First off, even thought I was working remotely my daily work did not differ in anyway and I was still contributing to projects in Australia as normal. Not even a change in my contract was made in regards to this, that is why I think my earnings are still technically in Australia... "I earn income to provide services to a company...". It's a tricky situation.Beeroclock wrote:
Strong Eagle has said the same in his earlier post. Where you earn the income is different from where you are paid/receive the money.
I think you should be able to amend your return. Check the time limit on ATO website but 2012 is still recent so should be fine. Especially as you have the tax ruling too, you can reference this and say earlier return was submitted erroneously on the basis of tax resident.
As I said earlier though, it's quite a substantial change and might trigger ATO investigation. They might want to verify if your situation was actually as per the information given and consistent with the ruling they gave you. Did you tell the ATO about the pay arrangement (paid by the Aust company and rcvd in your Aust bk account ?? IMO this does not look good). Difficult to know really, the only way is to try.
I would think the fact you now left Australia and reside abroad supports your claim of non residency. If you went straight back to Australia and stayed there, it would open more questions/doubt.
I agree you should call ATO and also re-read very carefully the ruling you got and if it would stand up to scrutiny based on your actual situation/ circumstances.
But regarding your Singapore situation, that is very clearcut and if it were me, I would find any means possible to get hold of the $8k and clear this rather than be a tax evader in Singapore.
I will contact ATO, but if they even hint at this being a problem for me then I will probably decide not to pay the tax.
And seriously what's the problem in "evading tax" in a country if you never choose to return there and you haven't gained any profit in doing so? To me this issue is overblown, people do what they must to get ahead, sure, but it's a dog eat dog world.