International Taxation Services Sydney

International tax can be stressful when one part of your life is in Australia, and another is elsewhere.

You may be earning income overseas while living in Australia. You may be leaving Australia, returning after years abroad or trying to work out whether you are still an Australian tax resident. You may have foreign property, an overseas pension, offshore investments, international business income or payments moving between related entities in different countries.

I’m Rafal Slowinski, Director of Tax Accounting Group Pty Ltd. I help individuals, investors and business owners in Sydney understand what Australia needs to know about their overseas income, assets and business activity.

You do not need to know the residency tests, treaty rules or reporting requirements before you contact me. Tell me where the income, assets, work or business activity sits, and I will help you work out what needs to be reviewed.

A common problem with foreign income is that people assume it has already been addressed elsewhere.

You may have paid tax overseas and think that ends the matter. You may believe a foreign bank account does not need attention because it is small. You may think overseas rental income, dividends, wages, contractor payments or pensions are outside the Australian return because the money never came here.

Those assumptions can create problems.

Australian tax can still apply depending on your residency position, the income type, the country involved, the tax already paid and the way the income is documented. If a double tax agreement applies, it may change how the income is treated, but it does not remove the need to check the position properly.

I help you sort the facts before the return is lodged or before the ATO asks the question first.

Before we can deal properly with foreign income, we often need to look at tax residency.

That does not always match your passport, visa status, or where you feel “based.” It can depend on your living arrangements, family location, work pattern, property, financial ties, intention, time spent in Australia and the country you are connected to overseas.

If you are leaving Australia, returning to Australia or moving between countries, I can help review the facts that affect your Australian tax position.

Once residency is clearer, the rest of the advice becomes more useful. We can then look at what income Australia may expect you to declare, what foreign tax has already been paid and whether treaty rules or foreign income tax offsets may need to be considered.

Many people only realise there may be an international tax issue after the income has already been earned, an asset has already been sold, or a return has already been lodged.

If that has happened, I can still help.

I can review what was reported, what may have been missed, what documents are available and whether an amendment or correction should be considered. If the ATO has contacted you about foreign income, offshore assets or tax residency, I can help you understand what they are asking and what needs to happen next.

The earlier we look at it, the more options we usually have. But even if the issue is already there, guessing is not the answer.