.jpg.80a02d145227d8e8a95015b8f041fbb9.jpg)
Ken
-
Posts
3,164 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
12
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Articles
Everything posted by Ken
-
National Insurance is not the same as Super by any stretch of the imagination. It's Income Tax by a different name to try and trick gullible people into thinking they're paying less tax than they really are. The money is not invested into a pot for your (or anyone else's) retirement and is spent by the treasury as soon as it is received as with any other tax. Both the UK state pension and the Australian aged pension are paid for out of current taxation. By introducing compulsory super back in 92 the Australian government will have a smaller bill to pay from taxation in future years than will the UK government who have only belatedly made pension schemes compulsory. Yes it's true that some UK employers have had pension schemes for decades but then some employers in Australia had schemes before 1992 as well.
-
Don't do the medicals too soon. Your medicals must still be in date (meaning less than 12 months old) at the point you validate your visa. Where the visa process has taken longer than expected (a frequent occurrence as they like to shake up the system and change all the rules at least once a year) people have ended up having to pay to have their medicals done a second time. We were lucky. We submitted our medicals shortly after submitting our application - based on a 3 to 4 month expected processing time at the time we applied. Because of rule changes it took 11 months for our visas to come through and we ended up with an 8 week window in which to validate our visas.
-
I don't understand the distinction you're making being welfare and tax. If at the end of the year you're "entitled" to a tax refund surely you take it? Welfare is no different. The ATO consider they are entitled to a share of your income. Anytime the government tell you that you can have a refund (whether they call it a tax refund or welfare or a first home owners grant is irrelevant) grab it with both hands because as soon as they decide to make themselves entitled to a larger share of your income they won't give you a choice about it.
-
I used to feel at home in Vienna when I would visit it in the early 1990s. But that was because I was working in Poland at the time. I'm sure modern day Poland is like any other European country (I haven't been back since 1994) but in those days visiting Vienna was like visiting civilisation. The favourite term of praise of my fellow ex-pats after a trip to Vienna was "it was normal" a term we never used for 1990s Poland (working in "the wild east" was a great adventure though).
-
We opened a bank account (with ANZ) two years before moving. No problem at all. Did have to visit a branch in Australia to fully activate it (i.e. allowing withdrawals as well as deposits) but we were visiting anyway in order to activate our visa. While it may make sense to wait for the exchange rate to improve you needn't worry about your money being trapped in Oz. Once the account is fully open you can transfer it via the internet wherever you want (although use a third party FX specialist as it'll be a lot more expensive if you use the bank FX rate).
-
Hi Laura. The first thing you need to learn is that there is no such thing as an Australian Driver Licence. Each state/territory of Australia has it's own Driver Licence so I have a Victoria Driver Licence while you'll need a Western Australia Driver Licence. Hear in Victoria you go to VicRoads to get your licence. They'll have a similar organisation in WA but I don't know it's name. I can only tell you how it works in Victoria but it's probably the same in WA. It is a straight swap (not that they actually keep your UK licence) you don't need to sit a test. To get a Full Licence you will need to have passed your test over 2 years ago or you'll only get a Provisional Licence (that's not a learners permit as in the UK but a licence for an inexperienced driver - Australians only get their full licence 2 years after they passed their test). They will need evidence that you are an Australian Resident. I'm aware that at one time WA were refusing to use VEVO and insisting that you had to have a Visa in your passport to get a driver licence. You should check if that's still the case or not. Again if it's like Victoria you do need to make an appointment but if they're not busy they may be able to fit you in the same day. They don't issue it there and then, it does need to be posted to you. Ours took less than a week. They take the photograph at the appointment you don't provide it. In Victoria you have the choice of a 3 year or a 10 year licence. They don't issue a new licence when you change address they just give you a sticker to put on the back.
-
Regional Australia for immigration purposes is the whole of Australia with the exception of Gold Coast, Brisbane, Newcastle, Sydney, Wollongong and Melbourne. Hence, yes Adelaide is in Regional Australia. Whether there are any extra points for that I can't tell you.
-
There's a shop near me that has a board outside advertising their price for Fancy Feast. I must have first seen that board 3 years ago and wondered ever since about what it is they're selling. Cat food huh? Well now I know. Thanks.
-
No. But I will tell you that's going to make it very difficult to convince the ATO to treat you as no longer resident in Australia.
-
If you've spent 2 years out of the previous 5 years in Australia on PR you automatically qualify for a 5 year RRV. Doesn't matter how many you've had before. Many people don't bother to take up Australian citizenship and so just travel on RRVs. If however you haven't been in Australia for 2 out of the last 5 years the best you can hope for is a 1 year RRV and even then you have to show you have some connection to Australia (i.e. a good reason for giving you the visa).
-
Well you can only have one at a time (since the newest one cancels all previous ones even if they haven't expired) but there's no limit to the number you can have in your lifetime.
-
No. A normal RRV is valid for 5 years but you need to have been in Australia for 2 years to get it. A 1 year RRV is issued to people who've been in Australia for less than 2 years but still qualify for an RRV for other reasons.
-
Most WHV holders just buy a cheap car and don't bother with optional insurance. Third Party insurance is included within your Rego.
-
Yes (assuming it will produce taxable income upon a claim)
-
Thank's Bungo. There are more jobs for accountants in Melbourne and Sydney but unfortunately there are also more accountants. Mining companies do have a need for Site Accountants as I've seen them advertise for them on a FIFO basis - but I've no idea how many responses those adverts get so they may not have a shortage either.
-
In order to give Tax advice in Australia you have to be registered with the Tax Practitioners board. You need to have passed an approved course in Australian Tax Law and an approved course in Australian Commercial Law. There's a whole range of Australian Universities that have them, but unless you're doing a degree course at the same time the best option is to do the courses from The Tax Institute. The bad news is that passing the exams is not enough. You also have to have at least 12months full time experience of Australian Tax. But you can't get that experience self-employed as you'd be breaking the law and no one want to employ someone who they expect will be their competition in a year or two. Self-employment under the umbrella of a franchise (who have the TPB registration) is about the only option.
-
There's a huge oversupply of Accountants in Melbourne too. If the politicians are being told there's a shortage of accountants it must be by the mining companies who can't find people to work in the middle of nowhere!
-
Depends on the conditions on her current visa. If it has a "No Further Stay" condition then she must leave the country and apply for a new visa offshore. If it doesn't have that condition she can apply for an Aged Parent Visa onshore and apply for a bridging visa while the application is processing (last I heard it was taking over a decade). If needing to apply offshore there is a hugely expensive (around $60,000) Contributory Parent Visa which still takes a couple of years to process.
-
.thumb.jpg.6a92df9e07c2d67e03876074253d7ab7.jpg)
I don't think this is going to affect many people in Australia. If you were renting out the property in the UK then you were liable for CGT in the UK already. It's only those people rich enough to be able to afford their UK home to be standing empty that are now going to be hit with CGT in the UK that they weren't previously liable for. In either case they're likely to be liable to Australian CGT which their UK bill can be put towards. -
You always have the option of getting married - it gets round many of the paperwork and red tape problems of the de facto visa. If your response to that is you're not ready to get married then you clearly don't qualify for a de facto visa because it's a visa for people who are married in spirit but merely lack a marriage certificate.
-
<p> </p>
<p><p>Bobsdona,</p></p>
<p><p> </p></p>
<p><p>2) There is a difference between being an Australian resident for immigration purposes and being one for tax purposes. Hence if you get your PR visa but carry on living and working outside of Australia you will still be a non-resident for tax purposes and so not liable to Australian Tax. It's recommend you don't apply for a Tax File Number until you start living in Australia as (while not an absolute measure) getting a TFN will make it look as if your are a Tax Resident. If you open a bank account in Australia while a non-resident your interest will be subject to 10% withholding tax but that is all you will have to pay. If you're a UK resident you need to declare the Australian interest on your tax return but can offset the withholding tax paid against your UK tax, but it depends what country you are a resident in as to whether or not you even need to declare the Australian interest on your tax return.</p></p>
<p> </p>
-
<p> </p>
<p><p>Bobsdona, </p></p>
<p><p> </p></p>
<p><p>1) There is no tax on money remitted to Australia. Australian tax is only on income (including capital gains) while a tax resident of Australia. There is no limit on the amount of money you can bring to Australia - however if you are bringing in more than $10,000 in cash (whether in Australian dollars or other currency) with you then you are required to declare it (but it doesn't stop you bringing it in, it's just an anti-money laundering control). Similarly if transferring large sum you'll likely to be asked the source of it but there's no tax to pay.</p></p>
<p> </p>
-
<p> </p>
<p><p>There is no tax on money remitted to Australia. Australian tax is only on income (including capital gains). There is no limit on the amount of money you can bring to Australia - however if it's more than $10,000 in cash (in Australian dollars or not) then you have to declare it (anti-money laundering rule).</p></p>
<p><p> </p></p>
<p><p>There is a difference between being an Australian resident for immigration purposes and for tax purposes. Hence if PR but still living/working outside of Australia you will still be a non-resident for tax purposes. It's recommend you don't apply for a Tax File Number until you start living in Australia as that might make it look as if your are a Tax Resident. If you open a bank account in Australia while a non-resident your interest will be subject to 10% withholding tax but that is all you will have to pay. If you're a UK resident you need to declare the Australian interest on your tax return but can offset the withholding tax paid against your UK tax.</p></p>
<p> </p>
-
<p><p>Khurram, DIAC only accept Police Checks that are less than a year old. You'll need to obtain new ones.</p></p>
.thumb.jpg.6a92df9e07c2d67e03876074253d7ab7.jpg)