Lacessit

I am wondering what happens to those pensioners who filled out a non-lodgment advice years ago, and dropped out of the tax system because they had no tax to pay. How would the ATO get back in contact to say you now need to do a tax return, and pay 30% tax on your pension? AFAIK the ATO does not have the authority to take money from anyone's bank accounts. What does the ATO do if their communications are ignored? Many years ago, I knew a guy who worked as a surveyor. Moved around a lot due to his job. He told me he had not submitted a tax return for 20 years.

I don't know your circumstances. If you own anything that is market-linked, Centrelink re-assesses its value every six months. They may also be tracking your Thai bank accounts, which would be part of that process. Although IIRC you did say you do not report the Thai accounts as part of your asset base.

It depends on how assets are valued. In my case, Centrelink revalues shares and my Thai baht bank accounts every six months. For example, if the Thai baht appreciates against the AUD, my pension is adjusted lower.

A lot of what if's in your post, consistent with your endless negativity. Income from a superannuation fund is already taxed within the fund itself. Taxing it again at 30% would have every superannuant up in arms, double taxation is anathema whether one is inside or outside Australia. You don't seem to realise both major parties no longer have enough grunt to pass legislation on their own, they have to go cap in hand to the independents now. It would only take someone like Jacqui Lambie or Andrew Wilkie to point out Australia would be the only country in the world taxing the OAP on the basis of where it is being spent, and denounce its lack of fairness. You seem to delight in posting in the worst possible light. I'm reminded of Churchill's observation.

Taxing expats is one thing, taxing pensions is an entirely different kettle of fish. When pensioners are forced to head back to Australia or be taxed 30% or whatever, they will be angry. And as the last election demonstrated quite unequivocally, angry people elect TEAL independents because they have had enough of the major parties. Self-funded retirees are living off investments within their superannuation funds. Which are a sacred cow in Australian politics. Look what happened to Shorten when he proposed those changes to dividend imputation credits, a considerable component of superannuation income. Self-funded or OAP recipients, retirees are a significant electoral bloc. Whether they are inside or outside Australia.

Your figure of hundreds of thousands is quite exaggerated. According to Google, there are about 20,000 Australian retirees in Thailand, and some of those are self-funded. Thailand is probably the most frequently selected retirement destination for Australians overseas, for various reasons. Those numbers should not be confused with expat numbers, which is what you appear to be doing. Forcing elderly retirees to return would put more strain on an already broken Medicare system. We are much more likely to need medical care. In addition, the government would have to start forking out extra cash for supplements such as energy, phone, transport and rent assistance. When returning retirees are paying 50-60% of their pension income in rent alone, how can the government get extra benefit from people living on Mama noodles? Let's say the government decides to tax the pensions of people living overseas at 30%. Said pensioners simply don't put in a tax return. The ATO may be able to collect the tax in advance, which I see as another Robodebt time bomb. Inevitably, bureaucracies make mistakes. You see it as a win-win, I see it as a cost "saving" which would not be worth the effort of implementation.

I was not asking for the repeat to be supplied at the same time. The pharmacist did not give me the repeat back when filling the first prescription. I was recently reading an article about a pharmacist in Brisbane who had his assets frozen pending the refund of $1.9 million obtained by PBS fraud.

I will be trying a different pharmacy to see if the response is the same. If not, I will be reporting a potential scam.

The changes I see are in access ( walk-ins no longer accepted ) and organization. The office I normally go to had Centrelink and Medicare under the one roof. Now I have to travel an extra 8 km to get to a Medicare office. Wait times on the phone, of course. According to my pharmacist, the PBS is now only paid on the first prescription - repeats are charged at the regular price. Which means I have to make a doctor's appointment once a month to get subsidized medicine. Example: I take finasteride. PBS price $7.30, retail $28. If I go to a doctor who bulk bills, I am wasting his/her time, and taxpayer's money. In a private practice, the consultation will cost about $50 after the Medicare rebate, more waste. Doctors are abandoning bulk billing in droves. I don't know who dreams this kind of BS up, but IMO they belong on a dole queue.

How long ago did this miracle occur? Based on my recent experience, I have to take your claim of a response time of 15 seconds on the phone (132 300 ) with a truckload of salt.

The balance of any bank account in Thailand is part of a pensioner's asset base, which is required to be reported to Centrelink by law. I have three Thai bank accounts, and report the balances to Centrelink when I am in Australia.

Yes to both questions.

I am predicting I will have carked it by the time the Liberals get back in, assuming they ever do.

Yes, called that number on January 30.

You should be reporting the amount you have with SCB in Thai baht. There would be little change on that basis. Yes, your pension should have increased. However, that increase is based on hiding assets in another country. If that concealment is detected by Centrelink, expect repercussions.

With your kind of luck in getting answered that quickly by a human, I'd be buying plenty of TattsLotto tickets. I said 90 minutes hang time, that's what it was.

Pre-Covid, I would walk into a Centrelink office and the staffer would confirm a concession card had already been posted to me. This time around, it was "Oh, you're here" and the card had not been posted to me, so I got a printout instead which expires in another 11 days. Hopefully Australia Post will be on the ball. You keep using the American spelling Centerlink. It's Centrelink, OK? "Scheduled maintenance is being conducted from 12:00am to 2:00am AEDT Wednesday 8 February 2023. Centrelink Business Online Services, the Child Care Subsidy ..." ( From the Services Australia website ) You may be right, it is up to clients to chase them now. Which is a pain on 132 300, given the wait times.

I have found Aldi is the cheapest by a considerable margin. As far as steak goes, I have found nothing in Thailand which comes within a bull's roar of Victorian eye fillet. IMO freezing meat prior to importation into Thailand ruins it. I tried Cape Grim eye fillet from Tops in Chiang Rai, it was tough as old boots.

You may be right, I had no concession card or PBS generated until after I attended an appointment. Perhaps I would also have continued to get the offshore pension amount, who knows?

Services Australia/Centrelink was not aware I had landed in Australia until I attended an appointment about a week later, and had taken no action to issue me with a new concession card. I obtained a temporary document at the office, pending the card issue. I can only post my experience, if people want to disagree it is not my problem.

I just shelled out $100 for pub meals in Australia for 3. I could feed 10 people in Thailand for that money and equivalent dishes, even more at a food court. Don't get me started on massages, any version.

I can only go by the advice the pharmacist gave me. I don't know if this is a recent change.

A bit off topic; however, the change made to the PBS by some bureaucratic genius has me quite gobsmacked. The PBS is only paid on the original prescription, any repeat is no longer subsidized. Which means I go to a bulk-billing doctor to get another prescription. Any cost saving generated by not subsidizing repeats is well and truly swallowed up by the cost of a bulk-billed doctor. I suppose it stops guys like me taking six months' worth of medications into Thailand, although the meds I buy in Thailand are quite often the same as the PBS cost. IMO whoever thought this one up should be on a dole queue. Paid $65 for 3 eye fillet steaks yesterday.

The pharmacist did that, and charged me $20 to do so.

A heads-up for people returning to Australia. Centrelink is now privatised under the name Services Australia. Before, when I landed in Australia Border Force would automatically notify Centrelink of my arrival. Now, Centrelink does not know I am here until I tell them, which has implications in terms of getting a new pension card, and restoration of supplements and the PBS.. Services Australia ( an oxymoron ) does not accept walk-ins anymore, one has to make an appointment. By phoning 132 200, where a wait time can be 1 - 2 hours. One other thing. Because I had all my COVID vaccinations in Thailand, Medicare had no record, so the vax I was offered was first generation Astra Zeneca. I had to have my Thai vax history uploaded to Medicare before the pharmacist would give me a bivalent Pfizer.