47 minutes ago, Cakey25 said:

Thank you I will check these links out!

yes I became a Australia citizen in 2014 after moving there as a PR in Jan 2009 but left Nov 2019.

from what I can see to get a disability pension you need to have resided in the country for at least 10 years.

hence I’m not sure if I will qualify and I can’t see what other benefits are available to help as physically I can’t manage to work enough to cover the costs of living.(in either country) as a single person.

Yes, to get the Disability Support Pension there is a requirement to have lived in Australia for at least 10 years but by my calculations Jan 2009 to Nov 2019 is more than 10 years so you appear to have fulfilled that requirement (the "newly arrived resident's waiting period" is a different thing that applies to most Centrelink payments but the DSP and the Age Pension have this 10 year rule). And yes, the period when you had PR but not citizenship does count. Of course there's a whole load of other requirements and you can't apply until after you've moved back to Australia, making it something of a gamble (especially if you were to lose any UK entitlements by moving to Australia).

20 hours ago, benj1980 said:

I see Australia is increasing it's targets for permanent migrants, rising from 160k to 195k.  Is this enough? 

To solve the labour shortages that Australia is currently suffering from? Possibly not enough.

To significantly worsen the housing shortage that Australia is currently suffering from? More than enough.

There's always a lack of joined up thinking in Australia's approach to problems.

3 hours ago, Marisawright said:

In terms of Medicare, yes, that's right.  However I think the OP is asking about welfare benefits and perhaps disability support, and I am pretty sure there are residency requirements for those -- it's not enough to be a citizen?

Actually it looks as if it is enough to be a citizen. There are "Newly Arrived Resident's Waiting Periods" but there are exemptions from those waiting periods for citizens and for refugees.

I've also googled NDIS residency requirements but the only thing it specifically says is that you must live in Australia. Nothing about how long you must have lived in Australia.  

On 26/08/2022 at 19:38, Tappers2oz said:

Is there a Vic specific forum/group? I clicked the link in the pinned post but just get an error. 

That might just be a temporary fault but I won't be surprised if it's permanent. The last time I was on the Vic forum nobody had posted for months. It died a death long before it became unavailable.

9 hours ago, Marisawright said:

The culture here is different. I noticed in the UK how everyone seemed to be buying new cars on finance, whereas here, people are more likely to buy a second-hand car, rather than get into debt to buy a new one.  Or they will "salary sacrifice" to get a car through their employer.  

The reason is, as Jon says, car finance here isn't the same.  When I was in the UK, I was astonished how many people buy a new car on finance, but then I realised how cheap it was.  Here, finance is very expensive so the car can end up costing you double its value by the time you've paid it off.   

As a new migrant, I wouldn't get finance.  If you decide Australia isn't for you, or something happens and you have to go home, you'll be in all kinds of trouble because you won't be able to sell the car.  (I'm sure you feel very confident right now that Australia is for you, but so does every other migrant who ever moved, and yet many do end up going home. So don't let your ego convince you it can't happen).  

If you are going to Melbourne or Sydney, I would look at Carly or Carbar or similar.  It's basically long-term car rental but the costs are comparable to paying off a car loan and you're not tied in.  It will give you time to look around and decide what you want to do longer-term.

https://carsubscriptions.org/en-au/carly/

Salary sacrifice is worth checking up on. Ask your HR department.  It used to be very tax-effective. It's less so now, but it's an ideal solution to your current situation because it's a lease through your employer, so if you leave for any reason, you just hand it back.  

Actually over here second-hand cars are very expensive compared to the UK which makes people think "I might as well buy a new one".

Earlier this year waiting times for new cars had blown out so much that one year old cars were more expensive than the list prices of new cars because the used cars were available now and you wouldn't see the new ones for 6 months or more, but even in normal times Australian cars depreciate slower that British ones.

On 19/06/2022 at 17:51, Gareth 666 said:

I bow to your vastly superior knowledge. I couldn’t see a way to do it!!

From what I remember (it's been a while) the first question after clicking on "create new application" (or whatever it's called) in your account is "who is this visa for?". There's no assumption that any application you make is for the Immi account holder.

4 hours ago, Bonsta said:

Hello, We own property here in Sydney but are looking to buy an investment property in the UK. Just wondering if anyone knows of the pros and cons to this please as I am unfamiliar with all the tax implications involved and trying to weigh up if it will be worth it? Obvs this will mean us getting a loan too, is it better to get one from Oz or in the UK? Any advice much appreciated :O) Thanks

If you find someone willing to give you a loan please post the information on here. There's a lot of people who are or have been interested in doing that but the banks don't play ball. UK banks are interested in lending to people that are overseas and Australian banks are not interested in security that is overseas.

It doesn't help that in either case the bank would have to comply with two different legal systems while their systems are set up only to comply with the one they are in (and they spend a lot of money and effort to ensure they comply just for that one country).

I'd be happy to give some advice on tax implications but I don't see you getting past the loan hurdle unless you have enough equity on your Australian property to secure it on that, and enough Australian income such that the loan isn't reliant on the foreign rental income.

18 hours ago, MARYROSE02 said:

I don't follow either and when I was over there I was interested to note that, whilst the Sandgropers might talk disparagingly about "The Eastern States", when one of their AFL clubs was playing a Melbourne team, there was no WA solidarity. If the Dockers were playing them then the Eagles supported the Melbourne team, and vice versa.

Strangely, for me, I used to hate the Giants (I like the Swans) but now I think of them as my second or third team. I have a soft spot for Carlton as I liked John Elliot.

But that's not any different from the UK. A Man City supporter is always going to support whoever is playing Man United (and vice versa). A Chelsea fan is always going to support whoever is playing Arsenal (and vice versa). Inter-club rivalry always trumps regional/city loyalty.

I don't think a foreign individual or bank would be able to register an interest in Australian property without FIRB approval. As such any such loan would be an unsecured loan. The lender still has the right to use the Australian courts to sue for their money back if they're not getting paid - but that doesn't help if the borrower has sold/refinanced the property and spent all the money.

Note though that this isn't really any different from loans from Australian family members - it's a very unusual Australian family that demands security on a loan to a family member.

7 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

Overnight the exchange rate rose by 2c to the pound so had you changed £500k yesterday you would have gotten $850k, do it today and you would get $862k

My prediction (and who knows what might happen between now and then to throw this off) is that by the start of October we will be back at 1.8 to the pound (or 900k for £500k)

This is because money markets hate unknowns and right now the UK has a power vacuum. Once Liz is installed as PM it will settle down (it will be Liz, Rishi has no chance with the Tory wrinkles), unless she immediately calls an election.

Money markets hate unknowns, they don't care who is in charge just that they know who is in charge. At the moment you can't make investment decisions in the UK because you don't know if we are going to have more of the same (Rishi) or move to a low tax world (Liz)

With Liz Truss' famous grasp of geography the markets may need to worry about where in the world (or even which world) she's moving the UK to.

10 hours ago, laf said:

Thanks for your reply.  Yes I am in the UK, moving from the London area. 

Thanks for confirming the interest rates are similar to the UK and it looks like many institutions only pay the advertised rates up to a certain balance, lower than the amount we will be depositing.

Unfortunately the exchange rate is out of our control.  I'm constantly monitoring it and the outlook looks bleak.  It will be the biggest gamble ever deciding whether to move it straight away.  We can only hope for a further downturn in property prices to offset our exchange rate loss.  

You do of course have the option to deposit your money in more than one place (and even in more than one country/currency) if they'll only give you the maximum rate on a smaller balance and if you are concerned about what's going to happen to exchange rates.

On 02/08/2022 at 12:25, Marisawright said:

No big deal, but also no harm in alerting the site admins to it.  They would get a report from their host if the site is actually down, but it's likely no one will notify them if the certificate isn't valid, so it's good if users let them know. 

But we can't alert the site to it when we can't get in. When we can get back in is only after they've found and fixed the problem.

On 21/07/2022 at 11:13, Marisawright said:

Surely you're not suggesting tax fraud.  You can't claim a tax deduction if you lease your investment property to a member of your family.  

Actually the issue isn't whether or not the lease is to a member of your family but whether or not the rental income is at an arms length price. Usually that means paying an independent valuer to assess the rent if it's let to a family member.

16 hours ago, Drumbeat said:

I spoke to the IR today and they will only send a cheque to a nominee (my sister). To be honest I haven't been worried about bank charges.

Use a service like Wise (there are many transfer companies to choose from but I find them the easiest to use) and you'll receive a lot more dollars in your account than if your sister just transfers from her bank straight to your Australian bank account.

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25 minutes ago, pinkpom said:

Currently mulling over options to get back to Aus before my PR travel facility expires next October. If we (me, partner, baby son) go and do an onshore partner application my understanding is my partner would switch to a bridging visa with full work rights after tourist visa expires. I have heard employers are reluctant to hire people on bridging visas - does anyone know if this is the case? Financially it wouldn’t necessarily be a disaster, but I would worry about isolation/loneliness for my partner not having a job and meeting people and also the effect on his career being out of work for a year or so. He works in finance. Any responses appreciated, thankyou 

Normally your partner would be at a disadvantage compared to a candidate who doesn't have a status that leaves a worry if they can stay long term, but (depending on their skill set and the location) employers can't be as picky in the current market.

6 hours ago, Drumbeat said:

Thanks Ken, it's good to know about that option. I think as this is a one-off I'll resort to asking family this time.

Might be quicker as there's no telling how long it will take HMRC to cancel the cheque and make the payment. Presumably you've sorted a way for your family member to transfer the money to you without losing a chunk in bank charges?

6 hours ago, Drumbeat said:

I have recently received a tax refund of 325 pounds from the Inland Revenue. As I haven't had a UK bank account for about 30 years and they wouldn't deposit the money into an overseas account I asked them to send me a cheque. However I now find out my bank no longer accepts foreign currency cheques.

I was hoping not to have to use a family members UK bank but are there any other options?

You could open an account with Wise. They don't take cheques but they do give you a UK sort-code and account number (as well as Australian, Belgian for your Euro and US for USD account details should you need them). Unfortunately you would need to return the cheque to HMRC and ask them to deposit into your "UK" bank account. Definitely would be the cheapest way of converting your cheque into AUD too as even if you find a bank that will still accept a foreign cheque it's going to charge a fortune to do so.

Why would the NHS write to someone in Australia?

On 04/07/2022 at 16:28, Fisher1 said:

Hi all,    I recently decided to apply for a credit card because I wanted to get airmiles rewards on my spending - it seemed like a good idea at the time. I am now an Australian citizen, have had my account with the bank in question for ten years, loads of money through it and never overdrawn.  I’ve been living at the same address in Australia for just over four years. I have a retirement income well in excess of the minimum outlined by the bank, and have most of it transferred here from the UK.  So I was gobsmacked to be told by a not-very-nice man on zoom (in the manager’s office, in place of the manager!) that I was not eligible for a credit card.     I notice they have recently changed their web page eligibility criteria to include the need for a verifiable Australian income. I’ve decided the airmiles aren’t worth it, but this seems crazy to me.   Is this typical, or are all Australian banks weird about foreign income?

You've got it all backwards. They turned you down because it's obvious that you are never going to borrow any money on that card. There's no profit in it for the bank if you aren't going to pay their extortionate interest rate. Yes they make a little bit from the vendors when you make a purchase - but they'll still do that if you use your debit card and they don't need to share that with the airmiles company.

On 09/07/2022 at 22:24, MuscleSprout said:

Hi folks - I'm a self employed book keeper in the UK and am soon to travel to Australia as a perm citizen.  As I work remotely and my work isn't time sensitive I can carry on doing this in Australia.  Has anyone else done this and has any knowledge about the tax implications?  I'm thinking I should set up a UK limited company and pay myself dividends as a director based in Australia.  If anyone can point me in the direction of a professional with some knowledge on this I'd be grateful.

 

A UK limited company is probably not the best way to do it as you'll have all the usual tax issues for the company (possibly complicated by having a non-resident director) and they'll have to register in Australia to comply with Australian payroll requirements. Most UK companies would pay someone in Australia as a contractor to avoid needing to operate an Australian payroll. Of course if your UK turnover is over the VAT threshold you'll have UK tax implications anyway.

A sole trader in Australia is the simplest option (or an Australian company if you want to keep the liability at arms length) and if under the VAT threshold wouldn't need anything to be done in the UK.

Note that to get Australian bookkeeping clients you will need to register with the Tax Practitioners Board as a BAS agent. It's illegal to give paid advice related to Australian tax (even on how to enter a GST transaction in an accounting ledger) if unregistered. Check their requirements for registration there's quite a lot of hoops to jump through.

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I would say "Extras" cover is essential for a family, though.  Dentists and opticians are virtually 100% private here, and very expensive.  I don't know if health insurance companies will sell you an Extras policy without hospital cover but it's worth looking at. 

Yes you can get Extras policies without hospital cover - but finding one that will cover all you Dental and optical (with or without hospital cover) is very difficult. Most have caps of only a few hundred dollars. Enough for check ups but not if you need anything done.

23 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

The lifetime loading only kicks in at 31.  It is a scheme designed to encourage people to take out hospital cover insurance, essentially by loading 2% on top of your premiums every year after 31.  

 

Also if you take out hospital cover insurance within one year of moving to Australia you are exempted from lifetime loading. And once you've paid the loading for 10 years you don't have to pay it any more.