New to Australia? Here’s what your first tax year actually looks like.

You lodge only the income earned as an Australian resident. Your worldwide income counts from the day you became a tax resident, not from 1 July. The ATO has a residency test based on where you live + work + intend to stay; usually a straightforward "yes I moved here" answer holds up. Your tax-free threshold is pro-rated by the months of the FY you were a resident.

Most Centrelink payments — JobSeeker, Parenting Payment, FTB Part A income top-up, CCS, Youth Allowance — are only paid AFTER you've been a permanent resident for 104 weeks. Different waiting periods apply to different payments (some are 1yr, some 4yr, some 10yr). Medicare access starts immediately; FTB and CCS eligibility depend on the specific payment. Check each one on Services Australia.

Your employer still pays the Super Guarantee (12% of ordinary earnings). When you permanently leave Australia AND your visa expires, you can withdraw your entire super balance as a Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP) — tax rate is 35% on the taxed element. Not automatic; you apply through the ATO after leaving.

Once you're an AU tax resident, your worldwide income is taxable in Australia. Interest, dividends, rent, foreign super pensions, employment income from a previous country. Australia has tax treaties with 40+ countries to avoid double taxation — you generally get a Foreign Income Tax Offset (FITO) for tax already paid overseas.

On the day you became an AU tax resident, most non-Australian assets are treated as if you had ACQUIRED them at market value that day for CGT purposes. Sell later? Only the gain since that day is taxable. Australian real estate + shares held pre-arrival keep their original cost base. Get the valuation dated correctly — it's the cost base that follows you.

The ATO tracks HELP debts (Australia's student loan system) once you're a resident. If you had a foreign student loan (US student loans, UK Plan 2, etc), you may still be required to declare + repay it via your home country's system while living here. Neither system takes precedence; you handle both. Whether HELP itself applies depends on if you studied in Australia.

You're on an SCV visa automatically on arrival — but you're NOT a permanent resident unless you've upgraded (a path opened in July 2023 for eligible NZ citizens who'd been here 4+ years). Different SCV rules for Centrelink, FTB, CCS. Medicare access is immediate. Super treatment matches PR from your first day of employment.

On leaving Australia you may have had a deemed CGT disposal of non-real-estate assets. On returning, those assets get a fresh cost base at market value on your first day back. Super preserved balances become accessible under the same rules. Medicare + Centrelink access resumes; waiting periods may or may not apply depending on how long you were gone.