All Aussie Related Stuff (excluding the old age pension)

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, Nemises said:

I’m tipping that the 25th million “Australian” was born in Sydney, to parents who do not speak English as their first language.

I lived in an area that was pretty much that race, and if the government one day woke up to itself and said, you know what, we cannot sustain paying parents the family A&B payments for more than 3 kids, they might just stop breeding.

 

Now get this, most have 6 kids, and each kid I am lead to believe, gets $4,000 automatically from the family A side of it, annually, regardless of income test.

 

It's only the family B side of it that is assessed before you get x amount of $ per child after you have lodged your tax return showing how much income you made, now I know a lot of these people don't work, or say they don't, and they work for cash, that said, who has the manpower to check on them, the system is flawed, so a better way to tackle it is to make Australians that have worked for over 35 years paying taxes, come back and remain in Australia for 2 years before they can have their age pension made portable, and if they are fortunate enough to own a property, tax the mickey out it, and apply full capital gains tax to it from 1 July 2019 so that all the capital gains goes to the government and not the xpat.

 

Yep Australia has its priorities right, and no doubt the family A&B payments will come back as tax from those kids in future years when they work, yes of course it will....lol

 

Give me a break, got the blood rushing once again, time for a cold shower, why, because I don't need the age pension, I have too much money.

[4MyEgo]

5 hours ago, Old Croc said:

I'm of the opinion Australia can support a population of up to 40 million.

You're right about the non sustainable trend of growth in the big cities, but there is space, water and potential for agriculture, industry and population growth in the north of the country. There is more of all the above than many other higher populated countries have. Of course land will have to be excised from the lazy, greedy clutches of the indigenous locals.?

The copious water resources in some areas need to be diverted to open up other vast tracks of land for more efficient use. Something other than the current system of hoping for rainfall at the right time and place, and that the rivers will flow.  Scientists need to replace the majority of conservative family farmers living in the past and trying to survive on centuries old farming methods.

Of course it will require far thinking dedicated government representatives prepared to plan and fund infrastructure a long way in to the future and not just  waste taxpayers money on short term populous candy designed to keep themselves at the trough every 3 years.  (nearly impossible)

 

Australia has the potential to be great again (!), despite geographical limitations, bad planning and even worse politicians. 

She went to the dogs a long times ago, you must have been submerged for that time ?

[Old Croc]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

I lived in an area that was pretty much that race, and if the government one day woke up to itself and said, you know what, we cannot sustain paying parents the family A&B payments for more than 3 kids, they might just stop breeding.

 

Now get this, most have 6 kids, and each kid I am lead to believe, gets $4,000 automatically from the family A side of it, annually, regardless of income test.

 

It's only the family B side of it that is assessed before you get x amount of $ per child after you have lodged your tax return showing how much income you made, now I know a lot of these people don't work, or say they don't, and they work for cash, that said, who has the manpower to check on them, the system is flawed, so a better way to tackle it is to make Australians that have worked for over 35 years paying taxes, come back and remain in Australia for 2 years before they can have their age pension made portable, and if they are fortunate enough to own a property, tax the mickey out it, and apply full capital gains tax to it from 1 July 2019 so that all the capital gains goes to the government and not the xpat.

 

Yep Australia has its priorities right, and no doubt the family A&B payments will come back as tax from those kids in future years when they work, yes of course it will....lol

 

Give me a break, got the blood rushing once again, time for a cold shower, why, because I don't need the age pension, I have too much money.

At 70 I've never applied for the OAP and never will. I look after myself financially.

However, this thread specifically excludes discussion on that subject, so I will say no more. 

[4MyEgo]

1 minute ago, Old Croc said:

At 70 I've never applied for the OAP and never will. I look after myself financially.

However, this thread specifically excludes discussion on that subject, so I will say no more. 

Oops, forgot about that one, yes right you are, also look after myself financially ?

[Lacessit]

2 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

The permanent address if your principal place of residence, i.e. your home will be subject to full capital gains tax unfortunately.

 

As for private health insurance, you might want to look into that as they won't cover you if your residence is outside of Australia, having said that, you might want to look into international health insurance which also covers you worldwide, or get one without all the extras that you won't use and hopefully bring the annual fee down, personally I have one for emergency and elective surgery only, it covers me here in the LOS and 4 neighbouring countries and gives worldwide cover for 90 days (emergency only).

 

I had no option but to sell up and invest my money in the stock market as its tax free for non residents, (excluding unfranked credits). The way I see it, the housing market in Australia isn't going to go anywhere in the upward direction for at least 10 years so investing the money and not paying tax provides me with a comfortable lifestyle here, as opposed to hanging onto it to pay 32.5c in the $, plus all the other associated costs.

 

Some careful planning and research and you will be wiser than giving those a$$holes any tax and all of the capital appreciation on your property.

 

Just remember if your under 67 you will have to return to get the age pension when you turn 67, but will have to remain there for at least 2 years to have it made portable to return to Thailand, you might know of this already.

 

 

Interesting points.

I'm 75, and I've been getting the OAP (part) for 10 years now. Tick.

I have too many pre-existing conditions for an international insurer to even consider me. So I self-insure with 1 million baht on standby. I use the Australian private health insurance when I go back to Australia. Tick.

My investments are split 50:50 between shares paying fully-franked dividends, and various peer-to-peer lenders. Tick.

I share a property with my son in Australia, so capital gains or rent income are irrelevant. Tick.

I suppose if the ATO decided on an audit, I would not get a tick for residency. If push came to shove, I could always convert to 100% shares with franking. However, I suggest I'm too small a fish to get the ATO excited.

 

[4MyEgo]

12 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Interesting points.

I'm 75, and I've been getting the OAP (part) for 10 years now. Tick.

I have too many pre-existing conditions for an international insurer to even consider me. So I self-insure with 1 million baht on standby. I use the Australian private health insurance when I go back to Australia. Tick.

My investments are split 50:50 between shares paying fully-franked dividends, and various peer-to-peer lenders. Tick.

I share a property with my son in Australia, so capital gains or rent income are irrelevant. Tick.

I suppose if the ATO decided on an audit, I would not get a tick for residency. If push came to shove, I could always convert to 100% shares with franking. However, I suggest I'm too small a fish to get the ATO excited.

 

TIck, tick and tick, you have it all covered, so looks like there will be tax breaks for you if you decide to become a non resident, as for the banks, it will be 10% withholding tax on any interest earned, but you have to let them know of your residency status change, if you do change, otherwise it will be a higher rate.

 

But I reckon you keep your residency as an Australian resident, oi oi oi

 

Good luck with it all

[Lacessit]

News flash: CSIRO scientists have made a breakthrough in membrane technology which means hydrogen fuel can be safely transported as ammonia worldwide, then reconstituted to hydrogen where required. Combined with solar energy to produce hydrogen, Australia could become a major supplier of renewable energy.

I'm just thinking of the politicians who have been subjecting CSIRO to death by a thousand cuts for decades. Any volunteers to assist me in nuking Canberra?

 

[moojar]

Well, maybe Joh was half right after all eh?  ?  (QLD premier many years ago, at one stage championed a hydrogen-powered car that ran on water. ? )

 

No shortage of volunteers if you target the correct party.  Hint: "Climate change is crap".  They've been after the scientists ever since.  

  

[Lacessit]

Have just been informed by myGov my pensioner concession card has been cancelled. Now here's the thing: as soon as I land back in Australia, it is restored. Or I can get a form to restore it while the wheels of bureaucracy grind on.

Hello. I can only use it in Australia. I can't use it overseas. So why go through the BS of cancelling it, if you are only going to give it back?

Brainless bureaucrats are not excluded from the proposed nuking.

[Nemises]

News not good from Melbourne last night re African gangs rampage. Does anyone know what part of Melbourne is affected by the Apex (& other African) gangs?
I’ve been offered various housesitting jobs around Melbourne (of which I’m not familiar) so I’m wanting to obviously avoid the trouble spots before committing to anything. Am not requiring suburb names, just areas e.g. south, west, east etc

[moojar]

^ Curious to see how you go with that request - I've noticed bleak city residents are a bit averse to criticism, they seem to be more in constant 'talk themselves up' mode. 

 

?    

 

Google tells me the latest violence was near St. Albans in the north west.  It also tells me the 'Apex Gang' is based at Dandenong North, over in the south east.  I was reading this week too how "Werribee is the welfare cheating capital of Australia", so you're not safe amongst all those meth addicts either - that's over in the south west.  

 

So other than the north west, the south west, the south east, and all points between them I think you're pretty safe.  ?   

 

But seriously, how do you get a house sitting gig?  Thinking of doing some of that myself when the time comes.  I can get a British passport, wouldn't mind spending a few months at a time hopping around the place. Either that or parts of Oz I haven't experienced. 

[Nemises]

^Thanks mate, appreciate your research - again. [emoji106]

 

Housesitting: I had a lengthy career in property management, so with that experience and a few “corporate” references I was able to easily get into it.

[4MyEgo]

10 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Have just been informed by myGov my pensioner concession card has been cancelled. Now here's the thing: as soon as I land back in Australia, it is restored. Or I can get a form to restore it while the wheels of bureaucracy grind on.

Hello. I can only use it in Australia. I can't use it overseas. So why go through the BS of cancelling it, if you are only going to give it back?

Brainless bureaucrats are not excluded from the proposed nuking.

I don't know much about these cards, but I hazzard a guess that there are no photos on the card ?

 

If I am correct in thinking there is no photo on the card, could it be that they are paranoid that you could or would lend it to someone to get the concession in your absence, if that's the case, it makes sense to me.

 

Personally I think we should have photos on all such cards, especially Medicare cards, can you estimate the fraud on these cards when Mahmoud gives his card to Agba who is visiting Australia from that side of the world and goes to the doctor to get checked, then he is checked into the hospital, gets his operation and then is back to his country without anyone noticing ?

 

Just a thought, photos on drivers licences, so why not other forms of card where we are receiving something for a discount from the government ?

[stud858]

On 8/7/2018 at 7:46 AM, Will27 said:

Either you misinterpreted that statement or it is incorrect.

 

Our tax system is based on self assessment, so it's up to you to declare your residency.

From what you've said about being away for 200 days, I wouldn't worry about it.

Unless you have gone the immigrant visa route and become a permanent member of Thai society then you may lose that residency with Australia. Would be interesting to hear more info on that. As a non immigrant and guest status in thailand your permanent residency will always be Australia.

[stud858]

Just read on the Age newspaper that Vicroads are now charging an appointment fee on top of their usual fees. Money to say G'day. It's down hill from here. 

[Stew41]

16 minutes ago, stud858 said:

Unless you have gone the immigrant visa route and become a permanent member of Thai society then you may lose that residency with Australia. Would be interesting to hear more info on that. As a non immigrant and guest status in thailand your permanent residency will always be Australia.

I've had no problem over the past 2 years 'declaring' to be a non-resident for tax purposes but I did make a clean break from Australia (43yrs old; own business in Phuket). Some advice from accountant was useful but nothing the ATO website doesn't detail. In short:

 

1) sold all residential properties

2) retained super (but don't contribute)

3) canceled private health insurance (& Medicare)

4) have long term rental in Phuket

5) kids in school in Phuket

6) Come back to Melbourne twice a year for no more than 6 weeks in total

7) Retained share market investments in Australia

 

I still do Australian tax returns but very short and sweet.

[sceadugenga]

I've said this elsewhere and been shouted down but different Australian government departments assess residency for their own purposes in different ways.

[Peterw42]

19 minutes ago, Stew41 said:

I've had no problem over the past 2 years 'declaring' to be a non-resident for tax purposes but I did make a clean break from Australia (43yrs old; own business in Phuket). Some advice from accountant was useful but nothing the ATO website doesn't detail. In short:

 

1) sold all residential properties

2) retained super (but don't contribute)

3) canceled private health insurance (& Medicare)

4) have long term rental in Phuket

5) kids in school in Phuket

6) Come back to Melbourne twice a year for no more than 6 weeks in total

7) Retained share market investments in Australia

 

I still do Australian tax returns but very short and sweet.

Doesnt non-resident impact your share market investments, full tax (above the 30%) on dividends or Cap gains, no tax free threshold etc. 

I dont see any advantage to being a non resident for tax, only a disadvantage because any OZ income is taxed at a higher rate with no tax free threshold.

[stud858]

12 minutes ago, Stew41 said:

I've had no problem over the past 2 years 'declaring' to be a non-resident for tax purposes but I did make a clean break from Australia (43yrs old; own business in Phuket). Some advice from accountant was useful but nothing the ATO website doesn't detail. In short:

 

1) sold all residential properties

2) retained super (but don't contribute)

3) canceled private health insurance (& Medicare)

4) have long term rental in Phuket

5) kids in school in Phuket

6) Come back to Melbourne twice a year for no more than 6 weeks in total

7) Retained share market investments in Australia

 

I still do Australian tax returns but very short and sweeet.

What has been the advantage of doing that for you? 

I've always thought it's best to stay as Australian resident,  especially for tax purposes. 

[Will27]

1 hour ago, Stew41 said:

I've had no problem over the past 2 years 'declaring' to be a non-resident for tax purposes but I did make a clean break from Australia (43yrs old; own business in Phuket). Some advice from accountant was useful but nothing the ATO website doesn't detail. In short:

 

1) sold all residential properties

2) retained super (but don't contribute)

3) canceled private health insurance (& Medicare)

4) have long term rental in Phuket

5) kids in school in Phuket

6) Come back to Melbourne twice a year for no more than 6 weeks in total

7) Retained share market investments in Australia

 

I still do Australian tax returns but very short and sweet.

Oops.

[Will27]

1 hour ago, stud858 said:

Unless you have gone the immigrant visa route and become a permanent member of Thai society then you may lose that residency with Australia. Would be interesting to hear more info on that. As a non immigrant and guest status in thailand your permanent residency will always be Australia.

I don't quite understand your post TBH.

 

Are you talking about residency for tax purposes?

[stud858]

19 minutes ago, Will27 said:

I don't quite understand your post TBH.

 

Are you talking about residency for tax purposes?

Some nations allow you to be dual citizens.  I think Italy allows you to retain citizenship if you become a Thai citizen. But some countries renounce you if you take on another country as an immigrant.  I have not  found out about Australia's rules regarding dual citizenship because I myself never want to obtain any other citizenship. IF Australia denounces you because you are a citizen elsewhere you couldn't get residency status just because you declare it. But if I had to guess Australia would allow dual.

[Will27]

8 minutes ago, stud858 said:

Some nations allow you to be dual citizens.  I think Italy allows you to retain citizenship if you become a Thai citizen. But some countries denounce you if you take on another country as an immigrant.  I have not  found out about Australia's rules regarding dual citizenship because I myself never want to obtain any other citizenship. IF Australia denounces you because you are a citizen elsewhere you couldn't get residency status just because you declare it. But if I had to guess Australia would allow dual.

I think you're getting citizenship and residency mixed up to be honest.

[stud858]

Although. Interestingly you can't have dual citizenship in oz if you want to be a polly

[stud858]

5 minutes ago, Will27 said:

I think you're getting citizenship and residency mixed up to be honest.

Let me ask this.  Can a Thai person come to Australia without being an Australian citizen and claim to be a resident for tax purposes and get a tax free threshold? 

 

[Will27]

3 minutes ago, stud858 said:

Let me ask this.  Can a Thai person come to Australia without being an Australian citizen and claim to be a resident for tax purposes and get a tax free threshold? 

 

Yes.

[stud858]

1 minute ago, Will27 said:

Yes.

Then I am wrong. I didn't think that was the case. 

[stud858]

I can't edit any of my previous posts to make corrections on statements I've made which have been proven to be untrue. The edit tag doesn't show. Sorry.  I tried. Am I doing something wrong? 

[Will27]

1 hour ago, stud858 said:

I can't edit any of my previous posts to make corrections on statements I've made which have been proven to be untrue. The edit tag doesn't show. Sorry.  I tried. Am I doing something wrong? 

There's a time frame to edit posts.

About 15 minutes I think.

 

Don't worry about it.

[Bagwain]

Something wrong with T/V.

Every time I want to post a new topic it brings up the last one I did & I have to delete it.

To many Thai propeller heads on the staff me thinks!!

 

Anyway - good news for me. The ATO have written off my measly debt!! ?