what annoys me is that my tax status in australia as " non resident"puts me into a 30% tax category in Australia for the small amount of money that i earn there from an investment.Anybody know of a good "work around" for this?

Thread moved to Off Topic as it does not seem to have anything to do with Switzerland.

Lodge a tax return in Australia ? Or consider yourself lucky that you aren't double-taxed like the Americans...

I've been lodging tax returns in Australia for many years. They dont consider how much I earn here in Switzerland!

There is an agreement to avoid double taxation - can't it be used to lower your tax burden ?

Tax rates in Oz.

Actually they only tax me in Australia for what I earn there but because I live abroad I have to pay a whopping 30%. Of course I also have to pay Swiss Tax but only on my earnings here.

As far as i know, if its income from rental property for example, then 30% you have to pay (if its up to 35K) as a non resident and there is no way around it. It is sourced in Australia and therefore is subject to tax. Bank interest and dividends have a tax withheld component i.e. 10% i think.

Yep it's true, there's no way around it that I know of. It just sux, w'ere one of the highest taxed nations out there... whether you live there or not.

Yes that's correct. No way out! I don't really get any benefits from this high tax.

As an Australian non resident one has to pay 29 cents Tax for every dollar that one earns in Australia irrespective of what one earns in Switzerland. Why such a high Tax? Is that a penalty?

As a non-resident, there is no tax free threshold and they won't let you carry losses forward unless you make a worldwide loss. We took all our investments and money out of Australia after finding this out and invested elsewhere. The UK, for example, is very generous to non-resident investors - a tax free amount per person and capital gains taxes are only due if you return to live within 6 years after. Brilliant.

This is an unfortunate part of living and working overseas if you are Australian. If it is a rental investment, you can still negatively gear (as far as I am aware) so perhaps spend some money on your property to reduce your tax?

Lets be fair though, you are making money in Australia and another country. I assume that if you are paying 30 %, you are still making 70 % which is still a profit. Best to save your 30 % throughout the year so it is there at the end of the year when you do your tax return.

Yes one can negatively gear which is what I do and it does cut the tax significantly. Still this tax is quite a big burden when one does not earn much here.

Yes definitely, if you are earning good money here it is worthwhile, if you are earning only minimal money here then it is a problem.

If you are not working in Switzerland you could probably still declare yourself a resident of Australia, especially if you maintain a home in Australia and keep your postal addresses local, but this can be problematic. Also, if you can spend more than 180 days of the year in Australia you can reclaim your residency.

I just decided to declare myself a non resident for the time being, whilst it costs me money it is simpler to manage.

As a non-resident you can't carry losses forward unless you make a worldwide loss, so no, you can't "negative gear" just your Oz investments.

expenses that I incurr on my Australian investment ( rental property) are declarable on my Oz tax return.

Yes - but only in that financial year. So you have year 1 tax free because you have expensed some renovations, but because you can't carry that loss forward, you'll need to spend again in year 2.

The whole point of negative gearing is to reduce your tax burden for your main income. If you don't earn a salary in Australia, then it doesn't make sense to spend money every year just so you don't pay tax on your investment earnings.

This is true however if the property is positively geared (gross income - expenses = positive net income) then that positively geared net income is taxed. So therefore you are entitled to reduce the gross income by removing expenses.

I am not an accountant but I believe this is the case but would appreciate this being tested for correctness.

Thanks for advice. Im a layman in these matters!