Recent changes to Australian tax legislation significantly increase the potential tax for non-residents. Non residents have always been penalised by not being able to access the tax free threshold, now they also have the joy of higher rates as well.

But less talked about, in a clever twist on the ATO’s part, the CGT 50% exemption for assets held for more than 12 months has also been removed for non-residents. This potentially doubles the CGT payable on the sale of assets by non-residents and is a huge issue.

Provisional rules apply up to budget day 2012 which may mitigate at least some of the problem. If you have CGT assets and are non-resident, you need to get some things in place now.

Read more here.