AliG

PS I think Non-Doms refers to people living in UK but being treated as if they are outside of the UK with respect to Income earned abroad - so strictly speaking, the change to IHT for Brits abroad its not a change in the treatment of Non-Doms but a change to the treatment of UK Domiciled Brits living abroad that is being introduced in parallel.

The Telegraph says (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/tax/inheritance/british-expats-benefit-inheritance-tax-break-non-dom-scrap/#:~:text=As part of a swathe,IHT on their estates globally.): "Tens of thousands of British expatriates could see their inheritance tax bills cut under government plans to reform the non-dom regime. As part of a swathe of reforms to the current tax rules, the estates of Britons living abroad may no longer be charged UK inheritance tax (IHT) on assets outside of the country. Currently individuals who are UK domiciled – the UK is their home country – but resident abroad, are charged IHT on their estates globally. However, under plans to move to a ‘residence-based regime’ from April 2025, expatriates who have lived outside of the UK for 10 years or more will only need to pay IHT on assets in the UK."

Hi - any idea on timing? i.e. what part of the year would you be heading off/returning. And which suburb?

This (rightly) says that Toowong is out of catchment for Indooroopilly State School - but it might be worth clarifying that it does sit within the catchment for Indooroopilly state High School (ie year 7 and up) according to the Brisbane Education Map: https://www.qgso.qld.gov.au/maps/edmap/ This may be obvious to people already living in Aus/Bris - but it wasn't for me as someone researching from abroad...

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Bumping an old thread because I was looking at first time buyer stamp duty concession and came to the conclusion that i wouldn't get the concession as i have owner property abroad - but it sounds like others have had different experiences? Heres what QLD gov website says: To be eligible for a first home concession when you buy or acquire a home, you must: be legally acquiring the property as an individual have never claimed the first home vacant land concession have never held an interest in another residence anywhere in Australia or overseas be at least 18 years of age (we explain below when we may waive this requirement) move into it with your personal belongings and live there on a daily basis within 1 year of settlement (this time cannot be extended) not dispose (sell, transfer, lease or otherwise grant exclusive possession) of all or part of the property before you move in be paying market value if the residence is valued between $500,001 and $549,999.

Thanks EJMAc -that all aligns with what I have heard elsewhere. Its good to hear that your brother in law found a way to make it work. Ive got my head around doing something a bit different - its just figuring out what!

Trains - Helensvale to Brisbane Central is under an hour - but my wife is not massively keen on the north end of the GC. Train from Nerang is 1 hour 10 (plus however long to get to and from stations at each end) - I think Varsity Lakes is over 1hr 20... Driving - We have a relative that drives to the city from Hope Island (again, north GC) and it drives him nuts - enough to put me off. I reckon I could cope with the GC to Brisbane commute as a temporary thing but not ideal with young kids - So if we do end living in the Gold Coast i'll need to find a job or retraining opportunity there. I had a look on Seek.com and there seem to be plenty of engineering jobs (theres a bit of crossover with Building Surveying) on the GC - but most require minimum years of experience/qualifications...

Thanks all - interesting points. I do know Brisbane and Gold Coast a bit - we've done a few trips staying with family in gold coast over the years (and have seen how much it has changed). While on these trips we've visited Brisbane CBD for day trips and caught up with friends in their suburban homes. I grew up in suburban outer Greater London but spent a lot of summer with my grandparents on the Kent coast - neither of these places had a lot of culture or diversity! But for the last 15 years we have lived closer to the city which is plenty more diverse, vibrant and walkable. I totally get that Brisbane and Gold Coast are not going to be London - in an ideal world we'd end up somewhere with shops and cafes walkable, and/or some bike routes - but I get that these kinds of places can come at a premium and might be outside our price range. Now we have kids re are resigned to doing a lot more driving and this is something we do in London what with all the after school activities...

Thanks - a few million AUD would be nice (!) but it’s probably less than half of that. timing and property predictions are definitely a consideration but ultimately they are lower down the list as mostly outside my control - not only can you guess how prices may move in Brisbane vs Gold Cost but how they might move in UK and what the exchange rate will do before we are ready to transfer cash etc All that said, we’re inclined not to hang around as UK economy feeling more than a bit shaky right now.

Hi Everyone, Not sure I know exactly what my question is... Sometimes it helpful just to write down all the bits that potentially influence your thinking and see if anyone had any relevant experience or thoughts to share... Our quandary relates to a potential career change and how that might influence where we live as/when we make the move: CURRENT SITUATION Me (M43 UK citizen) and my Aussie wife are planning to move to Aus in the next year or so with our 2 kids (who are 5 & 7) I am planning to apply shortly for a spouse visa and as far as I can see we tick all the boxes - I married an Aussie 15 years + our 2 kids have dual nationality with both UK and Aussie passports. We would have preferred to hold on to our place in London as a rental - but the more we look into the finances and practicalities of holding UK property (and the implications for options when we arrive to Aus) - we're now thinking we'll sell and take the money with us to (hopefully) buy somewhere outright in Aus. My wife's family are in Gold Coast, but most of her friends are in Brisbane. CAREER I am a RICS chartered building surveyor - working with commercial property (offices, industrial, retail etc). During my career Ive worked for consultancy firms of varying sizes including stints at big ones such as Cushman & Wakefield and Deloitte. Over the last 7 years my work has been quite specialist: mostly dilapidations (landlord and tenant arguing about how much it'll cost to fix the place up at the end of the lease) - As far as i can see this is not really a thing in Aus - they do have some 'make good' requirements in some leases, but it sounds like landlords and tenants typically deal with these in house without using external consultants - in UK there are specialist surveyors like me doing nothing but dilapidations negotiations. I'm either going to have to find someone who will hire me based on transferable skills, and/or do some kind of re-training: I quite like the idea of some kind of sustainability related consulting but I suspect my 'general interest' in the subject won't cut it when applying for jobs. I find the whole idea of a career change/retain equal parts daunting and exciting. Fun to daydream of a career change! - but anything that jeopardises the family income requires careful consideration. Retraining would probably cost a bit and limit my income for a while - not ideal but not insurmountable if we have bought a house in Aus (avoiding mortgage payments), my wife works full time and we dip into savings. My wife is an occupational therapist and it seems she'd be in high demand - I suspect she'd prefer not to work or work part time but she acknowledges this might not be viable! GOLD COAST VS BRISBANE My wife's family are based in gold coast and are just about to retire. They're great with the kids and would love it if we moved to gold coast. They are in Nerang but will move to a new apartment by the beach within a year, keeping their Nerang house as a rental. We like the idea of the lifestyle and family support, and upon arrival to Aus we have the opportunity to rent a nice house in Nerang from the parents, knowing they wouldn't screw us on the price. Drawbacks of GC are high house prices, only one or two friends living that way, and we worry about limited work/career change opportunities for me. Wondered about commuting but not so keen on the more northern bits of GC with train stations, and driving would drive me insane. The obvious alternative to GC is Brisbane. My wife went to uni here and has lots of friends (some of whom I know) with similarly aged kids, though they are dotted around the city. If we went for Brisbane I imagine career change / retraining opportunities might be greater, and we could still visit family at the weekend. On one hand, we are used to a cosmopolitan life in London and do notice that Brisbane is probably a closer match than GC - That said, one of the attractions of emigrating was living somewhere a bit different and I imagine GC might tick this box better than Brisbane? So what do we do, take advantage of the family support in Gold Coast and have a go a job hunting from there (but with the steady financial drip of having to pay rent), or do we go straight to Brisbane, buy somewhere outright and increase career prospects - but stick with the city lifestyle... Any thoughts / experience appreciated. PS apologies for long rambling post!

Hi, Trying to figure out if it is worth my (Aussie) wife paying the NI contributions... She's been in UK paying NI for about 17 years. She recently (last year) got UK citizenship and a UK passport. We're planning to move to Aus next year with our 2 kids - no particular plans to return to UK but its a possibility depending on how we get on over there. So a couple of questions are: a) does the 17 years pre-citizenship count towards qualification for state pension or only the contributions post citizenship? hopefully it does in which case: b) is it worth paying contributions for another 13 years (or more) to get to the magic 30 years? but c) It looks like you can only top up years that you dint contribute and the system is changing as of Apr 2023 (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/) so (if topping up 13 years makes sense) can she top up for years before she came to the UK (and before she was registered for NI) or is that too cheeky? I suspect we might need a chat with a financial advisor to consider this and a range of other points (which we probably don't even know about!)

Thanks I suspected that might the the case - And I'm guessing you need the paperwork in place to get the car on the boat (rather than submitting the application while the car is on its way)?

Hi Iron Chef - a quick question on timing: I understand you have to have owned the car for 1 year - but is this at the point of shipping from UK or at the point of arrival to Aus? Im looking at moving to aus in just under a year - if I buy a car today, it won't be a year old at the time I leave the country (and would want to ship the car) but it would be a year old at the time it arrives in Aus.. Thanks in anticipation. PS A stock 2007 Jaguar XK coupe (2wd 4.2L auto) with 100,000km on the clock is <£12k ($26k) over here and in Aus $25-36k on redbook and $55-$60k on Carsales - I'm guessing that's gonna make sense to take to QLD?

This sounds like the best of both worlds. I suppose the only risk is that the visitor visa runs out before 309 granted - but that risk should be low if I apply for 309 ASAP. Thanks.