Panel Doctor should almost certainly have a tracking number that you could check to verify that the medicals physically got there. Beyond that, having been in the same boat as you, I have found that they take an average of 10-14 working days to finalize medicals that do not require a referral. If your doctor was able to upload them electronically, they should only take a few days to be in the system.
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After a year IELTS testing, document collection, waiting on skills assessment, waiting for various state migration plans to come out, worrying about possible changes to the law, and then finally applying as a Type 175 and then waiting almost another year for a CO, then for medicals, PCCs, and so on to get to DIAC... We got it! Visa Grant 7 May with entry by February 2013! We're looking at moving in August. Now the easy part begins: like making a final decision between Melbourne and the Gold Coast; getting our passport evidenced; arranging short term accomodation; arranging flights; setting up and Australian bank account, sending money over to Oz; selling/settling assets and business in the US; getting my US house rented out (can't sell it in this market except at a huge loss); finding a job in Oz; and a hundred other things. Still, a great day!!!! Thanks to everyone on this thread for keeping me sane during the long months of waiting. I hope everyone who still needs a grant/CO gets them soon.
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Question for the group: If anyone here has had to have their medicals sent in the post, how long did it take for your medicals to show up on your online status page? I was given a tracking number and they were delivered to global health last Thursday. I realize they could be referred and so on, but how long did you wait before you saw some acknowledgement?
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Yes. My online status says exactly that. Are any of the rest of your documents listed as "met?" None of mine are, despite DIAC having all of the information...
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Yes, my status says exactly that.
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Just to update everyone, we took our medicals yesterday. Doctor seemed to believe everything was fine. We're just waiting for blood tests and x-ray information to come back. They said everything would be with Global Health by Thursday of next week (they have to ship the documents over there, they don't do ehealth). So, that's the last of my requirements, barring another request from my CO...
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FYI: I got contacted by my CO and he has not requested a state police check. My FBI check is already uploaded, so you may be OK. Then again, it may be that my CO didn't look too closely at the rule book and may request it later..., or maybe not. My state checks are on the way anyway.
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Departure tax may have not been the proper phrasing. You need to have an updated Marco di Bollo. If you do not have an updated Marco di Bollo, as an Italian citizen, you would not be allowed to board a plane leaving Italy for a non-EU nation. This is essentially a departure tax levied by Italy on its citizens. It is not an issue in Australia, the UK, or any nation other than Italy. Sorry for the confusion.
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Yes, there is a "Marco di Bollo," which is a stamp that must be purchased (usually in a tobacco shop). You must renew every year. There is no enforcement outside of Italy. So, yes, if an Italian leaves Italy for another EU nation and then gets on plane and leaves the EU, he/she will be fine. They can even enter Italy with an expired stamp. However, they will not be permitted to board a plane in Italy without an updated stamp. I can't find any official sites in English, but this forum explains it pretty well: http://italiancitizenship.freeforums.org/marco-di-bollo-t1586.html
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No. Everything still says required. There is a new line which says "email sent to you," but everything else still states "required." However, I have read that many COs don't change this at all. I imagine this is the case with my CO because some of the items such as the copy of passport and skills assessment are fairly straight forward. They are uploaded already and should be "met." From what I understand, they don't usually request medicals until they are satisfied with your other documents, so hopefully we will be granted a visa after the medicals get sent in.
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Got an email today from a CO... Had ABPF on 29 March. Requesting medicals (pcc already uploaded). Looks like things are moving. Fingers crossed for a quick grant and (Southern Hemisphere) Winter in Oz!
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So here's a question I will ask my CO when they contact me (I just have ABPF). When I was first applying, I did not read DIAC's warning about a memory limit on uploading documents. I'm a teacher, not an IT guy. So I don't really see much difference between 90 kilobites and 9000 kilobites So, when I scanned the docs, I left the resolution on photo quality and basically created really big files. They are beautiful, high-res scans, but apparently very big. Especially my color, anti-forgery paper, uni transcripts... REALLY big files. As I was uploading, DIAC told me that i had gone over the memory limits. I got most of the required files in, but some I had to email. DIAC doesn't let you go back and erase the files you have uploaded (otherwise I would have erased the big files and scanned them with lower resolution to be much smaller). I sent the un-uploaded files to the required email address and never heard anything. They never showed up on the document list, so I sent them again a month later. I got a confirmation email that they had been received, but they still never appeard in the doc list. So..., hopefully they have them, right? I won't have my application rejected because they never got the required work expereince docs, will I? If they don't have them, they will ask for them and not reject me out of hand, right? Hopefully....
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Beupdate is notoriously bad when it comes to updates. People get exceited when they apply, so they post there, and then forget about it when they get a CO almost a year later. If you go to Feburary 2011, for instance, you will notice there are several people who have not reported COs, but they are almost certainly Cat 4s going by their jobs. There is even one that looks to be a Cat 3 had no CO, and he/she probably got allocated a month or two after applying. Hopefully we are well into July...
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Ummm, I'm not an expert in Italian law, but almost every nation requires its citizens to enter its territory using its passport regardless of any other passport held. Italy, I believe, requires its citizens to pay a tax when leaving the EU. An Italian citizen who does not get their departure tax stamp in their passport and avoids detection by using another passport is almost certainly breaking the law on the tax-side. Exactly what the consequences of that violation are, I don't know... I'm a dual US/UK citizen. If I enter the US using my UK passport, and I'm detected, I could be charged with a felony, pay a major fine, and could face jail time (unlikely, but it is possible). So..., it would be best for the OP to check closely into Italian law on this before simply "forgetting" she is an Italian citizen and using her Aussie passport.
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Going by the update as it reads at this point in time (a new update could be posted any time now) everyone who applied before 20 June 2011 has been contacted. So, if you applied 19 June or earlier, you should have been contacted. 20 June may have not been contacted. That is my reading on it anyway... Basically when reading the update, you need to look at it as a floor, not a ceiling. There are, in fact, quite a few applicants who applied after 20 June who have COs and even Visas by now. The update is stating that ALL applications before 20 June have COs, but SOME applications after 20 June could also have COs. It is DIAC's way of saying: "don't contact us unless your application was made before 20 June and you don't have a CO."
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I would say that as soon as the update is released Friday or Monday and it shows a date past 21 June, send in an enquiry... That might flush out your CO.
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29/03/12 ABPF No contact yet, but a good sign that someone is looking at the application... Hopefully should have some movement soon!
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I don't think any of us will be sad if the update is later than we predict, but going by DIAC's last several updates, it is a good guess. Personally, I hope they have passed 13 July so I can submit an enquiry...
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I am LR and they now have my PCC. I have not taken the medical yet... Just have to wait, but I'll stick with 30 June as my guess.
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So...., we should probably start talking about the update. I'm thinking 30 June. Just a shot in the dark with the wide range of CO allocations. Unless I get an email over then next day or so, I KNOW it is not before 13 July (or my file has fallen through the cracks).