Private ruling: Residency
Date of advice: 4 February 2019
Published: May 2019
Ruling period: Year ended 30 June 20AA | Year ended 30 June 20BB | Year ended 30 June 20CC | Year ended 30 June 20DD
Date scheme commenced: Winter 20AA

Ruling: Q1: Are you a resident of Australia for income tax purposes after departing Australian? | A1: No. Having considered your circumstances as a whole and the residency tests, it is accepted that you are not a resident of Australia for income tax purposes.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are an Australian citizen and a director of a holding company for an Australian business. You and your family departed Australia in mid-20AA to take up a position with a company based in Country A which specialises in management services. You are employed under an open ended permanent local contract in a permanent role. You obtained a two year visa from the local ministry and you will to apply for an extension of another two years at the end of the current visa. You will live and work in Country A for at least three years but you are unsure of your residency plans after this three year period. It is possible that you and your family may move to another country after three years, depending on the nature of your employment at that time. You are unsure for how long and how many countries you will live in at this stage. Your spouse and children are all Australian citizens who departed Australia with you and reside with you in rented accommodation in Country A. You and your spouse own a residential property in Australia which has been leased for 24 months. This lease commenced before you departed. This lease was arranged as a normal arm’s length commercial transaction. You closed all non-essential Australian bank accounts before departing Australia. You retain some Australian bank accounts and have advised some of these banks of your non-resident status. The remaining banks will be advised shortly. You and your spouse have a self-managed superannuation fund in Australia. You are both also discretionary beneficiaries of Australian resident trusts. You and your spouse are selling your Australian cars. Before departure you shipped all personal effects, household goods and furniture to Country A. You now have no other significant assets in Australia. You have removed yourself from the Australian electoral roll. Similarly you have suspended your private health insurance policy in Australia and have cancelled all professional memberships and subscriptions in Australia. You remain involved in a number of Australian entities. Your employment has transferred to Country A’s local payroll upon commencement of your new contract in Country A. Your salary is also paid into a bank account you hold in Country A. You have leased private a house in Country A. This lease is in your own name. The lease is for an unfurnished accommodation and the lease was arranged before departing Australia for a period of two years. You have changed your mailing address to your new home address in Country A. You have enrolled your child in a school in Australia, a number of years in advance, to provide an educational option for the future. At this stage you are unsure of which school they may attend as they may live with you and, depending on where you live in the world, attend a local school. While it will be necessary for you to travel to Australia you expect that these trips will average two or three trips per year for short periods a year and will total about 30 days in Australia. These trips will be primarily to visit friends and family, attend board meetings and annual meetings of those Australian companies where you hold a director role. Neither you nor your spouse has ever been employed by the Australian Commonwealth government and neither belongs to any Commonwealth superannuation scheme such as CSS or PSS.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 995-1(1) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 Subsection 6(1)