If I sell my house in NZ and take my money to Australia, do I pay any tax other than Capital Gains?
I am an NZ citizen but a permanent resident in Australia and want to sell my rental property in NZ to buy a house to live in in Australia.
I'm not sure where Rob got his information from. I'm in the process of doing exatly what Katy was wanting to do - sell our NZ home which we had initially lived in but have been renting out for the past 15 years.
I have had extensive talks with the ATO and paid for advice from a tax accountant. I wish what Rob said were true but it seems that if you sell your NZ home you get to pay the Australian government for the privilege.
And what's more, I asked the accontant - if I were to go back to NZ for 2 years, lose my tax residency then sell our NZ home he said then a tax avoidance clause kicks in and if you don't happen to sell the home within the intial 2 years but sell it at any time in the future you will be liable for CGT to the ATO.
That sounds incredible to me - that a foreign government can have dibs on your money when you no longer live there but I have checked with several other accountants who have told me that is the situation.
I'm no expert but I wouldn't have thought you would pay anymore tax other than Capital Gains. Of course once it goes into the bank here any interest you make would be taxed.
Once you buy a house your going to pay the usual stamp duty, searches, real estate and lawyers fees etc. They say an extra $20,000 is spent when buying a house.
Don't worry your not going to miss out paying for Rudd's stuff ups.
Does anybody have example of how much tax would apply, please? The link to the CGT information didn't give us any concrete figures (or we looked at the wrong place). Thanks
What if you are not an Australian Citizen yet? Just a Special Category Visa holder? Do we have to pay the capital gains tax and what if the house was originally bought to live in or if it is a rental in a Trust?
Technically the trust owns it, doesn't it? Not sure why SCV holders would be expected to pay CGT when they are not even entitled to any help from the taxes they are paying in Australia. Is there an exemption period for CGT? I have heard from a NZ accountant that there is a 6 yr exemption for paying CGT in Australia. How long would we need to be living back in NZ to be considered not Australian residents for tax purposes? Any help with these questions from someone who has expert advice only would be appreciated thanks.
The key thing here is which country are you a resident of for tax purposes? It doesn't have anything to do with whether you have an SCV or are an Australian/NZ citizen.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has info here about how to determine whether you are a resident in Australia for tax purposes:
https://www.ato.gov.au/Individuals/Coming-to-Australia-or-going-overseas/Your-tax-residency/
As for the house being owned by a Trust, I think you'd need to discuss this with a tax professional like your accountant.
great, i have the same concerns, does anybody know answer to zara88 question?
I have same question as zara88. Can anyone who understand this well answer please?
My question is identical to zara88. Has anyone seen an answer to this issue anywhere?
Same question as Zara88. Where can I go to get concrete info. Lots of different information around.
I have a question. My wife and I are Australians and have owned a rental property in New Zealand since 2009. The double taxation agreement came into for just after we purchased our property.
We have now sold the property and want to know if CGT needs to be paid in Australia as the double taxation agreement was not in force at time of purchase and NZ does not tax capital gains.
I hope somebody who knows a bit about this area might be able to shed some light on this. Thanks.
If you are living in Australia, you will be classed as Australian Tax resident and when you sell your house in NZ, you will have to pay CGT.
Check these links:
Will I be taxed for the sale of my house in New Zealand? | ATO Community
Hypaflectly if I was buying a property in WA and renting it out for the next 3 to 4 years before moving over to live and then rented the NZ property out for a similar period after moving and then decided to sell what would the CGT be based on, if NZ property was lived in for the past 25 years - would the gain be derived from what it was bought for then sold?
We've been living in NZ in our own family home for the last 20 years. We intend to move to Melbourne in an year or so. Plan is to sell the family home and take the proceeds..go Melbourne.. buy a house and live there
Listen, you don't have to pay capital gains tax if the purpose for purchasing your property wasn't to make a capital gain. Basically you bought the house in NZ and the reason you bought it was for the purpose of earning the rental income (on which you already paid tax).
This isn't true. Generally, if you are a resident of Australia for tax purposes and you own and subsequently sell property in NZ then CGT will apply to that sale - as this property in NZ was not your primary place of residence (how can it be if you reside in Australia).
As to how much CGT you need to pay because of that sale is something you want to speak to an accountant about, as there are discounts on the CGT rate for holding an asset for more than 12 months etc.