Tax file number

[ayda]

Reposted in this section.

My husband and I have validated our PR Visas and will be moving over to Australia in 2-3 months time. Is there any issue or tax implications with requesting our Tax file numbers whilst we are still in the UK? My husband would like to sort ABN ahead of the move (which requires a tax file number) and I need to request a Medicare provider number (I haven't yet looked into whether this needs a TFN).

We have some money in an Australian bank account which a bank clerk mentioned may be subject to 10% tax if we don't have a TFN?

Many thanks

[Guest]

TFN is applied for once living here usually. It’s not difficult to do, nor is an ABN. 

Medicare you can only do once here. Again, it doesn’t take long. Need to go into a Centrelink or Medicare office and fill out the forms, have your ID etc and you will be issued a temp form till the card arrives.

Generally once arriving to live here you take a couple days to get all those things in place. Iirc our ABN’s and TFN’s were sorted in less than an hour. Within 2 days we had Medicare, tax stuff, drivers licence, bank cards and more sorted. 

 

[calNgary]

All the things you mention require you have an Australian adress, as Snifter says they are very simple things to apply for once your here and dont take that long to process.

Cal x

[rammygirl]

The 10% is a withholding tax on the interest only. Once you provide your tax details check they stop taking it.  If you over pay you can claim it back. Banks here do not deduct interest at source (except for non residents) you have to declare it on your tax return. So you will be paying more than 10% on it if you are earning over the minimum threashol anyway. 

You have to be in Australia to apply for TFN if you try and apply from overseas it will block you, you need to give your passport details and the system will know if you are not in Australia. 

[Parley]

I am surprised if the witholding tax is only 10%. 

I always understood it to be the top tax rate plus medicare levy so something like 49% (maybe they changed the rules).

 

The whole point of witholding tax originally was that if you don't declare your TFN they will deduct tax at the top rate.

If it is only 10% that would be no incentive to provide the TFN as 10% is probably a lot less than the real tax payable.

Edited May 20, 2018 by Parley

[ayda]

33 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

The 10% is a withholding tax on the interest only. Once you provide your tax details check they stop taking it.  If you over pay you can claim it back. Banks here do not deduct interest at source (except for non residents) you have to declare it on your tax return. So you will be paying more than 10% on it if you are earning over the minimum threashol anyway. 

You have to be in Australia to apply for TFN if you try and apply from overseas it will block you, you need to give your passport details and the system will know if you are not in Australia. 

Thanks - this is exactly what I needed to know. I realise TFN and ABN don't take long, but it would have been preferable to have ABN now as we would have liked to buy a domain name asap. As far as I know this requires an ABN but if anyone knows different would be good to hear. I thought it must be the interest the 10 % is deducted from - that's good to confirm as we want to leave the small balance we have in our Australian bank account 

Getting a Medicare provider number apparently has a 2 month backlog at the moment but thankfully, looking at the form, I can't see that it requires a TFN.

 

[rammygirl]

The emergency tax is taken from interest if you are resident but have not supplied a TFN. So if you change your address to an Australian one they will take the higher rate. Again you can claim any over payment back. 

The 10% is for non residents so that Australia gets a cut of your Aussie generated income. The 10% can be offset against your UK tax bill. 

[Alan Collett]

17 hours ago, ayda said:

Thanks - this is exactly what I needed to know. I realise TFN and ABN don't take long, but it would have been preferable to have ABN now as we would have liked to buy a domain name asap. As far as I know this requires an ABN but if anyone knows different would be good to hear. I thought it must be the interest the 10 % is deducted from - that's good to confirm as we want to leave the small balance we have in our Australian bank account 

Getting a Medicare provider number apparently has a 2 month backlog at the moment but thankfully, looking at the form, I can't see that it requires a TFN.

 

10% withholding tax is applied to your Australian bank interest while you are a tax resident of the UK.

Re obtaining a .com.au domain name: https://www.domainregistration.com.au/infocentre/info-center-qd3.php

Best regards.