How to resolve tax issues while overseas

 Author: NikkiATO(Community Moderator)Community Moderator

17 Nov 2025

Hi @Wand,

You're right to want to get this sorted. Since you were overseas permanently and worked there, you may have been a non-resident for tax purposes during those years.

First, check your tax residency status for each year using the residency tests. If you were a non-resident, you generally only need to report Australian income – so if you had no Australian income, you may not have needed to lodge returns at all.

Here's what you can do:

• Log into your myGov account to see if you have outstanding lodgments.
• If you had no Australian income and were a non-resident, you can lodge non-lodgment advice forms for those years.

You can complete non-lodgment advice through ATO online services or return paper forms. Since there are 7 years to sort through, accessing your online account first will show you exactly what's outstanding.

If you’ve lodged returns that need correcting, you generally have 2 years from the date of the original notice of assessment to amend a return if you're an individual not in business.

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