Ken

Super funds and UK pensions both had a bad year last year but you can expect both to bounce back. Super funds are taxed when the money goes in but not when the money comes out (if you are in Australia). So that can make the balance look less in the early years (the fund has to grow 17.6% just so the balance covers the 15% tax that's been taken off the amount paid in). UK pension funds have no taxes when the money goes in but only 25% is tax free (if you are in the UK) when taken out.

What's to adapt? Sure we ate Christmas dinner out on the patio wearing shorts which obviously we wouldn't have done in the UK, but otherwise it's just the same. It's Christmas it's traditional. Since my wife is Orthodox 25th December is regarded as my Christmas so is English style. Christmas Day 6th January (or more accurately Christmas Eve on 5th January) is done her style.

That's for a single person. For a couple it's a combined income of $180,000 sliced any which way (and slightly higher for couples with two or more dependents - but obviously that doesn't apply to a retired couple).

If you consider the movers insurance to be inadequate you can take out your own relocation insurance.

Unfortunately it's a bit more complicated. The ATO deems that the growth in your pension (the taxed portion) is the first part you draw down and the tax-free portion (the value when you moved to Australia in the case of a lump sum) is the last part you draw down. There is also a big difference between lump sum drawdowns and pension payments that you need to be aware of, since pension payments are generally less favourably treated - although you can get a deduction for amounts you paid-in in the past. The treatment is different for final salary type schemes where the lump sum and the pension are treated separately and so the lump sum growth since you moved to Australia can be deducted at the time of receiving it. Yes, you do still get the tax-free allowance after you retire and most Super payments (not all because there are exceptions where people have untaxed amounts in their Super) aren't taxable income and so don't touch your allowance.

But UK councils do send more than one person to empty your bins. All that job creation has to be paid for!

You're seriously suggesting using Wile E. Coyote's preferred supplier? That stuff never works.

As I said Wise don't offer a MYR denominated account (that's only for GBP,; AUD; EUR; NZD; USD; SGD; RON; CAD; HUF and TRY) but it is one of 52 currencies you can hold and convert - but that only allows you to transfer from an account that it is in your name. They say that you can receive money directly into your account (form third parties) in Malaysian Ringgit but that's only available for residents residing in Malaysia.

Wise don't offer an MYR denominated account but you can still receive MYR transfers and you can make payments in MYR.

Once you have PR you don't need a Bridging Visa. They're only for people without valid visas. Once the travel portion of your PR expires you need an RRV (Resident Return Visa) to enter Australia, but based on the dates you've given you won't need that until Dec 2023.

That would make it a capital gains tax issue not an employment income issue. The good news on that is you are only liable for Australian tax on the gain on a foreign asset made after you became tax resident in Australia (that's if you're a citizen or permanent resident - it's completely exempt if you're on a temporary visa). If the price has already been agreed before you leave the UK. there will be no gain at all to be taxed in Australia. If the price hasn't been agreed before leaving the UK and you can't determine the value at the date you leave the UK, the gain would need to be apportioned across the whole period of ownership leaving just a (presumably tiny) proportion relating to your time in Australia of which only 50% would be taxable (assuming your total ownership period in or out of Australia exceeded 12 months). Had it been employment income and not a capital gain there be no apportionment (it's taxed on the receipts basis) and there's no 50% discount. UK tax is a different issue. It's CGT and it's a UK asset so your being outside of the UK doesn't make it tax free (like it would be for employment income), but there are exemptions for employee share schemes that may apply. As @rammygirl has already told you, transferring money from one bank account to another has no tax implications (I'm sure you are aware you can move money backwards and forwards between your current account and your savings account as much as you like, it doesn't create any income - the same applies even if the bank accounts are in different countries) what matters is receiving the income in the first place.

No, the interview/test was in the IMMI offices in Melbourne (or I should say the old offices as I just googled and see the office has moved to Docklands). In regional areas I think they do use council offices for the tests but not in any of big cities. I'm sure you can travel overseas before the ceremony takes place as there are lots of people on this site who have done so. You've already said your wife has an RRV but worth mentioning to anyone reading that if the travel portion of your PR has expired that is needed to return to Australia even if citizenship has been approved. Note too that Australian citizens are not permitted to hold Australian visas so the RRV will be cancelled as soon as the ceremony takes place. That means that after the ceremony you'll need to obtain an Australian passport to travel as no airline will agree to fly you to Australia without a valid visa or Australian passport.

Citizenship ceremonies normally take place at your local council offices. Mine was actually at a venue arranged by the department (just across the road from the IMMI building in Melbourne) as Maribyrnong council (where I lived at the time) had a huge backlog compared to other councils and they wanted to help clear it. Now every council seems to have a bigger backlog than Maribyrnong had back then. I don't really recall anything being asked at the interview, they just checked the originals of the documents sent as part of the application. I think the interview is more about checking that the person who shows up to take the test is the applicant than it is about anything else.

Yes, that's the same way I met my 4 year residence requirement - with the first 12 months out of the country and then 3 years in Aus. As to your other questions it's 'Lawful residence date' not 'Permanent residence date' so temporary or provisional visas count, and yes, an RRV is a valid visa - but so is a PR visa on which the travel portion has expired (unless you are trying to enter Australia) so it's not really relevant whether she obtained an RRV or not (athough if she did travel on it you'd have to deduct that period from the 12months outside of Australia). It's only periods in Australia without a valid visa (not possible once you have PR) that don't count for residence at all and which trigger the start of a whole new 4 year residency period.

No. You report on your tax return that you meet the requirement for split year treatment (box 3 of the Residence status page) and enter the date you returned to the UK (box 6 of the Residence status page). You then don't need to report any foreign income received before that date (1st Feb 2023 in your example) but you would still have to report all foreign income received after that date and any UK income received at any point in the year.

But the outcome of the medical is uncertain, so you can put a positive spin on that. The cost of treatment depends on how long you will have the condition. If they discover something on your medical when you are 110 years old, they won't expect to have to treat it for long.

Children and babies are included on the citizenship application of their parents and receive their citizenship at the same time as their parents. You can't legally leave your children off the application form (although there is a section for children that are not included in the application and you specify why they are not included - usually because they are Australian citizens).

Yes, Queensland officially only accept Queensland assessments. However head teachers have a lot of discretion. We moved to Queensland from Victoria last year were able to get our son a provisional place in Queensland (I think it was for up to 9 nine months) based on their discussion with the Victorian school which then allowed them plenty of time to conduct their own Queensland assessments afterwards. What made it easier is that it was a brand-new special school and not one that was already full.

Geelong is very much in the Melbourne commuter belt - indeed the CBD is a shorter commute from Geelong than it is from many areas that are officially in Melbourne.

You can set it up in any country and still get a range of currencies including GBP, AUD, USD and EUR. They'll deal with a host of other currencies too but not all give you all the features of a bank account. Note though that once registered with an Australian address then Australian rules apply which mean they charge have to charge you a fee for keeping large amounts of money in your account (they're registered as a money transfer service rather than a bank in Australia and so get charged the fee by the Australian regulator which they have to pass on). I don't remember the figures exactly but it's something like $15,000 or $20,000 in each currency before they charge the fee.

We have my mother-in-law visiting. We applied for a 600 Tourist visa for an intended stay of 6 months. We didn't go through the sponsorship hoops but answered the "Give details of how the stay in Australia will be funded" question by saying we would be paying all the costs and included our bank statements. She's visited twice before and the previous visas were just for the visits we asked for but this time they've issued a 3-year visa which allows her to stay for up to 12 months each visit provided she doesn't exceed 12 months in any 18 months. A condition of the visa is 8501: maintain adequate health insurance.

According to Wikipedia Port Macquarie is "a coastal town".

On the other hand the advantage of Southern Queensland over Melbourne is that the weather is a lot more consistent. If it's consistently warm you can get used to it whereas a summer in Melbourne can have a high of over 40 degrees one day and a high of below 20 degrees the next and then warm up again the following day. I also find Queensland a lot less windy than Melbourne. Melbourne's not really wintry by UK standards but the number of windy days!

As a back-up I'd recommend opening a multi-currency account with Wise. They have some of the best rates for transferring money, but what is really useful for you is that they'll give you a Australian bank account and sort-code and a physical debit card (I think there's now a fee to get a physical card but they'll give you virtual cards that you can use online for free) allowing you to use it almost like a regular bank account. Also unlike opening an account with an Australian bank online (which you can do before moving to Australia) you don't have to present yourself at a branch in Australia to complete the KYC checks before you can withdraw any money.

A capital loss can only be used against capital gains in the year or carried forward and used against future capital gains. As to your specific questions: 1) No it doesn't need to be on your Australian Tax Return. Since this is the house you lived in (and it's not more than 6 years since you moved out) you can claim it was your principal residence and so CGT free - however if it's not on your tax return there will be no capital loss to carry forward either. But you don't have to claim it as your principal residence in which case a loss can still be claimed and carried forward (if not able to be offset against capital gains in the current year). The 50% discount doesn't get applied to losses - although as losses are taken off any gains before the 50% discount is applied to them it doesn't really make a difference. 2) The gain is on the value of the property on the day you moved to Australia (if that figure is available) to the day you sold the property less any selling expenses. As Alan has pointed out if using the FX rate at those two dates you also have to factor in the FX on the loan and this is further complicated by any capital repayments made in the period. If you don't have a figure for the value of the property on the day you moved to Australia (and if you are going to try to claim a loss that should be a professional valuation) you can calculate the gain/loss across the whole period you owned the property (less both selling and buying expenses) and apportion across the periods you were in the UK and in Australia to come up with a theoretical value on the day you moved. If the house was owned 50:50 between you and your spouse then the loss must be split 50:50 too. Alternative ownership splits are possible but you would need evidence to show that was how the house was owned. 3) There are no taxes on FX transfers (income is taxed not transfers between banks accounts even in different countries) or on gifts between spouses so it doesn't matter who's name (either or both) you do the FX transfers in.