Recently, the Government announced that it would
"modernise" the individual tax residency provisions in
the 2021-22 Federal Budget. Whilst we are yet to see any draft
legislation in relation to this, the Government did mention that
the rules will be based on the recommendations made by the Board of
Taxation (BOT) which we have summarised below.
PROBLEMS WITH OUR CURRENT RULES
Our current residency provisions are principle based and
generally require a detailed analysis of current case law which
often leads to confusion and incorrect application of our residency
tests.
Currently, individuals are considered tax residents of Australia
if they pass any of the following tests:
- The individual resides in Australia according to ordinary
concepts; or