I'm a UK citizen and I arrived into Australia in Feb 2023 on a 2 year temporary skill shortage visa 482.
Since I arrived in the country, I have continued to work for my UK employer as my job can be performed remotely. I continue to pay UK income tax and my employer has paid into my private UK pension. I remain a full time employee of my UK company and I receive my income into my UK bank account.
I have reviewed the residency test on the ATO website and I believe I am a resident for tax purposes in Australia.
What I can't figure out is as a resident for tax purposes here, should I stop paying tax in the UK and pay it in Australia only? Or can I continue to pay tax in the UK and just declare it as foreign income on my tax return. I understand there is a double taxation agreement between Australia and the UK so I should receive a foreign income tax offset.
I have rang the ATO several times since April and nearly everyone I've spoken to could not answer my question or assist me with any advice, as it was something they had never come across before. There was only one lady out of the five people I spoke to who gave me some advice which was that I should pay here, and I can set up monthly payments to pay tax so that I don't have to pay it all at the end of the tax year. She advised me (back in June) to wait until the end of the current Australian tax year to change my payments as I would need to contact HMRC first, ask them to stop taxing me and then be paid my full monthly wage with tax included in the UK, transfer my money over here and then pay a monthly tax amount in Australia. I attempted to ring the ATO back in July but with it being prime tax return time I couldn't speak to anyone. I also have had a brief conversation with an accountant who told me my UK employer should deduct and pay my tax to the ATO on my behalf not me but said I would need to speak to the ATO to set this up. I have checked the ATO website but I can't seem to find an advice page on how I or my UK company would pay the tax for my situation.
I also have another issue in that my company would need to pay superannuation for me here if I stop paying tax in the UK as my UK pension company will no longer accept contributions from my employer if I'm not paying tax there and will no longer get tax offsets for it. I have spoken to a few superannuation companies and asked them how I could go about my employer paying super without an ABN as obviously they do not have one and they told me to speak to ATO. I did ring the super phone number for the ATO but unfortunately they could not assist me with my query.
I have spoken with HMRC in the UK back in May who told me they believe they should not be taxing me, based on me currently residing in Australia and their residency tests but we agreed that they would keep taxing me until I figured out the situation here so that I don't stop paying tax completely. So as it stands I am still paying tax in the UK and will continue to do so until I can figure out if I need to pay it here only and how I go about that.
I am hoping by asking the questions on here someone who does have knowledge of the above can assist me the correct answers as I really don't want to keep ringing up and not being able to speak to someone who can help me.
3,435 views
1 replies