Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

hi , would just like to know if there r any aussies out there who r working in dubai and planning to come back to oz after a couple of years, who have other oz income such as investment properties. i'm keen to know how the tax in oz is worked out. do you become a non resident or remain a resident. i need to know this before commiting to a contrsct in the next couple of days. would appreciate some help. ta..

Xander i am a little vague on the exact rules as i have no investments/assets back home and am planning on being out here for more than 3 years.

But as far as i can gather if you are classed as non-resident then you are not liable for aussie taxes. To become non-resident you have to be outside the country for a certain amount of time - some people tell me 18months others say at least 2 years so not sure. You also have to prove that you have set up home elsewhere and that Dubai (in this case) is your permanent residence.

Well that is my limited knowledge - hope it helps a bit. The ATO are useless in providing useful information, so best bet is to have a quick chat to your accountant.

Hi there. If you move out of Australia and set up home somewhre else, you are not liable for tax on you foreign income, from the day you left Australia, if it is deemed to be continuous foreign service for more than 91 days. If you have income in Australia from investments, I think you will be required to lodge a tax return and I think (not sure?) tax on that income is around 29%. I have lived overseas before and my husband is employed off shore. When I lived in the UK, I wasn't even required to lodge a tax return, but I didn't have any investments in Australia. Have you tried looking at the ATO website? It might take some looking, but you can usually nut out something. A quick chat to an accountant experienced in FOREIGN income, would be helpful. Hope this helps.

I just want to clarify a few things I posted above. If you are still an australian resident, 91 days applies only in countries that Australia has a double taxation agreement with. (Dubai doesn't....duh!). As you will be leaving indefinitely you will not have to pay tax on foreign income as long as you have set up home elsewhere. Of course, if you were coming home once a month and your wife and child were still here, for example, you would. But if you can show that you have genuinely set up elsewhere, you won't have to. You will have to pay australian tax on australian investment income but as a non-resident.

The ATO are hopeless to ring but the website has quite good tools, calculators etc.

yes im getting that info from ato, however i am still under the impression on returning to oz if i declare a foreign income i am liable for a degree of tax because we were coming from a non tax paying country. if i was being taxed a small amount say 4% by the dubai gov then i wouldnt be subject to aussie tax laws on my return. will know more tomorrow after appointment with foreign tax accountant. will keep the forum posted.