Australian Tax Advice

Hi,


Would just like to receive some clarification:


My father passed away in 2006 and I was under the impression that he used to file a tax return for me in Australia, where I earn money from bank interest and shares. All those institutions have my tax file number and take out tax. I thought that I could file a tax return and claim the tax back as I do not earn enough to pay any tax.


Of course, several years have passed and I thought I should get around to filing a tax return. I just phoned a tax company, who said that as I am non-resident, I must pay that tax. So there's no need for me to fill out a tax return for Australia because I can't get anything back!


Does this sound correct?


If that's the case, that's good because as you can probably guess, I'm a bit lazy to file a tax return...

You do need to file every year as a non resident for tax purposes, regardless of whether you owe tax or will get tax back. If you have any investments like property, you can claim costs of interest etc (as you would when living in Australia per negative gearing), but due to you not being a resident these accrue as tax credits that never expire... I reccomend SMATS in HK to help you out. http://www.smats.net/ cheers Shane

Hi Shane,


Thanks for your reply. I actually called SMATS who gave me the above advice. I only have a bank account and shares in Australia. So you think I would not need to file a return?


Of course, I asked this to SMATS but couldn't seem to get a straight answer out of the lady on the other end of the phone...


Sam