Private ruling: Residency
Date of advice: 28 February 2018
Published: June 2018
Ruling period: Year ending 30 June 2018 | Year ending 30 June 2019 | Year ending 30 June 2020 | Year ending 30 June 2021
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2017

Ruling: Q1: Are you a resident of Australia for taxation purposes? | A1: No .

Relevant facts and circumstances: You were born in Country A. You are a citizen of Country A. You own property in Country A. You maintain a bank account in Country A. You are single with no dependants. You are renting out your home in Country A. You first rented your Country A property in the spring 2017. You departed Country A in the spring of 2017 for Country B. You intend on living in Country B for X years with possible extension of another year or two depending on work arrangements. You hold a Country B visa, which is valid for X years. You have a bank account in Country B, where your income from your Country B employer gets paid. You are employed in Country B. Your employment contract is from spring 2017 through until the spring 2018. Your employer does not provide your accommodation in Country B. You returned to Country A to spend the holidays (X weeks) with your extended family. You informed the Australian Electoral Commission and Medicare that you were departing Country A. You don’t hold private health insurance within Country A. You’re not eligible to contribute to the relevant Commonwealth super funds.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 Subsection 6(1). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 6-5. | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 995-1(1).

Reasons for decision: Summary: To understand your tax situation, you must first work out whether you are an Australian resident for tax purposes. Australian residents are generally taxed on their worldwide income and non-residents are generally taxed only on their Australian-sourced income. The definition of ‘resident’ within tax law provides four tests to ascertain whether a taxpayer is a resident of Australia for income tax purposes. These tests are: 1. the resides test 2. the domicile test 3. the 183 day test 4. the superannuation test You do not meet any of the above tests and are not a resident of Australia for tax purposes. The factsheet Residency - what you need to know provides details of the above residency tests and may be obtained from our website www.ato.gov.au.