Private ruling: Residency for taxation purposes
Date of advice: 20 April 2026
Published: 20 July 2026
Ruling period: Year ended DD MM 20XX
Date scheme commenced: DD MM 20XX

Ruling: Q1: Are you an Australian resident for tax purposes for the year ending 30 June 20XX? | A1: Yes.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You plan to depart from Australia to Country A in MM 20XX. The purpose of your overseas visit is to afford you, your spouse and children to spend time with grandparents and relatives. You plan to return to Australia X-X months from date of departure. You are a citizen of Australia. Your country of origin is Australia. You have not been granted permanent residency in any country other than Australia. Your spouse is a citizen of Country A. You will enter Country A on a Country A spousal (partner) visa. You will hold a return airline ticket together with your spouse and two children. You have no overseas assets. You, your spouse and children will live in furnished rented accommodation while in Country A. You have provided your in-laws' address in Country A as this is where you will go while you look for our rental accommodation for the X months. You will place the family household furniture into storage before departing. You will receive Australian sourced income from two Australian properties: • Main residence (to be rented out during overseas absence) • Existing investment property (currently tenanted). Your spouse jointly owns these properties and will share in the Australian rental income. You advised that you have two vehicles in Australia, both of which are fully paid off (no finance). You may look to sell these vehicles prior to departure. You will assess whether the cost of storage of the vehicles for X months is worthwhile. You will retain your Australian bank accounts, superannuation and insurance. You may retain your part time position in Australia and continue working X days per week while living in Country A. Alternatively, your Australian employer has a branch in Country A, and you could transfer and work directly under the Country A entity in the same role. There is also a possibility that you may choose to resign and simply take a holiday during your stay in Country A. Your primary social connections, family, long standing friends and community networks are in Australia. You will maintain these connections while overseas. Your main connection in Country A is your in-laws, particularly your children's grandparents. You and your spouse have not been a Commonwealth Government of Australia employees for superannuation purposes. You will remain enrolled on the Australian electoral roll. You do not intend to advise Australian financial institutions you are a foreign resident. You do not intend to notify Australian companies in which you hold investments you are a foreign resident. You intend to maintain your Australian Medicare enrolment and Australian private health insurance. You have only lodged Australian income tax returns to date. You will state on your Australian Immigration Outgoing Passenger Card your reason for going overseas is to live temporarily in the Country A with your spouse and children for approximately X months and to visit family or similar wording to show you are only travelling for a temporary period.

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

Reasons for decision: Detailed Reasoning - Yes: Section 995-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) defines an Australian resident for tax purposes as a person who is a resident of Australia for the purposes of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936). The terms 'resident' and 'resident of Australia', as applied to an individual, are defined in subsection 6(1) of the ITAA 1936. The definition offers four tests to ascertain whether each individual taxpayer is a resident of Australia for income tax purposes. These tests are: • the resides test (also referred to as the ordinary concepts test) • the domicile test • the 183-day test, and • the Commonwealth superannuation fund test. The resides test is the primary test for deciding the residency status of an individual. This test considers whether an individual resides in Australia according to the ordinary meaning of the word 'resides'. Where an individual does not reside in Australia according to ordinary concepts, they will still be an Australian resident if they meet the conditions of one of the other tests (the domicile test, 183-day test and Commonwealth superannuation fund test). Our interpretation of the law in respect of residency is set out in Taxation Ruling TR 2023/1 Income tax: residency tests for individuals . We have considered the statutory tests listed above in relation to your situation as follows: | Detailed Reasoning - The resides test: The ordinary meaning of the word 'reside' has been expressed as 'to dwell permanently or for a considerable time, to have one's settled or usual abode, to live, in or at a particular place': See Commissioner of Taxation v Miller (1946) 73 CLR 93 at 99 per Latham CJ, citing Viscount Cave LC in Levene v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1928] AC 217 at 222, citing the Oxford English Dictionary. Likewise, the Macquarie Dictionary defines 'reside' as 'to dwell permanently or for a considerable time; have one's abode for a time'. The observations contained in the case of Hafza v Director-General of Social Security (1985) 6 FCR 444 are also important: Physical presence and intention will coincide for most of the time. But few people are always at home. Once a person has established a home in a particular place - even involuntarily: see Commissioners of Inland Revenue v Lysaght [1928] AC 234 at 248; and Keil v Keil [1947] VLR 383 - a person does not necessarily cease to be resident there because he or she is physically absent. The test is whether the person has retained a continuity of association with the place - Levene v Inland Revenue Commissioners [1928] AC 217 at 225 and Judd v Judd (1957) 75 WN (NSW) 147 at 149 - together with an intention to return to that place and an attitude that that place remains "home": see Norman v Norman (No 3) (1969) 16 FLR 231 at 235... here the general concept is applicable, it is obvious that, as residence of a place in which a person is not physically present depends upon an intention to return and to continue to treat that place as "home", a change of intention may be decisive of the question whether residence in a particular place has been maintained. The Commissioner considers the following factors in relation to whether a taxpayer is a resident under the 'resides' test: • period of physical presence in Australia • intention or purpose of presence • behaviour while in Australia • family and business/employment ties • maintenance and location of assets • social and living arrangements. It is important to note that no one single factor is decisive, and the weight given to each factor depends on each individual's circumstances. Because the resides test is about whether an individual resides in Australia, the factors focus on the individual's connection to Australia. Having a connection with another country, or being a resident of another country, does not diminish any connection to Australia. The ordinary meaning of reside does not require an individual to have a principle or usual place of residence in Australia. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your situation: You are a resident of Australia under the resides test for the period D M 20XX to D M 20XXbased on the following: • You live in Australia with your spouse and children. • You plan to depart from Australia to Country A in MM 20XX. • You are employed part time in Australia and may continue to work in this role remotely in Country A or transfer to a Branch with the same employer in Country A. • Your primary social and family connections are in Australia. • The purpose for travel to Country A is for you, your spouse and children to spend time with your spouse's parents and relatives for a period of X-X month period, then return to Australia. • You do not intend to settle permanently in Country A. • You will hold a return airline ticket together with your spouse and two children. • Your assets are in Australia including the family home and a rental property. • You do not intend to advise Australian financial institutions you are a foreign resident. • You do not intend to notify Australian companies in which you hold investments you are a foreign resident. • You intend to maintain your Australian Medicare enrolment and Australian private health insurance. Although the law only requires you to be considered a resident under one test, for completeness the other tests are also considered. | Detailed Reasoning - Domicile test: Under the domicile test, you are a resident of Australia if your domicile is in Australia unless the Commissioner is satisfied that your permanent place of abode is outside Australia. | Detailed Reasoning - Domicile: Whether your domicile is in Australia is determined by the Domicile Act 1982 and the common law rules on domicile. Your domicile is your domicile of origin (usually the domicile of your father at the time of your birth) unless you have a domicile of dependence or have acquired a domicile of choice elsewhere. To acquire a domicile of choice of a particular country you must be lawfully present there and hold the positive intention to make that country your home indefinitely. Your domicile continues until you acquire a different domicile. Whether your domicile has changed depends on an objective consideration of all relevant facts. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your situation: In your case, you were born in Australia. Your domicile of origin is Australia. You have not been granted permanent residency in any other country. Therefore, your domicile is Australia. | Detailed Reasoning - Permanent place of abode: If you have an Australian domicile, you are an Australian resident unless the Commissioner is satisfied that your permanent place of abode is outside Australia. This is a question of fact to be determined in light of all the facts and circumstances of each case. 'Permanent' does not mean everlasting or forever, but it is to be distinguished from temporary or transitory. The phrase 'permanent place of abode' calls for a consideration of the physical surroundings in which you live, extending to a town or country. It does not extend to more than one country, or a region of the world. The Full Federal Court in Harding v Commissioner of Taxation [2019] FCAFC 29 held at paragraphs 36 and 40 that key considerations in determining whether a taxpayer has their permanent place of abode outside Australia are: • whether the taxpayer has definitely abandoned, in a permanent way, living in Australia • whether the taxpayer is living in a town, city, region or country in a permanent way. • The Commissioner considers the following factors relevant to whether a taxpayer's permanent place of abode is outside Australia: • the intended and actual length of the taxpayer's stay in the overseas country • whether the taxpayer intended to stay in the overseas country only temporarily and then to move on to another country or to return to Australia at some definite point in time • whether the taxpayer has established a home (in the sense of dwelling place; a house or other shelter that is the fixed residence of a person, a family, or a household), outside Australia • whether any residence or place of abode exists in Australia or has been abandoned because of the overseas absence • the duration and continuity of the taxpayer's presence in the overseas country • the durability of association that the person has with a particular place in Australia, i.e. maintaining assets in Australia, informing government departments such as the Department of Social Security that he or she is leaving permanently and that family allowance payments should be stopped, place of education of the taxpayer's children, family ties and so on. As with the factors under the resides test, no one single factor is decisive, and the weight given to each factor depends on the individual circumstances. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your situation: The Commissioner is not satisfied that your permanent place of abode is outside Australia because: • You have been living with your spouse and children in an established home in Australia. • You do not as yet have rental accommodation in Country A. • You will state on your Australian Immigration Outgoing Passenger Card your reason for going overseas is to live temporarily in the Country A with your spouse and children for approximately X months and to visit family or similar wording to show you are only travelling for a temporary period. Therefore, you are a resident of Australia under the domicile test. | Detailed Reasoning - 183-day test: Where a person is present in Australia for 183 days or more during the year of income the person will be a resident, unless the Commissioner is satisfied that both: • the person's usual place of abode is outside Australia, and • the person does not intend to take up residence in Australia. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your situation: You have been in Australia for 183 days or more in the 20XX income year. Therefore, you will be a resident under this test unless the Commissioner is satisfied that your usual place of abode was outside Australia and you do not have an intention to take up residence in Australia. | Detailed Reasoning - Usual place of abode: In the context of the 183-day test, a person's usual place of abode is the place they usually live and can include a dwelling or a country. A person can have only one usual place of abode under the 183-day test. However, it is also possible that a person does not have a usual place of abode. This is the case for a person who merely travels through various countries without developing any strong connections. If a person has places of abode both inside and outside Australia, then a comparison may need to be made to determine which is their usual place of abode. When comparing two places of abode of a particular person, we will examine the nature and quality of the use which the person makes of each particular place of abode. It may then be possible to determine which is the usual one, as distinct from the other or others which, while they may be places of abode, are not properly characterised as the person's usual place of abode: Emmett J at [78] in Federal Commissioner of Taxation v Executors of the Estate of Subrahmanyam [2001] FCA 1836. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your situation: The Commissioner is not satisfied that your usual place of abode was outside Australia for the 20XX income year based on the following: • You plan to depart from Australia to the Country A in mid-MM 20XX. | Detailed Reasoning - Superannuation test: An individual is a resident of Australia if they are either a member of the superannuation scheme established by deed under the Superannuation Act 1990 or an eligible employee for the purposes of the Superannuation Act 1976, or they are the spouse, or the child under 16, of such a person. | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your situation: You are not a member on behalf of whom contributions are being made to the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS) or the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme or a spouse of such a person, or a child under 16 of such a person. Therefore, you are not a resident under this test. | Detailed Reasoning - Conclusion: You satisfy the Resides, Domicile and 183-day tests of residency and so are a resident of Australia for income tax purposes for the year ended 30 June 20XX.