Am I an Australian tax resident?

Tax residency determines how Australia taxes your income, and it has nothing to do with your visa or your citizenship. Residents get the $18,200 tax-free threshold — or a part-year share of it in the year they arrive — and may pay the Medicare levy. Foreign residents pay tax only on Australian-sourced income with no tax-free threshold and no levy.

Being an Australian resident for tax normally means declaring worldwide income — but if you are also a temporary resident (you hold a temporary visa and neither you nor your spouse is an Australian citizen or permanent resident) most of your foreign income is exempt. You declare income you earned in Australia, capital gains on taxable Australian property, and in some cases employment income for services you performed overseas while a temporary resident. Other foreign income and capital gains on property that is not taxable Australian property do not have to be declared at all.

The ATO's example: Kerrie is a temporary resident who is also an Australian resident for tax. She owns a house in New Zealand. If she is still a temporary resident when she sells it, she does not declare the capital gain in her Australian tax return.

The ATO uses four tests, and meeting any one of them makes you a resident: the resides test, the domicile test, the 183-day test and the Commonwealth superannuation test. This tool asks only the questions that can reach the first two, so it can tell you when you are likely a resident but it can never rule residency out.