Is there an official tax agreement Australia and the UK? If so how does it actually work? If I returned to Australia owing £500 am I going to get arrested next time I land at Heathrow? Not that I intend to do that, but I have an unreliable accountant who I suspect is not doing a professional job of my running my company, but it seems a lot of hassle to change accountants at this stage.
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Less hassle than getting a large tax bill, plus interest and penalties? For that matter, what if you're overpaying?
If the former is your contingency plan to flee the country?I'm Spartacus. -
No basically I am quite happy to pay my taxes, but I don't want some silly little debt of a couple of hundred quid getting me in trouble back home. If it's going to cause me grief then I will make double sure that everything is above board before I leave.Comment
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Yes, there's a tax agreement between Oz and the UK, but it's only the double-taxation agreement. If you're tax-resident of Australia and earn taxed income in the UK, then file your Australian tax return declaring the UK income and you'll get a credit for tax paid here.Originally posted by aussieItman
There's no agreement that the UK tax authorities can chase you to Oz for any unpaid taxes. What they can do is issue an assessment, find out you're a non-payer, take you to court (in your absence), issue a CCJ, send the bailiffs around to any known addresses, and/or order you bankrupt in the UK.
You might not get arrested at Heathrow, but you might find it difficult going about any sort of normal life if you intend to return for any period of time.Comment
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cool thanks for the info Meridian.Comment
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I should add that, although i believe that it's not currently done, the Revenue is considering outsourcing debt collection (apparently there's all sorts of privacy issues to be ironed out....)
If this goes through, then there may indeed be a defacto arrangement in the future where debts are sold from the UK debt collector to an Australian debt collector, who will then proceed to recover the debt in Oz.
Not sure if this is going to happen though.Comment
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I am sure that changed in the last couple of years - I know for a fact the IR opened up offices in both NZ and Oz to combat people fleeing home to avoid tax.Originally posted by meridianComment
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Originally posted by privateeye
Really? None of my contacts in NZ IRD have heard of any UK offices.
Would you happen to know where they have set up? Do they have a web presence, and/or street address?Comment
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I know the NZ one is Auckland, don't know about the Oz one. It would be nothing to do with NZ IRD anyway as its not their tax they are after. I can try and dig around for info - I got it from some PI contacts who were recruited to trace people who had run off without paying in the UK. The NZ and Oz Pi's quite often approach the UK PI's to get info on the various people to see if tey have come back etc.Originally posted by meridian
As I understand it is not an agreement between tax authorities but an agreement between governments to recover debts. I have not worked on these cases so don't know the full details.Comment
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I suspect that you're right, that it's a firm operating on behalf of the UK IRD.Originally posted by privateeye
I've been able to track down an interesting piece of legislation in NZ, the Reciprocal Enforcement of Judgements Act 1934. Basically, it allows for court orders issued in the UK to be applied for enforcement through the courts in NZ. If the courts in NZ agree, then the UK judgement can be applied in NZ and therefore UK debts (any debts, not just tax ones) can be collected in NZ.
As NZ and Australia have a fairly common legal history (together with and based upon the UK), I wouldn't be surprised if there was similar legislation in Australia.Comment
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