Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

My husband has been offered a contract in Dubai. We are Aus. residents living in Qld. He will work for 6 wks and receive a return ticket back to Aus for 2 wks, then back for 6wks, home again for 2 wks..you get the picture. He will be paid US$8-9000 per wk for this work so very well paid.

We are concerned about the tax implications for this work. Husband will be considered a resident of Aus so will have to pay the full tax rate of 48.5%. His earnings will be approx. AU$470,000 per annum so would loose almost half in tax!!!

My questions is this, would it be possible for myself and our 2 kids to move to Dubai so husband would become a non-resident of Aus therefore his earnings would be tax exempt in Australia if we were to stay for 2 years min.? Is it possible for a wife and 2 children to live separate to the husband in Dubai? Husband has accommodation included for himself with the contract but not his family. Our 2 children are high school age.

Basically, we dont want to loose so much in tax here in Aus, it seems ludicrous to pay over AU$200,000 in tax each year!!

Are there any ways we can reduce our tax bill in Aust when husbands income is derived from Dubai, a tax free country? If you have any suggestions or help to offer please do. Obviously we will seek advice from Tax Accountants but in the meantime wondered if anyone on here has first hand experience with this.

Im sure others earning around AU $400-500K per annum would not happily give approx. $200K to the Aus. Govt each year in taxes!!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/help

I think it would be best for your husband to renegotiate the terms with his company. He could ask them to change his signle status to family status. Then he doesn't have to go back every month. I could imiagine the company would be saving substantially on airfare and that money could be allocated to housing and education allowance. What do you think?

K-Dog, husband has to pay for his return ticket from his own pay so the company are not out of pocket with regard to this.

I guess he will have to ask more questions with regard to myself and our children accompanying him to Dubai for a minimum of 2 years to aviod the very high taxes Australians are expected to pay.

Thanks anyway.

Even if he has to pay the airfare out of his own pocket, I think its still worth the whole family to be here together to avoid taxes. 6 trips a year back home. I am assuming $1500/trip is $9000 so thats your savings on top of not paying any taxes. You should consult with a tax professional though as every country is different e-g I know about American tax system but can't tell you about your situation. But I think its still makes more sense for all of you to be here in Dubai. Out of $200,000 that you will be paying in taxes to Aus govt., a quarter could be spent here on housing and education. Just my 2 cents.