As I mentioned in my previous article on the topic of personal taxes Another financial year is over, I have been gathering all the necessary details for my last financial year’s tax return. Since establishing myself in Thailand about a year ago, my tax situation changed dramatically and whole Australian tax return situation become a little trickier.

For example, since I have not spent the required minimum of 180 days in Australia during the financial year in question, the income tax brackets applying to my circumstances the ones Australian Tax Office has for “non-residents�? (ie. significantly higher than your regular “tax resident�? rates). By my rough estimates, for my last year income the difference between paying “residential�? and “non-residential�? rates comes to about A$10,000 to A$15,000.

As a “tax non-resident�? I will need to pay a flat income tax rate currently around 29% (ie. I believe this is in line with Australian corporate rates) whereas “tax non-residents�? are eligible to tax their income in progressive level based on the actual amount earned and are also rightfully allowed for various tax breaks and tax benefits beyond the legal reach of “tax non-residents�?. For tax brackets currently applying to the “tax resident’s�? income look into Another financial year is over, for all the other ins and outs about Aussie taxes use the ATO web.

Another important fact related to paying one’s income tax in Australia is the date by which your tax return must be lodged with the Tax Office: 31 October. If you wish to lodge your taxes after this day without being penalized, you need to ask the ATO for an extension.

All and all, I think the Australian tax system is pretty fair: If you live in the country make and spend most of your income there during the tax time you are being looked upon more favorably than folks, who take most of their Australian income out of the country. So while living overseas may provide you with a number of monetary benefits on the income and cost fronts it will not work in your favor should you need to pay Aussie income tax.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 at 10:13 am and is filed under Australian tax. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.