Tax and Residency Question.

[Shampoo]

If I relocated and moved into a long term rental home on  01 July 2017 will I be tax resident from this date in AU? In other words, do I submit a return to SARS from 01 March 2017 to 30 June 2017 and the rest of the tax year to AU?

[Gerhardk]

In theory, if you cease to be a tax resident of RSA on 30 June 2017 and you are only a tax resident in Australia from 1 July 2017 then Yes to your question. 

 

In reality it hardly ever happens this way since most people stay tax resident of RSA even though they moved to Australia and became tax residents here. If this is the case then you will have to lodge SARS tax returns for SARS tax year (end of February) and lodge ATO tax returns for AU tax year (end of June). RSA and Australia both tax on worldwide income so often you have to declare income to both tax jurisdictions but for different periods. You usually only pay tax in one of the countries (depending on type of income) and the other country should provide credit for tax already paid.