Hello, I have a query about taxes on overseas income. I will discuss this in detail with a proper Tax accountant, however asking here in case anyone has been in a similar situation:
Our current situation: Wife and I are Australian citizens, and we both work full-time (me in IT, she a dentist). We have our own home (mortgaged) in Sydney. We don't have kids or any dependents.
So, I recently interviewed with a company in Dubai for a fairly senior role (compared to what I do here), and it looks like they will make an offer. If it comes thru, and if the money looks worthwhile I'm very keen to take it up. The money (tax-free) will be about 1.5-1.8 times what my Net income is here.
Discussing this with my wife (who's not super keen to move as she has a decent patient base, contacts, etc here, and in general, dentistry pays more here than there), one way we thought we could do it is, me going to Dubai to work, my wife continues living in our house in Sydney and continues her job here, and take a week off every month to join me there for a mini vacation every month (perks of that job include 90% off on flight tickets).
We were thinking of having this arrangement for 2-3 years after which I'll come back for good. This is not a big deal, as in a previous job as a consultant, I've worked interstate for years where I'm home only on weekends or alternate weekends.
However reading thru the ATO residence/non-residence sections, I'm a bit confused about the tax implications of this.
As I've spent more than 183 days this financial year here already (June 2022-say March 2022), does this mean I'm considered a resident for tax purposes for FY23, and therefore have to pay taxes on the few months of Dubai pay earned in the financial year?
In FY24, as my wife is living and earning an income here, and we have joint bank accounts (incl the mortgage and its offset account), does this mean I'd be considered a resident for tax purposes and therefore have to pay tax on the Dubai FY23 income? (which totally negates the "tax-free"'ness of the salary)
A few months in, one option we'd consider is having the wife move to Dubai too. The company that is hiring me has their own clinics too (for their employees - it's a large company), and they said they'll look into vacancies there for my wife. She's still trying to find out if this requires sitting tests etc and if salaries are at least sort of comparable, but nevertheless this is an option. In this case, we'll rent out the house when we're gone. Does this mean we'll be considered tax residents (due to owning property and getting rental income), and therefore have to pay tax on the Dubai income?
https://atlaswealth.com/news/determining-your-tax-residency-…
Educational read.