Wanderer Returns

19 hours ago, Ken said:

Yes, once you've been taxed on all the growth in the fund any further lump sum withdrawals are treated as withdrawals of capital which are tax free.

That's good to know. Is that regardless of whether you make those withdrawals monthly, or as a one-off withdrawal at the tax year?

Andy and Ken, thank you both for your very helpful information.

19 hours ago, Andrew from Vista Financial said:

In terms of doing anything to make the process more tax efficient....perhaps but there is not enough information to go off and without understanding your personal situation and goals and objectives not really possible to know the suitability of any options however the below could/should be considered: 

• Tax Deductible Contributions to Super (subject to contributions caps and taxable income)
• Instead a transfer to an Australian Superannuation (QROPS).

Unfortunately I will need the money in the next few months, which is why I'm considering taking the lump sum at this time. I don't have any available funds to make additional contributions into my Australian super, so I don't think the first suggestion (above) is going to help. And in both cases my money would remain in superannuation until I'm 60, although only having to pay concessional rate tax of 15% on the applicable fund earnings amount would be far more preferable.

18 hours ago, Ken said:

I don't know if UK pension funds allow the 25% lump sum to be paid in more than one payment. If they did, getting it paid in two instalments (say one in June and one in July) would offer a tax saving

I've checked with them and my UK pension provider will allow me to take the 25% lump sum in more than one payment, so I definitely intend to do this.

18 hours ago, Ken said:

The following year if your Pension Plan didn't grow at all, then if you took another £12,500 lump sum using your UK tax free allowance then that £12,500 would be tax free in Australia too. If on the other hand your Pension Plan had grown by another £5,000 then £5,000 would be taxable and £7,500 tax free.

If, however, you chose to take the 75% as a Pension rather than as additional lump sums then it would normally all be taxable income in Australia (so you lose out on getting anything tax free). You can however apply to get the payments paid tax free from the UK with an NT tax code without needing to worry about the annual allowance.

Pay attention to the timing of when you take lump sums. If you take a lump sum in April, only 1/12th of your annual allowance will be available and you'll need to claw back the overpayment at the year-end (you can only get an NT tax code for pensions, not lump sums). Furthermore, the payment will be in the year ended 30th June in Australia and not in the following year, and you'll probably still be waiting for your UK tax refund in June of the following year.

Just to clarify, if I was to make further withdrawals as lump sums rather than taking them as a pension, I'd only get taxed on the growth in the fund? And the best time to take a lump sum would be in March so my provider wouldn't withhold any (or very little) tax, and I wouldn't need to reclaim it from the HMRC. Is this correct?

Hi, I want to take a lump sum from my UK SIPP.

I've read that Australia taxes the growth since you became a permanent resident. In my case this is roughly 50%. Using some arbitrary figures, if the value of my SIPP is now £150,000 then the growth part would be about £50,000.

So if I took a 25% lump sum (which would be tax-free in the UK), would I be taxed on just that amount (i.e. £37,500), or would I be required to pay tax on the growth of the whole fund - the full £50,000?

Secondly, is there anything I can do to make the above process more tax efficient?

Thanks in advance.

On 21/09/2023 at 18:45, Nemesis said:

The visa won't be cancelled until the ceremony.

As long as the RRV is still valid she can travel on that. No need for bridging visas. 

Thanks for the clarification - most appreciated.

23 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

You can go on holiday but any processing of the application will stop. It should resume when you return though. 
It used to say about travel and recommended not leaving between the test and approval as you must be in Australia for these. 
Not sure on the timelines at the moment though. Once you have attended the ceremony you are a citizen and will need an Australian passport to travel. So allow time for that. 

That's helpful - thank you for that. I was just concerned that my wife's visa might be cancelled after they had received her application. I recall reading something about needing a 'bridging visa' somewhere if you wanted to go overseas, but maybe that was misinformation.

It would seem that the best time to go away would either between now and the test, or after approval and waiting for the ceremony, but not between taking the test and waiting for approval - as you have said.

My wife has recently applied for citizenship but we haven't heard anything yet. Is it okay to go on an overseas holiday in the meantime, or for that matter at anytime during the citizenship process up until the ceremony? Her British passport and RRV are well in date. I had a look at the Immi site and there doesn't seem to be any restrictions, but further clarification on the matter from those in the know would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

A couple of quick questions, and apologies if this gets asked frequently but I wasn't able to find answers by searching the forum.

I am currently helping my wife complete her application for Citizenship

Firstly, is it okay to request the Citizenship appointment in a different location to ceremony? On page 12 of the online application form I have entered the preferred citizenship appointment location as Maroochydore because we live on the Sunshine Coast. Then on page 13, I have named the applicant's local council as Brisbane because that's where my wife wants to attend the ceremony. The reasons being that we'd heard the citizenship ceremony takes a really long time on the SC due to a backlog of applications and infrequent ceremonies. However, I was wondering if we should just make it Brisbane for both the appointment and the ceremony in case it looks a bit odd?

Secondly, is your birth certificate required for the Citizenship application? For the first identity document (page 18) I have entered my wife's QLD driver's licence, and her bank statement for page 19 (evidence of residential address). For the second identity document required on page 20, it gives the option of 'Full birth certificate' or 'Other'. I have selected 'other' and entered her UK passport details because her birth certificate is in a language other than English, so we'd need to get it translated. I'd heard other people say that you definitely needed your birth certificate for the Citizenship application but unless I have completed the application form incorrectly, it seems like you don't?

Many thanks in advance for clarification on these points.

42 minutes ago, Mmmbop said:

You melon. 

The OP says: Thinking there might be others struggling with the same questions, I thought I'd start a thread where we can share any answers we might find, or add to the related questions.

So I added my question, to the thread, which is titled 'Questions surrounding the announcement of re-opening of international borders'.

I don't see anything restricting conversation to the discussion of inbound flights.

Again, I asked a good faith question. In the course of that discussion, someone else brought up the issue to which you're referring, one which is close to my heart, and I wasn't about to just let it slide. Again, that discussion was also relevant to this, again, open, thread.

For all the disagreement, @Marisa was not 'pointing out' the irrelevance of my question, she was answering it, helpfully, until we came to the difference of opinion.

So why don't you just mind your own business and let the discussion continue.

Absolutely. Be my guest...

1 hour ago, Nemesis said:

Cancelling citizenship is relatively simple, but u fortunately requesting that your PR be cancelled is far more difficult. Having seen a post in a facebook group from a US citizen with Australian PR, who wished to leave permanently but had been refused several times, I asked an agent friend if it was possible to cancel PR in order to leave. Seems it is complex and far from the easy process one would expect. He even got advice from the Ministers office. Unless one breaks the law or similar, and results in the Immigration Dept cancelling it, its pretty much impossible. 

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

Actually no, I don't think cancelling your PR is an option.   The question has come up relating to claiming your superannuation.  I'm not sure it would help anyway, because you wouldn't have proof of residency overseas.

I certainly wouldn't argue with a RMA, but when I log into my wife's ImmiAccount there's a link to request visa cancellation.

On 05/10/2021 at 19:58, Mmmbop said:

Can I clarify, do you mean you received an exemption for your family to visit Australia? Or for you to visit family in Australia?

If so, can I ask what the relationship is? I.e. parents (non immediate family) or 'immediate' family? 

1 hour ago, Mmmbop said:

What on earth are you on about? Are you actually suggesting that if you are a citizen and you wish to move abroad you should have to renounce your citizenship? Absolute raging nonsense. 

If you read the thread you'd see that I asked an entirely relevant question about the reliability of outbound flights. During the course of the response I received, someone else brought up the topic of exemptions and how easy they are to get. I corrected her. All of which is also relevant to this topic, as previously stated on this thread, because anyone leaving the country permanently needs to know about the exemption situation.

The question you actually quote, which is nothing to do with that discussion, is also entirely relevant, and the information I requested was not previously stated anywhere.

So do pipe down. 

I read the thread, Einstein - I was actually the first one to comment on it. The OP stated he is looking to travel to Australia with his family for Christmas, and later on that his wife is desperate to visit her family there. Your initial question and subsequent ramblings about exemptions weren't relevant because they were about leaving Australia - not travelling here. This was already pointed out to you on several occasions by Marisa, although you didn't seem to be able to get a grasp on that as you were too busy bagging the Australian government.

I agree, renouncing one's citizenship or cancelling your a permanent visa is a drastic measure, and one that most people would never consider, but I was stating it's an option if the government wouldn't allow you to leave otherwise. If you never want to come back here to live, then what have you got to lose? (That's rhetorical, by the way)

My original point still stands. It's poor show hijacking someone's else's post and then arguing with others about unrelated topics. Just start you own post in future.

If you're finding life hard in Australia then God help you when you return to the UK - you attitude stinks. Although I believe they need a few truck drivers by all accounts 

I'll pipe down now.

6 hours ago, DrDougster said:

Awesome, thank you. I guess I have no faith in Aus post but needs must...

And quite rightly so. I'd ordered from M&S online so was excited to receive an Aus post text saying it'd arrived after about 2 weeks, but when I returned home the package was for someone else who live a couple of streets away. I took his parcel around, so at least one of us was happy. My socks and grundies turned up about 10 days later 

On 05/10/2021 at 19:58, Mmmbop said:

Can I clarify, do you mean you received an exemption for your family to visit Australia? Or for you to visit family in Australia?

If so, can I ask what the relationship is? i.e. parents (non immediate family) or 'immediate' family? 

@Mmmbop In all fairness you would have known this had you taken time to read the thread from the start, rather than hijacking someone else's post for your own question. It's fine if the question is closely related, but clearly not if it leads to antagonistic debate about an unrelated matter. I've been a PiO member for nearly a decade and I've found it to be an invaluable source of information, and most members extremely helpful. Of course, if you come here looking for an argument then you will surely find one, but that's true of any forum. I appreciate not everyone is happy with Australia's travel restriction policy and some see it as an infringement of their civil liberties, but I'd suggest the 'Chewing the fat' section of the forum is the best place to discuss that.

Any naturalized Australian has the right to renounce their citizenship, and any permanent resident can apply to have their PR cancelled - after which they can leave these shores without any restriction. That option has always been available to those who wish to leave Australia permanently, which makes the whole discussion about obtaining travel exemptions irrelevant.

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/cancelling-a-visa

On 02/10/2021 at 11:39, Rosiejules said:

Are there any decent high schools in the area? We don’t mind paying for a private school if necessary.

For state schools, check the ICSEA rating on the MySchool website. Any school rated 1050 or above is usually a decent school in a good area.

https://myschool.edu.au/

On 01/10/2021 at 09:34, Rosiejules said:

Hi Me & my family are thinking of moving from Victoria to Queensland after Christmas. My son is 12 and will be starting high school. Looking for safe suburbs and reasonably priced rental accommodation. Approx 30 mins train ride to the city. We love the beach so not too far inland. TIA

Jules

Good move! I'm sure you won't regret it.

There aren't many bad suburbs in Brisbane (it's not like Sydney and Melbourne), so it does comes down to what you can afford. Be warned there appears to be a distinct lack of affordable rental accommodation in S E Queensland at the moment (if you listen to the media), so I'd plan in advance. What's you rental budget?

North-west and western suburbs are the most affluent, but not that far west that you reach Ipswich - that's a place to avoid. Also avoid Inala, Springwood, and Logan - and any suburbs in the surrounding areas. Brisbane is 1 hour drive from the northern end of the Gold Coast or 1.5 hours to the Sunshine Coast, so many choose to live half way between to be closer to the coast for the weekends. However, once you get into the Morton Bay areas (either north or south) it can get a bit rough - particularly the schools - so that's worth bearing in mind. This map is a few years old, but it might help with the suburbs.

15 hours ago, newjez said:

It wouldn't surprise me if there was an 'accidental' spread of covid to the covid free states over the next six months. It really wouldn't be hard for someone to do, either the 'government' or some anti lockdown nutters off their own back. Post a vial of virus to a willing recipient. Once delta is in and spreading, game over. No point staying closed.

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

This is the going to be the new reality.  Of course it is sad when people die, but it is sad whether it is Covid or Flu or Cancer.  

Actually, that would surprise me very much because with the exception of NSW and VIC, the rest of Australia has contained the spread of the virus extremely effectively - even the delta strain. There's a much lower population density across the rest of the country, remember - Sydney and Melbourne are something of an anomaly in that respect.

And if you tried to get across the NSW-QLD border at the moment without a permit, you'd pretty much be shot on sight!  

42 minutes ago, Darrenowen said:

Hello, 

I wondered if anyone can offer some advise. My Father was issued his 143 contributory parent visa in 2018.

He really wants to make the move permanently to Australia this year and would love to be here by  Xmas. His visa has already been validated due to holidays back and forth from the UK.

We really want to book a flight but we are scared that it might be cancelled as this has already happened with BA.
We’ve just had his granny flat built and we live in NSW. 
The issue for him is that he needs to hand in his notice at work and give notice to his landlord. If he does that and the flight gets canceled then he could be homeless and unemployed.

When booking flights how do they know weather your a permeant resident or not?  

They don't. The airline verifies this with the Australian Department of Immigration when you check-in at the UK airport. It took my wife 45 minutes to be verified, so he will need to arrive at the check-in very early. Booking Business of First Class flights seems to be the only way of ensuring you don't get bumped off. I wouldn't book flights with any airline that hasn't been flying to Australia in the last 18 months, and there aren't too many of them; Qatar, Emirates, for example.

We faced the same dilemma just over a year ago. I was in Brisbane and the wife was in the UK. She finished work on the Wednesday, the shippers came in Thursday and Friday, and she was on her way to Manchester Airport on Saturday morning.

You father is going to leave his job anyway, so I don't see that being unemployed for a week or two as being a major issue. He could end his lease after he was due to fly, so if the worse came to the worse, he'd have a short-term roof over his head (albeit an empty one).

There's no easy way around it really - it's a case of paying your money and taking your chances.

3 hours ago, Karl D said:

Hmmm, we come over twice a year, since 2013, to see our two daughters. The last time we were there was November 2019, we just saw our first grandson born and two days later left thinking we’d be back in 6 months. Our second grandchild is expected in January. It’s a big deal to us not getting there I assure you.

You are very fortunate to be able to afford to do that, but I think that for most folks a visit out here every 2-3 years would be the norm. Hope it won't be too long before you get to see your new grandchild in person  

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

I wonder that too.   Judging by all the articles full of British migrants complaining about feeling trapped in Australia, you'd think there would be a massive exodus.  But I wonder.   

I can see people who've been in the habit of visiting every year, deciding not to risk this kind of thing happening again, so they might go back. Especially if, as has been suggested, air fares will stay very expensive for a long time to come, so annual visits will be less affordable.

However there are a lot of migrants who see their families only once every two, three, five (or even more) years even in normal times.  They've been angry during Covid because they felt deprived of choice, but once they calm down, they'll realise that actually they've only missed one visit, so what's the big deal?  Especially if they enjoy their life in Australia. 

Totally. People miss what they can't have in that moment in time - it's just human nature.

6 minutes ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

And I appreciate that. I really do. But as I’m sure you can imagine, my wife, who has missed births , deaths and marriages of immediate family is absolutely desperate to see them and whilst I try to keep her expectations low, it’s my job to make it happen if it’s at all possible. 

Yes, I can imagine - my wife and I were separated for 6 months last year due to this whole sorry mess. We thought it would only be a couple of months at the time, but then there was that 3 month lockdown in the UK!

I wonder when all this is over just how many people will return to Australia permanently from the UK - and vice versa? 

On 30/09/2021 at 13:04, Marisawright said:

There are strategies even for ordinary people.   My father sold the house to one of my sisters, on condition that he could live there for the rest of his life.  Then he split the proceeds equally between all of us.  Of course, the other obvious strategy is to downsize once the kids have left home and then work out a strategy for the surplus cash. 

On 01/10/2021 at 15:52, DIG85 said:

Not sure when your father did this, but that wouldn't work today unless your father was paying market rent to your sister. If he wasn't, this would be a "gift with reservation of benefit" and the value of the house would remain in his estate for IHT purposes. Any rent received by your sister would be subject to UK income tax.

My mum and I were thinking of doing something like that about 15 years ago, and when we looked into it I recall the whole 'gift with reservation of benefit' issue cropping up. In addition, there's always the danger that the offspring might end up with financial problems, get sued, or simply decide to turf the poor ageing parent out on the street - stranger things have happened!

30 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

There will be enough vaccine available soon for everyone 12 plus to get at least their first vaccine before Christmas. Won’t be a supply issue but willingness of people to come forward. 

I don't think there's been a supply issue from the beginning if you didn't mind getting the AZ jab. The problem here in Queensland was that the centralized booking system was a complete failure, and most people ended up booking their vaccinations at a local surgery.

1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

The WA premier gave a late press conference yesterday and basically said what you’ve mentioned above. He said the WA chief health officer didn’t support 7 day home quarantine “at this time” and they had no plans to introduce it. Also Qantas’ recent statement about WA borders being closed until April at least, points to a very slow reopening over here.

From a selfish point of view I’m trying to remain supportive and understand we need to wait until everyone has had the opportunity to be vaccinated, but the lack of a plan or target to reopen is frustrating. Also the language being used worries me as Mr McGowan has made a number of comments recently indicating he would be happy to keep the borders closed long term with a Covid zero target. I fear we might be closed until Covid sneaks in and We have an outbreak, removing Covid zero as an option.

I feel myself drifting from supporting the premiers approach to being in opposition of it, given the increasing vaccination rates. I suspect I’m in the minority in WA though 

To be honest I think the Australia government would still be pushing 'covid zero' as a policy if it wasn't for the current outbreak in NSW and VIC, which clearly isn't going to be contained through lockdown measures. It's sad that there are now people dying every day, whereas Australia went without any fatalities for months, but at the same time I think it's been the wake-up call the nation needed to get everyone vaccinated.

4 minutes ago, NicF said:

Agree completely with the above post.  And just to add the borders will only open once a state reaches 80% vaccinated and most states apart from NSW are some way off that.  Even once 80% vaccinated premiers have said that they will not open if there are communities with significantly lower rates of vaccination.  There is little detail on how the 7 day home quarantine will work either and so far only NSW and SA have gone anywhere near the idea - I’m not aware of any of the other states agreeing to this yet.  Plus no detail on what proof someone will need to show they are fully vaccinated, even for people vaccinated here in Australia.

While I would love a trip overseas to see my mum while I still can I will be waiting for far more certainty about how the new border arrangements will work before booking flights.

Same here. We wanted to go to NZ in January but we'll be lucky to get to Tassie at this rate! 

4 hours ago, FirstWorldProblems said:

Today's announcement that borders will re-open in November is great news, and I'm sure mine is not the only family hoping to travel to Australia to spend Christmas with our family there. Qantas immediately brought forward the start of bookable flights from 19 December to 14 November for their two most popular routes, London and LA.  As I have been exploring flight options today I can see people are booking them quickly.

But the announcement is light on detail, absent which it is difficult to book a flight with confidence.  Thinking there might be others struggling with the same questions, I thought I'd start a thread where we can share any answers we might find, or add to the related questions.

Question: Are family of Citizens and perm Residents able to enter?

Although the official press release refers to "australian citizens and permanent resident"s, all newspaper reports of the press conference quote the PM as saying "fully vaccinated Australians, permanent residents and family members"

Question: How do the family of citizens get a visa to join travelling citizens?

I've had a visitor visa application sat in "Received" state since February.  Do I delete it and try again?  

Question: What constitutes "fully vaccinated"?

"Seven-day home quarantine for Australian citizens and permanent residents fully vaccinated" is great news for those visiting family.  No need to spend two weeks in a hotel.  But what constitutes fully vaccinated?  Australia is very clear that this is 2 doses of an approved vaccine.    In the UK (which is one of only two destinations Qantas is opening flights for), under 18's can only have one dose.

So will they be allowed to travel?

Question: Will Qantas refund a flexible ticket?

Given the uncertainty brought by the questions above, and the speed at which tickets are being bought, it seems sensible to book a seat via a fully flexible, fully refundable tickets.  Qantas describes their "flex" ticket as "fully refundable", but when you dig into the detail on their website, the refund is always referred to as a voucher that has to be used within 12 months.  Though hidden deeply in the website you can find reference to cash refunds being something to speak to your local Qantas office about.   1hr 12mins on hold today was all I can manage before giving up.

During Covid I've had a few cancelled flights and was able to get a refund from Air China instantly but Emirates took a few months and Etihad I have a voucher with an option for refund.  What experience do people have in getting a cash refund out of Qantas when you choose to cancel? 

The statement yesterday is great news but I think you are really jumping the gun here. It's a classic 'Scotty from marketing' statement from the federal government in the light of growing criticism and political pressure to reopen Australia to the rest of the world. The reality is that here in Australia the State Premiers run the show - not the Prime Minister. QLD and WA are light years away from reopening at the moment - even to other states. When they eventually do, I'm pretty sure hotel quarantine will be on the cards for a long time to come because being fully vaccinated doesn't mean that you still can't catch the virus, and pass it on. The Premiers are first in line of fire, and when they get it wrong for whatever reason the media doesn't hesitate in hanging them out to dry - as we've just seen in NSW. People overseas don't appreciate the covid mindset here, which is probably about where the UK was this time last year. There are a significant percentage of people who'd be happy if the borders never reopened!

Personally, I'd not be booking any flights here at the moment unless I was returning to Australia to live permanently. There is a huge backlog of permanent residents and citizens who are also desperate to return, and they will likely be given priority over visitors when things finally get moving.

If you're going to throw caution to the wind and book flights anyway, then make sure you do it directly with the airline and ensure your tickets are fully-flexible and refundable.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but honestly, I'm telling it like it is.

3 hours ago, Loopylu said:

I arrived in Australia on a 457 temporary work visa in 2008 but my husband was Australian.  When we bought our house in 2009 we had no issues with FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) because so long as one of the purchasers was Australian the extra costs didn't apply.  Also, as my husband had never purchased a property in Australia before (only in the UK), he qualified for the first home buyer's allowance of $15,000 (not sure if this is still available).  I haven't heard that the FIRB rules have changed but who knows?  Australian Governments seem to like imposing extra taxes and removing benefits from those who are not Australian citizens.  

32 minutes ago, Waldo said:

Thanks guys great help for all your reply’s 

it does say on my visa that I am a permanent resident. They have awarded both pets of the visa 309/100 together 

will this help us buy if I’m a PR right away

Think we will rent for first 12 months until we settle so time to save A good deposit

and I suppose you won’t settle until you get a settled job

Oh that's good - it'd seem likely you won't have any issues with FIRB then  

Having recently purchased a property here, I'm reasonably informed on available concessions. The $15,000 Queensland First Home Owners’ Grant is still available, but you only get it if you are buying or building a new house, unit or townhouse, valued at less than $750,000. This also includes homes you can buy 'off the plan'.

If you are a first-time buyer you can get a transfer duty exemption (same as UK stamp duty) called a First Home Concession on property up to the value of $500,000, and then there's a sliding scale of exemption up to $550,000 (if the property costs any more than that, you don't get the concession). This may well apply to you given your likely budget. There is also a general Home Concession on transfer duty which almost everyone is entitled to at the moment, if they live in their property for a year, and they don't rent it out during that time. These concessions aren't guaranteed, and can of course be removed by the government at any time in the future.

Here are some links to the Queensland government website, which should prove helpful...

https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/financial-help-concessions/qld-first-home-grant

https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/advice-buying-home/transfer-duty/how-much-you-will-pay/concessions-on-transfer-duty/concessions-for-homes/first-home-concession

https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/advice-buying-home/transfer-duty/how-much-you-will-pay/concessions-on-transfer-duty/concessions-for-homes/home-concession