Private ruling: Residency for taxation purposes
Date of advice: 8 March 2021
Published: April 2021
Ruling period: Year ending 30 June 2019
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2018

Ruling: Q1: Are you a non-resident of Australia for taxation purposes until you finally departed the Foreign Country to return to Australia? | A1: Yes. 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 until you departed the Foreign Country. Further information on residency can be found by searching 'QC 33232' on ato.gov.au

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are an Australian citizen. You are married. You have dependants. You have lived in the Foreign Country with your family from 2015 to 2019. Prior to your departure in 2015, you removed yourself from the electoral roll. You cancelled your health insurance policy in 2018. You held a temporary working visa while working in the Foreign Country. The visa was valid for X years, expiring in 2019. Your dependants attended school. Your spouse had a gym membership that was used extensively. You and your spouse were often engaged in activities at the school. Your spouse was a volunteer at the school. The contract required you to work in a Foreign Country. The contract was for a term of X years. Your spouse and dependants were granted 'Residence Permits' which allowed them to stay in the Foreign Country. You lived in a number of properties, while in the Foreign Country, with your family, all of which you leased. While in the Foreign Country, you retained Australian bank accounts earning minimal interest. You kept your car in Australia which was stored with family in Australia. During the period in question, you travelled, to Australia, on several occasions, mostly for business and work purposes for no more than 40 days each time and usually about two weeks. In 2018, you purchased a home in Australia. In 2019 you were offered employment with the Employer, back in Australia. You signed the Australian employment agreement during the year ending 30 June 2019 with an effective start date during the year ending 30 June 2020. You were a non-resident of Australia from 2015. You arrived back in Australia on the return date to reside permanently. Neither you, your spouse or your dependants are eligible for Commonwealth employee superannuation.

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