Ken

There is a strong argument to make that the amounts the grandparents paid in over the years (but not the interest/investment gains) were gifts and so exempt from tax and so you should exclude them from the amount received. The problem is that if the ATO enquire into whether or not they were gifts, you could even need to prove the source of where the grandparents got the money for the gifts to show that it really was a gift and not a disguised source of income. To do this properly you should get a Private Ruling from the ATO agreeing how much of the total received was gifts - but as you aren't looking at more that $300 of tax in total (based on the rough figures given) going to that effort would cost more than it saved.

Make a holiday of it and see all the sights to get your money's worth. Neither you nor your son will have the opportunity to visit London for a long time.

I said a very large Child Trust Fund. £10K each (assuming they don't have any other income) will leave them with no tax to pay so I'm not calling that "very large". A very large amount would create a tax bill so would probably not have been the best way to save for them.

Even if we accept that it's easy for scammers to open accounts with UBank, that just means it's easy for the rest of us to open an account with UBank. It doesn't make it any easier for scammers to get their hands on our money.

A Child Trust Fund is treated as a form of pension because the funds can't be withdrawn until the beneficiary reaches a certain age. That means there is no tax during the accumulation phase. It's taxed when the Fund matures. However at that point the beneficiary is no longer a minor and so the normal tax free allowance of $18,200 applies (plus there's the low income tax offset that effectively raises that even further). If they have a lot of other income or a very large trust fund they may be disappointed by getting a tax bill, but most 18 year olds are still in full time education and most Child Trust Funds are small so leaving no tax to pay. If they've got a very large Child Trust Fund in the UK then the people who contributed to it were very badly advised.

The children should be able to open an account with Wise and obtain a UK sort code and account number from them. Wise don't accept cheques but if the trust will transfer to a UK bank account in the child's name it's an option. They'll then be able to convert the money into AUD and transfer it on to their Australian bank account.

There is no NI or UK tax on employees who are permanently overseas so no loss to the exchequer either way. Where the Contractor is both tax resident outside the UK and performing all their services outside the UK, there are no PAYE or NICs liability in respect of that individual. The employer does not even need to carry out an IR35 status determination. There could be an issue if the employee travels back to the UK and does work there as you'd need to prove it was "incidental", but Australia is a long way from the UK, so the employee isn't likely to pop by the office. It's the UK company's responsibilities under Australian employment law that would be a nightmare for them to comply with, which is why they should have them as a contractor.

As well as countries being low or high risk, so is the type of applicant. 101 visas cover an enormous range of circumstances. A child born overseas to PR holders would be low risk and so processed much faster.

Yes. Somebody is speculating that if the UK introduces an ETA (or visa) requirement for everyone entering the UK they will at the same time require British citizens to enter the UK using a British passport. The logic is somewhat flawed as there is no reason to believe British citizens will be prohibited from applying for an ETA using a foreign passport. Citizens of many countries already need a visa but there are no laws to prevent a dual citizen of one of those countries obtaining a UK visa. Australia prohibits it (probably because the law requires citizens to use their Australian passport) but the UK doesn't.

There is a difference in how you claim a deduction for your expenses compared to how an employee would do it.

I've come across many companies that it is almost impossible to contact. Wise isn't one of them. When moving larger sums, I'd want the instructions in writing, and I definitely wouldn't want to have to talk to someone.

But the reason you can't get a visa for Aus if a citizen is because Australia law specifically prohibits citizens from having Australian visas (which includes ETA). UK law doesn't have that prohibition and Australian law doesn't apply in the UK.

No, Wise don't currently offer stop loss orders. If your funds don't arrive then obviously you contact Wise. But a wait a few minutes before you do so.

Because it's cheaper to do the same thing with Wise. It's called an Auto Conversion. The rate's already over $1.95 ($1.95142 at the moment) so if I had one set for $1.95 it would already have gone through, but I've got one at $1.96 waiting. And yes, they do seem to like to go through at 1am.

Still a lot cheaper not to renew for those of us who don't visit the UK.

The procedure for renewing a UK passport is the same regardless of whether or not the passport has expired. The only occasions when it is different is when it is a first adult passport, or where your expired passport is so old that it was handwritten.

Beware that if you only leave for a year and do so with the intent of returning to the UK, you will not cease to be a UK resident and so (if HMRC choose to pursue it) are liable to be taxed on your worldwide income for the year you were away.

Yes, buying Extras cover with no Hospital Insurance is easy, but finding Hospital Cover with no Extras is a lot harder. Most of the providers just want to tag it on anyway and obviously even if they claim it's free, you are paying for it.

Or maybe the Commission rate for the retail fund isn't as good as the fees the adviser gets for setting up a SMSF?

If you were born after 30th June 1964 then your preservation age is 60, provided you have retired or met one of the other conditions of withdrawal. Once you have reached the age of 65 you can withdraw your funds from Super whether you have retired or not. Anyone born before 1st July 1964 has already reached preservation age as it was originally 55 and increased in steps up to 59 and then 60 for those born after 30th June 1964.

A 50% tax rate for everyone and no deductions for anything would simplify the tax system. That doesn't mean it would be a good thing. PS It's nonsense that coal mined in Australia but exported is not included in Australia's CO2 output. It's definitely under our control to do something about it.

Yes, it's all the RBA's fault for not knowing about all the sanctions on Russian Oil that were going to be imposed in February 2022 when they made that promise (or prediction as they would prefer it to be called) at the end of 2020. They're the RBA it's their responsibility to know when wars are going to start. What kind of cheap plastic crystal ball are they using? Besides the only people complaining about the tax cuts for the lower paid are those who are unaware of the Trickle-Up effect. Unlike the fictional Trickle-Down effect, this one really works. The more money the poorest in society have, the more is the amount of money that flows to the richest in society.

One thing to consider is that if you put your money into Super there are very limited circumstances in which you can access that money before you are old enough, whereas shares can be sold at any time. Some people might see having their money locked in Super as an advantage as it will stop them from squandering it early. For other people it could be seen as a distinct disadvantage.

I think you've lost the period that you didn't claim for. Once they start paying it, they will back date it to the date you applied for it, but no further. If you elect for the lump sum at the end of the tax year it still won't go back before you lodged the claim. You need to lodge the claim asap. I've only known the different coloured Medicare cards to be issued to temporary residents. The Green cards are for citizens and permanent residents. Perhaps a citizen should get a different colour card if they are non-resident and only visiting Australia, but I've never heard of it happening. Certainly, as soon as you started living here again the green Medicare card is the correct one. These days if you leave Australia, Centrelink know about it, so I doubt they would make the mistake of keep sending out cards, but in 1990 not everything was on the system.

Yes, normally no need to lodge a tax return if the only income is bank interest on which the bank has withheld the 10% tax. The only exception is if the ATO ask you to lodge a tax return. Curiously the OP says the bank is withholding 47%. That'll probably be because he's given the bank an address in Australia without providing a TFN. If 47% tax is being withheld then a tax return is required (but will result in a tax refund). If they are all just personal items and not business assets or investments then no, that wouldn't require him to lodge a tax return.