Thinking of coming back to Australia to retire? Then you need a plan in place to utilise the utopian Australian tax system, many years before your feet actually touch Australian soil.

In your absence, the superannuation rules have changed such that with a bit of careful planning, once you retire over age 60, you might never need to pay tax again. Yippee

The goal is to have as much as possible in your superfund before you turn age 65. Once this is in pension phase there is no tax on earnings in the fund, no capital gains tax on asset sales within the fund and no tax on pension or lump sum draws. A veritable tax haven.

So stop hoarding funds overseas (often done in the misguided hope of guessing the best time to exchange currencies) and start stockpiling tax free assets in the currency you will be spending them in.

To stop everyone chucking everything into super, caps apply to contributions. The contribution cap relevant to the expat abroad, is the non concessional contributions caps of $180k per person per year. These contributions are made from your personal savings and are not taxed on entering the superfund.

The important point is that if you do not use the cap in any year you lose it. Hence the reason to get this strategy into place early. Don’t leave it to the last minute.

For assistance in setting up a superfund as a non resident and maximising your contribution strategies  please get in touch.

Lindsay 0413 952180