How to Avoid Paying Australian Tax in New Zealand as Sole Trader?

• 

  p1 ama on 17/08/2019 - 00:41

  -3

  You would pay the NZ tax rate and then you would pay the difference if you tried to repatriate the earnings to AU.

  Just like to know, the easiest way to register business and pay NZ tax instead of AUS tax, without having to spend much time in NZ.

  As long as you keep the money in NZ, then this is fine. If you bring the money into AU as an AU resident, you will end up paying the AU tax rate.

  https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Income-and-deductions/Inc…

  • 

    DirtyJohn on 17/08/2019 - 00:50

    Thanks for info.

  • 

    nfr on 17/08/2019 - 09:49

    Why the negs?

    • 

      Baysew on 17/08/2019 - 09:57

      Maybe

      As long as you keep the money in NZ, then this is fine

      Contradicts the link that was posted.

      If you're an Australian resident for tax purposes, you are taxed on your worldwide income, so you must declare any foreign income in your income tax return.

      You just can't "leave it and it will be fine".

      • 

        p1 ama on 17/08/2019 - 11:14

        If you're an Australian resident for tax purposes then it's obvious you would have to pay Australian tax on any income exactly like you would if it was Australian income?

        I specifically thought OP was asking what would happen if he were to claim he was an NZ resident.

• 

  kipps on 17/08/2019 - 07:55

  +3

  If you’re still an Australian resident you have to pay tax on worldwide income in Australia. A lot goes into determining residency. From what you said you would remain an Australian resident. Mutual tax treaties likely mean that Australia will recognise tax paid in NZ on income there. Get proper advice. This area can be very complicated.

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  vikvance on 17/08/2019 - 08:21

  Have a read through the resources on this ATO webpage on tax residency:

  https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/international-tax-for-ind…

  If you are living in Australia, then it is likely that the ATO will consider you to be resident in Australia for tax purposes. The only way to avoid this would be to move your "home" "permanently" to New Zealand. That is, if you spend most of your time in New Zealand, and only visit Australia for short periods.

  Even then, you have to be careful, because in some situations the ATO can still consider you to have "connections" to Australia. For example, I think there was a case where a person had left Australia to work in the Middle East, but was still considered an Australian tax resident, because his wife & children were in Australia, and he was sending most of his money back to Australia to support them financially.

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  mskeggs on 17/08/2019 - 09:16

  You can’t do what you want legally. If you register a company there, you can do what you want, but then the money will attract NZ corporate taxes, the company will have admin costs, and when you take the income out it will still attract tax.

  What you are describing is kind of like the tax haven approach big companies use. It is costly to set up.

  You might want to ask the question again with better info. E.g. I want to sell some things in NZ, visiting occasionally, and generating profits around $x. What is the best way to set this up for lowest taxes?