Private ruling: Residency
Date of advice: 15 May 2019
Published: July 2019
Ruling period: Income year ending 30 June 20XX | Income year ending 30 June 20XX | Income year ending 30 June 20XX | Income year ending 30 June 20XX
Date scheme commenced: 31 July 20XX

Ruling: Q1: Are you a resident of Australia for income tax purposes? | A1: Yes. Having considered your circumstances as a whole and the relevant residency tests, you are a resident of Australia for income tax purposes. Further information on residency can be found by searching 'QC 33232' on ato.gov.au

Relevant facts and circumstances: This ruling is based on the facts stated in the description of the scheme that is set out below. If your circumstances are materially different from these facts, this ruling has no effect and you cannot rely on it. The fact sheet has more information about relying on your private ruling. You and your spouse are Australian citizens. You lived overseas in a European country (country A) for one year from December 20XX to December 20XX (while on a one-year sabbatical), living for part of that time in a Motorhome, which you had purchased in another European country (country B). Otherwise you lived in rented accommodation in country A on two 6-month lease contracts. You were made redundant from your employment in Australia close to the end of your one-year sabbatical. You paid holding charges for your children to attend a school in an Australian capital city (city X) in accordance with your plan to return to Australia. No date for their commencement at this school was set. Approximately one month after you were made redundant, you and your family moved to country B for what you planned to be an 'interim period'. You began renting accommodation in country B, on a month-by-month lease. You are currently a full-time volunteer in developing countries in the area of your past employment and expertise. You own a house in city X in Australia, which is currently rented out. You purchased this home approximately XX years ago. You and your family lived there from that year until you left on your one-year sabbatical, with the exception of a period of X years Y months (around the mid-point of the XX years), when you lived in another country in Europe (country C). Your belongings are stored under your house in city X in Australia, and you have a motorhome which is stored in city X. You have a motor vehicle in Australia, which another family member looks after. It is registered where your family member lives. You have a large share portfolio of Australian shares, an investment property in another Australian city (city Y), and you receive a fortnightly CSS pension (which started around one month after your redundancy). You have informed us you did not intend to live away from Australia for as long as you have, and consider your stay overseas to be 'transitory'. You intend to return to Australia to live in mid 20XX (some X and a half years after your departure on sabbatical), when your child completes their education. Your other child has already completed this education. All of your and your spouse's living parents live in Australia and are quite elderly, and you have expressed a wish not to stay overseas beyond mid 20XX. Your spouse has worked 'occasional contract shifts' at a place of work in country B during the 20XX income year. You have not earned income for the provision of your personal services during your stay in country B. You plan to return to Australia in mid 20XX and to live in your motorhome until the tenants in your house in city X move out. You have retained Australian bank accounts, mobile phone accounts and you and your family's Medicare Cards. You have purchased a one-way air ticket for your return to Australia in mid 20XX.

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