Australia Bound Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 Looking for a bit of advice. I am moving out to Brisbane from the UK before the end of the year and there is a possibility that my current employer will keep me on, working from home in Aus, however my company does not have a presence in Australia that i know of, so i'd assume my earnings would continue to be paid to my UK bank account. I'm wondering if anybody here has done this or knows someone who has? I know there is a tax treaty between the UK and Australia that might allow me to avoid being taxed twice, but i don't know if there are any other potential pitfalls surrounding the transfer of funds on a regular basis, or anything else i would need to think about. Any advice is welcome. cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernbird Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 You pay tax in the UK if you are paid in the UK and when you come to submit your Australian tax return you submit your P60 to show how much tax you have paid. If Australian is more then you pay the difference to the ATO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 You pay tax in the UK if you are paid in the UK and when you come to submit your Australian tax return you submit your P60 to show how much tax you have paid. If Australian is more then you pay the difference to the ATO. Not correct, I'm afraid. If you are working in an employed capacity while living in Australia the company should be operating an Australian payroll. Best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Australia Bound Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 Not correct, I'm afraid. If you are working in an employed capacity while living in Australia the company should be operating an Australian payroll. Best regards. Hi Alan, Thanks for replying, what are the options in the case where there is no local (Aus) payroll? Isn't what northernbird is saying is true? That's the way I thought it worked. cheers steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Hi Steve. Options include: > Setting up an Australian payroll. > Operating as a self employed person. Best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Not correct, I'm afraid. If you are working in an employed capacity while living in Australia the company should be operating an Australian payroll. Best regards. Is this something that's unique to Australia? My husband did several expat postings and continued to be paid by his UK employer into his UK bank account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Collett Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Is this something that's unique to Australia? My husband did several expat postings and continued to be paid by his UK employer into his UK bank account. I can't comment on the situation in other countries - I'm not across the situation in other jurisdictions. Sorry. Best regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 I am moving out to Brisbane from the UK before the end of the year and there is a possibility that my current employer will keep me on, working from home in Aus, however my company does not have a presence in Australia that i know of, so i'd assume my earnings would continue to be paid to my UK bank account. If Alan is right (and being a tax guy, I expect he is) then the simplest thing might be just to set yourself up as a "sole trader" (which is the simplest kind of small business) in Australia, and then invoice your company each month for your services. There are some advantages to that. It means your company will have to pay you in Australian dollars and wear the cost of sending the money to your Aussie account! As a small business, if you set up an office area in your home, you'll be able to claim a portion of your rent/mortgage, and other business expenses, against your tax. You will need to do some research on setting up as a sole trader - flyingsolo.com.au is a good place to start. This thread may be relevant - I see there's someone on there who manages offshore employees for a living so you could try PM'ing him/her http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/money-finance/71246-working-british-company-whilst-living-australia.html I notice a couple of good points in that thread - if you are going to become a contractor, they will no longer be paying your NI contributions, and they won't be paying you for holidays or sick leave, so you need to negotiate a higher hourly rate to compensate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Is this something that's unique to Australia? My husband did several expat postings and continued to be paid by his UK employer into his UK bank account. I don't believe it would be unique to Australia. Being paid into the UK bank account is not the issue, it is about where the tax is paid. If he was not physically present in UK, then there was no need for UK tax or NI (assuming he spent a full tax year out of the country). So to OP, yes I agree with your other post that he should set up as a sole trader or at least somehow get paid gross of any UK deductions. I can't see any reason why he has to be paid in AUD though, or to an Australian bank account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northernbird Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Not correct, I'm afraid. If you are working in an employed capacity while living in Australia the company should be operating an Australian payroll. Best regards. Ooopsie, sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy1 Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 If leaving the money in the UK but you need to convert to AUD for Tax Declaration/Return purposes, which you have to do. These are the rates to use https://www.ato.gov.au/Rates/Foreign-exchange-rates/?amp;page=3#Monthly_rates Further info here https://www.ato.gov.au/Rates/Foreign-exchange-rates/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinker78 Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Does anyone know how this works in reverse? I will be working for an aussie employer, but i wish to relocate back to the UK. Will they need to set up a business there? i'm guessing yes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumpkin Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Does anyone know how this works in reverse? I will be working for an aussie employer, but i wish to relocate back to the UK. Will they need to set up a business there? i'm guessing yes.... Yes. Much the same in reverse. They don't necessarily need to set up a business in UK though. But you should be outside the Aussie PAYG system and in the UK tax system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Hi Steve. Options include: > Setting up an Australian payroll. > Operating as a self employed person. Best regards. Being self employed is one option OP. Then you can invoice the UK company each month, have it paid into your UK bank account and then transer it across. Use a decent transfer company where you don't get hit for fees and get a good rate and it is fine. Set aside some for tax each month in Aus as you'll be liable for tax here. As has been pointed out, no NI or holidays this way. So make sure you get a decent salary to cover this. Same for pension. Look into how it works if you are self employed and contracting longer term to one company only. It may be you cannot continue to work for them indefinately and will need to take a period of time off contracting/working for them. Otherwise it may have to fall under employment, not self employment and could present problems. Or you may need to seek out other clients to work for also for periods of time. Or it might all be fine and dandy, but do some homework on this before committing to anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Australia Bound Posted July 14, 2014 Author Share Posted July 14, 2014 thanks everyone for the great advice, i can speak to my boss now and go in to him with a solution to my departure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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