Ken

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.

It's definitely worth it to notify your bank that you've left the country. Having to lodge a non-resident tax return just because that income hasn't been taxed (assuming that's the only Australian sourced income you have) will be a pain. If it's your only Australian income and the 10% withholding tax has been taken you don't need to declare it in Australia. You will need to declare the interest to HMRC (100% of it not just the 90% you received) and they will tax it (assuming your income exceeds your personal allowance) but you get the Australian tax paid set off against the UK tax due. Only income is taxed. Moving money from one bank account to another bank account is not income regardless of whether the bank accounts are in different countries (unless you're moving the money backwards and forwards to try and earn an FX gain of course). Beware though that a super account is not a bank account. When you take money out of super that is pension income and taxable in the UK when you are resident there.

I don't know much about the support available for adults with autism, but I can say that the financial support the NDIS provides for children with Autism is excellent. Finding services that you can actually spend that money on is the harder problem. Normal living expenses are not covered by the NDIS but if your disability is such that you are unable to live in normal housing, then yes they do cover the cost of supported housing. If you are unable to work you would need a Disability Pension. The NDIS exists to provide the supports to fill the gap between normal living expenses and a disabled persons living expenses - but it only reimburses expenses it doesn't provide an income.

If you are going to claim any benefits in the UK (whether a council house or anything else) you have to declare all the assets you own in the world. It's irrelevant whether you have brought them back to the UK or not. You may be confused by the rule on declaring amounts in cash that you bring back with you. There are no taxes to pay on amounts you transfer to the UK. Taxes are on income not on assets transferred from one bank account to another. I am surprised no one has asked if you can take your children to the UK. Regardless of whether or not their father is in their lives you will need either a court order that made you the sole guardian or his permission to change their country of residence.

I definitely didn't go into a booth or wear a headset in my medical (although it was many years ago now plus I didn't have any hearing issues to be investigated) but after all these years I don't remember what hearing test they did do. You need to bear in mind that the one and only reason for the medical is to ensure the costs of medical care for you and your dependents won't exceed the benefit to Australia of having you move to Australia. I don't see how your wife having weak hearing in one ear is going to be a potential cost to the Australian taxpayer at all - so unless you think there's some highly expensive operation or treatment and/or disability support that she needs in the long term you really have nothing to worry about.

Running a company at a loss where the only P&L activity is the expense of a salary below the tax threshold is definitely one way to get your money out of a company tax free although there there are some issues of legitimacy if it was really your income and not your wife's. Dividends below the tax threshold would work just the same as salary but for that to work tax free your wife would need to be the sole shareholder. Dividend income belongs to the shareholder you can't nominate who is paid. If any of the shares are in your name you might therefore want to consider registering the transfer of those shares to your wife at companies house before leaving the UK (there's no UK CGT on a gift to your wife). Then your wife can receive the dividends at an annual amount that keeps her below the tax free threshold until the company's cash is exhausted and without any worries about ever having to justify that your wife was earning that salary.

Yes, you are going to want to put that capital loss on your tax return and carry it forward to when you do get a capital gain on something. Incidentally although the Capital Gain/Loss is in FY2023 and so you don't need to do anything with it for a while, you do have rental income in FY2022 that needs to go on your FY2022 tax return.

Although there are some exceptions Australian pensions are not tax free. The following pensions are all taxed: Age Pension Veteran Payment Disability Support Pension if age-pension age or older Invalidity Service Pension if age-pension age or older And if you are thinking that Super is not taxed, no that was taxed at 15% when you (or your employer) paid in to it (and the highest rate tax payers paid 30%).

No, if it was simply a gift that's not going to help. I was wondering if it had been inherited - although even that wouldn't get you a full exemption since it was rented but there'd still be a possibility of a partial exemption. Presumably you had an independent valuation done to establish the cost in September 2021?

There's no notification as such for Australian tax. Assuming August 2022 is the correct date of sale then it will be reported as part of your FY2023 tax return - which if you do via a tax agent could be due as late as May 2024. The date of sale of a UK property is normally accepted as being the date that contracts were exchanged.

Yes, you will have Australian CGT on the full gain. Based on what you've said you were an Australian tax resident (and not a temporary resident) for the whole time you held the asset and you held it for less than a year so no discount. You also say that the house was rented out. You also have to pay Australian tax on that rental income (less expenses). Note though you say you "took ownership" rather than bought. Depending on how you "took ownership" there's a possibility there may be an exemption that gives you time to dispose of the asset without a CGT consequence. Also note that you should compare the AUD value on acquisition with the AUD value on sale. While looking at it in GBP might give a small gain you may find there a small loss in AUD due to FX rate changes. Having no CGT to pay in the UK due to UK CGT allowances does not change your Australian CGT liability other than to give you no UK tax to offset against your Australian tax bill.

No, (generally speaking) pensions are taxed in Australia regardless of whether they are for ill health or not. However you don't get taxed on a low income and you may be entitled to SAPTO (Seniors and Pensioners Tax Offset) which further increases the amount of income a pensioner can have before paying tax and you can claim a UPP (Undeducted Purchase Price) deduction of 8% of your UK state pension. You might be able to claim a UPP on your local gov ill health pension too - but you'd need to show that you paid into that pension while you were working and how much. This is all based on you being Australian tax resident on your worldwide income. If you only have a temporary visa then foreign income will be exempt but it sounds like you have PR.

As someone who lived in Melbourne for almost 10 years before moving to Queensland, I'd definitely recommend Brisbane. The bad news though is that the beaches near Brisbane aren't the best and because everyone wants to be near the beach they're also the most crowded and expensive parts of Brisbane. However you can easily find somewhere that is fairly rural yet officially still in Brisbane (Greater Brisbane is twice the size of Greater London but with a quarter of the population) and so in commuting distance. People also commute to Brisbane from the Northern end of the Gold Coast and the Southern end of the Sunshine Coast. Your budget would cover a 4 bed in the Western suburbs of Melbourne but not in the more popular South East of Melbourne. You'd have a much wider choice of affordable suburbs (some of which are fairly rural) in Brisbane.