Private ruling: Residency
Date of advice: 27 April 2026
Published: 13 July 2026
Ruling period: Year ending 30 June YYYY
Date scheme commenced: DD MM YY

Ruling: Q1: Are you a resident of Australia for tax purposes from DD MM YYYY? | A1: No.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You were born in country X and you are a citizen of country X. In YYYY, you relocated to work in Australia. In YYYY, you became an Australian citizen. You and your ex-spouse have been divorced, the proceeding is underway. On DD MM YYYY, you relocated to country Y for long-term employment. Your employment contract is three years and it renews automatically unless notice is given. Under divorce arrangements, you will no longer retain any assets in Australia. Your ownership in your main residence property will transfer 100% to your ex-spouse. You have an Australian bank account is solely to manage existing debts. You have a dependant who will cease to be a dependant on DD MM YY. You will continue to provide financial support to this until that time. Your dependant will live with your ex-spouse in Australia. You have no vehicle in Australia. You advised that you would stay with friends or a hotel if you return to Australia to visit your children. You do not maintain any social connections in Australia. In Country Y, you rent a property with one year contract, with the option to extend it up to three years. You entered Country Y by working visa and your visa is supplied by your employer. You cannot perform your work remotely. Your intention is to relocate permanently to country X after completing your employment in country Y. You are in the process to inform the Australian Electoral Commission and Medicare that you were departing Australia. You are not members of the Public Sector Superannuation Scheme (PSS) or the Commonwealth Superannuation Scheme (CSS) or a spouse of such a person.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 subsection 6(1) Section 995-1 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 | Domicile Act 1982

Reasons for decision: Detailed Reasoning - Detailed reasoning: 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 not a resident of Australia under the resides test from XX MM YYYY based on the following: • You have very limited physically present in Australia the most of time during 20YY income year. • Your intention is to reallocate to Country X permanently after you complete your employment in Country Y. • You have brought all your personal effect with you to Country Y. • You are in process to inform the Australia Electoral Commission and Medicare that you departed Australia. • You do not have any assets in Australia. • You do not maintain any social connections in Australia. You may still be an Australian resident if you meet the conditions of one of the other tests (the domicile test, 183-day test and Commonwealth superannuation fund test). | 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 Country X and your domicile of origin is Country X. You immigrated to Australia in YYYY and became an Australian citizen in YYYY. You intend to return to Country X after you completed your employment in Country Y. It is considered that you abandoned your domicile of origin in Country X and acquired a domicile of choice in Australia when you relocated to Australia. After you relocated to Country Y to work, you do not acquire a domicile of choice in Country Y because your intention is to move back to Country X at the end of your employment. To acquire a domicile of choice you must have both lawful physical presence in a foreign country and an intention to make your home indefinitely in that country. We acknowledge your intention to abandon your domicile of choice in Australia. However, section 7 of Domicile Act 1982 provides that a person's domicile of origin does not revive merely because a domicile of choice is abandoned without the acquisition of a new domicile of choice. Rather, the domicile a person has at any given time continues until a different domicile is acquired. 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 satisfied that your permanent place of abode is outside Australia because: • you have relocated to Country Y since DD MM YYYY for employment. • In Country Y, you rent a property with one year contract, with the option extend it up to X years. • You brought all your personal effect with you to Country Y. • While you have a dependent child in Australia, they live permanently with your ex-spouse. The combination of these facts show that you are abandoning your residence in Australia. Therefore, you are not 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 not been present in Australia for 183 days or more during the 2026 income year. Therefore, you are not a resident under this test. | 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 (CSS) 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: As you do not satisfy any of the four tests of residency, you are not a resident of Australia for income tax purposes from XX MM YYYY.