Situations we sort out
Residency is a conclusion, not a feeling.
Whether Australia taxes your worldwide income turns on tests applied to facts — where you live, what you keep here, what you intend and can show. We work through the tests, document the answer, and prepare the returns that follow from it.
Tax residency decides almost everything that follows: what must be declared, what Australia can tax, which reliefs apply. Yet it is the question people most often answer by instinct — a day count remembered from a forum, a rule of thumb from a colleague. The tests are wider than that. They look at your home, your ties, your conduct and your intentions, and the conclusion has to be reasoned from the facts.
Once residency is settled, the reporting follows. Australian residents generally declare income from everywhere — salary earned abroad, foreign rent, dividends, pensions, gains. Where foreign tax has already been paid, offsets exist to address the double-up, but they must be substantiated with the overseas assessments and payment records, converted correctly, and claimed within the rules. We assemble that evidence before the claim is made, not after it is questioned.
Moves in either direction deserve the same discipline. Arriving in Australia and leaving it both carry tax consequences — for assets, for reporting, for the year the move happens — and they are far easier to manage mapped in advance than repaired in arrears. We advise before the move where possible, and we put treaty positions in writing, cited to their basis. Appointments run from Brisbane, by phone and video, wherever you are in the world.
What we see in cross-border files
- Residency assumed from a day count, with none of the other tests applied to the facts.
- Foreign income left off returns because tax was withheld overseas and the matter felt closed.
- Offsets claimed without the foreign assessments or payment evidence to substantiate them.
- Treaty relief asserted with no reference to the article said to provide it.
Where we come in
Residency worked out properly
The tests applied to your facts — home, ties, conduct, intention — with the conclusion and the reasoning retained on file.
Worldwide income reported
Foreign salary, rent, investment income and gains brought into the Australian return, converted properly and reconciled to source documents.
Foreign tax offsets substantiated
Claims supported by the overseas assessments and proof of payment, with the limiting rules applied and the workings kept.
Treaty positions in writing
Where a treaty changes the outcome, the position is cited to its basis — stated in the file, not implied by the lodgment.
Arrivals and departures mapped
The consequences of a move — for assets, reporting and the year itself — set out before it happens, while choices remain open.
Prior years reviewed
If overseas income has been left off past returns, we establish the exposure and correct the record deliberately, before the ATO raises it.
Every cross-border engagement ends with the reasoning on paper — the residency conclusion, the income workings, the offset evidence and the treaty basis — filed before anyone asks. See our method →
Common questions
How many days can I spend in Australia before I become a resident?
Residency does not reduce to a single number. Day counts are one input among several, and the tests weigh your home, your family and economic ties, your conduct and your intentions together. Two people with identical travel patterns can land on different sides of the line. We apply the tests to your facts and give you the conclusion in writing, with the reasoning attached.
I already paid tax on this income overseas. Do I still declare it in Australia?
If you are an Australian resident, generally yes — paying tax abroad does not remove the obligation to declare the income here. What the foreign tax does is ground a claim for an offset, and that claim must be substantiated with the overseas assessment and evidence of payment. Declared with the offset properly claimed, the double-up is addressed. Left off the return, it becomes a different conversation.
I'm moving overseas for work. What should I do before I leave?
Have the position mapped before the flight. A departure can change your residency, and with it how your assets, your Australian income and the year of the move itself are treated — some of those questions come with choices that close once you have gone. We set out the consequences and the elections in writing, so you leave with a plan instead of assumptions.
What does a tax treaty actually do for me?
A treaty can decide which country taxes particular income, and how relief works when both could. Whether it helps depends on the treaty, the article and your facts — which is why we cite treaty positions to their basis in writing rather than asserting them. If relief is claimed on your return, the file states exactly where the claim comes from.
I haven't declared my overseas income in past years. What now?
Correct it deliberately, before the ATO raises it — exchange of information between tax authorities means overseas income is more visible than most people assume. We establish what should have been reported, quantify the position, and put a voluntary disclosure or amendment forward with the evidence attached. Coming forward is generally the stronger footing, and we manage the process end to end.
Can you work with clients who are currently overseas?
Yes. Appointments run by phone or video across time zones, documents move through the client portal, and lodgments proceed exactly as they would if you lived in the next suburb. Distance changes the meeting, not the method — the file still has to carry its evidence, and it does.
General information only — not tax, legal or financial advice. Advice specific to your circumstances is provided within a signed engagement.
Related reading
Speak to the person who signs the return.
Consultations are with a registered tax agent — by phone or video, wherever you are in Australia.