Dear all
We have recently moved to Australia with a temporary research visa and will stay temporarily for 1.5 years. My wife has a research project at the University of Melbourne. I myself got the opportunity to continue part time work for my previous Swiss employer (1 day per week). The tax situation is a bit unclear to me. I understand it the following way and would highly appreciate your inputs.
Situation/statement I appreciate your comments:
- My Swiss employer is not taking out tax. He is purely based in Switzerland and does not have a business in Australia.
- The work I do is considered as remote work, I support my employer on some projects I was involved before we left.
- A Certificate of Coverage is in place to make sure that my super annuation continues in Switzerland and that I don’t have to pay super in Australia.
- I am an Australian resident for tax purpose.
Questions on my side and your advise on the following is appreciated:
- My interpretation is that my income is “Foreign employment income - not on an income statement/payment summary”. Is this correct?
- As my employer in Switzerland is not taking out any tax, my intention is to proceed as follows:
- Ask the ATO to setup a PAYG Instalment and proactively pay money to the ATO
- Lodge the Swiss income in the tax return as is “Foreign employment income - not on an income statement/payment summary”
- Is this procedure the right one? I base it mainly on the ATO home page section Foreign employment income and section 23AG - employees and then Pay as you go and foreign employment income and then “If your foreign employer isn't taking tax out”) and also on the ATO community entry https://community.ato.gov.au/s/question/a0J9s0000001IXqEAM/p00047588
- Is it correct that with this understanding no specific action is needed on my employers side?
Thanks a lot for your support and also advice if the correct way is completely different.
Best Regards,
Mark