Yes, he was wrong. Get a new tax advisor. 🙂 Many Aussies are living here using the loophole/s in the current 90 year old tax resident laws. Australia has the "domiciled" or as you put it, "closer aligned" method to determine tax residency. Thailand has the physical presence and time based model. A previous Liberal government proposed Australia update its tax residency laws to also be based on physical presence and time, being 183 day inside equals resident, thus, 183 days outside being non resident. They have not been passed yet, but Labor did not scrape them, so it's only a matter of time. Here's the proposed changes. https://hlb.com.au/tax-residency-changes-for-individuals/ It was well debated in another thread. Non resident tax rates start at $30% from $0 - $135,000. Note, no tax free threshold, and the aged pension is deemed an income at law. You will see the secondary factor tests, which mean if you meet two out of the four, you will only have to do 6 weeks of the year back in Australia. One is super easy, "right to reside."