Exit tax in Australia

Exit tax in Australia quick summary:
What’s this booklet about?

Australia without any doubt, is a high tax country. Residents of the “the Land Down Under” pay the tax man up to 45% of their income. That is why many wealthy Australians prefer to emigrate to low or no-tax countries. Just before leaving the country, many of them are surprised to learn that Australia has a robust exit taxation regime that may lead to the imposition of capital gains taxes amounting to millions of Australian dollars.

This e-book aims to shed more light on the Australian exit tax. Since it is triggered by the ceasing of Australian residence, we will first examine the tests which Australia uses to determine whether a given individual is an Australian resident (Section 2).

Afterwards, we will discuss the ways to become an Australian non-resident (Section 3). Next, we will provide an overview of the exit taxation applying to individuals leaving Australia (Section 4) and give some recommendations on how to legally reduce the amount of the Australian exit tax (Section 5).

We also analyze the Australian tax regime applying to nonresidents (Section 6). At the end, we provide concluding remarks (Section 7).

By reading this book, you will learn:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. RESIDENCE TESTS

• 2.1 THE “RESIDES” TEST
• 2.2 THE DOMICILE TEST
• 2.3 THE 183 DAY TEST
• 2.4 THE SUPERANNUATION TEST
• 2.5 THE HARDING CASE
• 2.6 EXAMPLES OF THE APPLICATIONOF THE RESIDENCE TESTS 

3 . HOW TO BECOME AN AUSTRALIAN NON-RESIDENT 
4. THE EXIT TAXATION APPLYING TO INDIVIDUALS LEAVING AUSTRALIA 

5. OPTIMIZATION OF AUSTRALIAN EXIT TAX 

• 5.1 RELOCATION TO A DOUBLE TAX TREATY COUNTRY 
• 5.2 ACTUALLY DISPOSING OF ASSETS BEFORE LEAVING AUSTRALIA 

6. THE AUSTRALIAN TAX REGIME APPLYING TO NON-RESIDENTS 

• 6.1 EMPLOYMENT INCOME 
• 6.2 INTEREST INCOME 
• 6.3 DIVIDEND INCOME 
• 6.4 RENTAL INCOME 

7. CONCLUDING REMARKS