Redrover

Also worth highlighting that you only 'break even' for tax purposes and pay no tax anywhere on the rent if taxable rental income (see definition above) <= 0. Note this does not allow you to deduct capital repayments, ie where part of your mortgage payments each month reduce the amount you owe. So your statement 'covers your mortgage and fees so you break even' should read 'covers your mortgage interest and fees so you break even'.

Easiest way of thinking about tax on uk rental income for perm residents whose main income is in Aus: Taxable rental income = rent received - mortgage interest paid - repairs - agents fees - wear and tear (if furnished) You pay tax on the taxable rental income based on Aussie income tax rates. So add this income to your other Aussie income and work out the total income tax due. The difference between this and the income tax you would owe without the rental income is the tax you have to pay on the rent. Generally this means the rent is taxed at your highest Aussie tax band although it may push you into a higher band. You are not taxed twice. The only subtlety is you may pay some of that to the uk government and some to the Aussie government as per rules listed earlier in the thread. This depends on your personal situation. The total is the same.

For the rental income: you'd pay tax in the uk on your rent minus allowable deductions (mortgage interest, repairs and maintenance, agents fees, wear and tear on furnishings) but you also qualify for the uk tax free allowance. The uk rental income minus deductions would also count as additional income in Aus so would incur Aussie income tax but you can offset this with any tax paid in the uk (the reciprocal arrangement). In reality unless you own an expensive home you won't pay much tax in the uk but will pay in Aus at your top income tax rate.

All depends where you're moving from and to. But broadly, assuming your moving to a city in aus, I would say 2 (coming from London), 2.2 (South East) up to 2.5+. We moved from London to Melbourne and find it's almost exactly 2:1. But of course London isn't cheap either....

If your plan is to buy then I'd also think about where you rent. Even for Melbourne your rental budget is in a different league to your purchase budget. You may not want to rent and settle in an area you could never afford to buy in. Rental yields are low here so for the rent you're looking at you can live in a $1.5-2m house and in almost any suburb. For your purchase you're looking at less established suburbs and/or further out from the cbd. But either way Melbourne is a great place to live.

We've only been here 6 months but to be honest I don't recognise some of the descriptions here of Melbourne weather. Don't know if you acclimatise? It is not cold in the winter, it's very dry and you don't get endless grey days. When we left the uk in early April we'd just had 4 weeks of snow on the ground and grey skies, with temps less than 5 degrees. Here think uk spring temps in the winter. Agree houses here are drafty and decent heating helps. 14 degrees is not cold by uk winter standards but not comfortable if that's the temp in your house. Rare there's a day without any clear blue skies - cloudy days normally clear. If it rains it properly rains but doesn't drizzle for days on end like the uk. It is very changeable - not uncommon to change 10-20 degrees from one day to another. And to be honest, having just gone through our first 40 degree day, I'm glad it's due to drop 15 degrees in the next 2 days. Overall significantly warmer, with much more blue skies vs the uk, but windy and very changeable.

Hi, firstly great thread! Secondly I know you need to have owned your car for a year before importing to avoid commercial charges, but for a car bought from new would that be measured from when you first ordered it or when it was delivered and registered in your name? Unfortunately I suspect the latter...

Really helpful...tbh just posting this so I can find it again. Moving to melbourne in a few months