Bye bye LAFHA, no more gravy train

karl bracken

RaoulDuke66 wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't have an intimate knowledge of Australian tax law before I signed my contract in October and moved to the other side of the World - I just went by the ATO's guidance which entitled me to LAFHA. Not sure too many others were Australian tax experts either.

I thought i covered that in my previous post below, that unless it was part of your contract before you came over you should see it as a bonus or whatever you want to call it....

So how much is your mortage for the gaf your maintaining at home?

You know its a loop hole and so does everyone else (unless it was part of your contract before you left Ireland), but its a good one so lets hope we get another 2 years :cool:

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish so say your getting 35000 LAFHA which is about normal say 400 rent plus a weeks food for 2 people
Then your on a salary of about 85,000 now if you cant live on that theres something wrong.
How much much do you think you'l get at home?

You in the above statements is not refering to you Duke i mean in general

karl bracken wrote: »

My point is we all know that the LAFHA is a bonus its great and all but unless you emigrated from another country to here and were promised LAFHA with your wages, we really are just getting money for nothing.

karl bracken

And fair play Duke for putting the letter together and trying to do something about it, i just hope they dont get 5 minutes in parliament and amend the tax act.

Nick Diamond

karl bracken wrote: »

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish/QUOTE]

No necessarily, if you got sponsored before July last year the min was only around 46k i believe

kdevitt

karl bracken wrote: »

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish so say your getting 35000 LAFHA which is about normal say 400 rent plus a weeks food for 2 people
Then your on a salary of about 85,000 now if you cant live on that theres something wrong.
How much much do you think you'l get at home?

Perhaps you don't get it because you have absolutely zero idea of what other peoples circumstances are?

karl bracken

Nick Diamond wrote: »

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish/QUOTE]

No necessarily, if you got sponsored before July last year the min was only around 46k i believe

47330 i think, but i dont think that 2000 difference will be the clincher on going home lol

karl bracken

kdevitt wrote: »

Perhaps you don't get it because you have absolutely zero idea of what other peoples circumstances are?

TBH i dont particularily care about other people circumstances i have enough going on in my own life.

My point stands if you cant live on 85000 ish you have a problem and your in dream land if you think you will get more at home.

kdevitt

karl bracken wrote: »

My point stands if you cant live on 85000 ish you have a problem and your in dream land if you think you will get more at home.

Your point is absolute tosh - as I said, and you seemed to agree, you don't have a clue what other people circumstances are so not sure why you think you're well placed to judge whether other people have a problem based on an 85k figure which you've plucked out of the sky.

karl bracken

karl bracken wrote: »

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish so say your getting 35000 LAFHA which is about normal say 400 rent plus a weeks food for 2 people
Then your on a salary of about 85,000 now if you cant live on that theres something wrong.

Thats where the figure came from im sure you can do the maths unless your LAFHA is taking you below the minimum treshold and that would mean your breaking your 457 visa requirements

Feelgood

karl bracken wrote: »

My point stands if you cant live on 85000 ish you have a problem and your in dream land if you think you will get more at home.

really depends on the circumstances Karl, considering the high price of rent and food - 85k is sweet FA if you have a wife and child to support aswell.

karl bracken

As i will also have from next week on if the midwifes dates are correct, but i think were in the minority in them circumstances feelgood.

And im sure your aware of everything were not entitled to because we dont have PR as well as loosing LAFHA so my circumstances are worse than most and yours to by the sounds of it!

digiman

karl bracken wrote: »

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish so say your getting 35000 LAFHA which is about normal say 400 rent plus a weeks food for 2 people
Then your on a salary of about 85,000 now if you cant live on that theres something wrong.
How much much do you think you'l get at home?l

Correct me please if I am wrong but this is not how LAFHA works or certainly not for me anyway. If you are on a salary of 49.5k and your LAFHA works out at 35k then you get the LAFHA taken away from 49.5k as a tax free allowance and then pay tax at the rate that applies for someone who is on 14.5k. This is how mines is done anyhow. So you just end up paying a lot less tax than normal.

karl bracken

That is how it works but if your the primary person on a 457 ur base salary cannot be below 49500 so if you were on 60000 the max LAFHA you could would be about 10500 but if your defecto your base salary doesn't matter

RaoulDuke66

karl bracken wrote: »

I thought i covered that in my previous post below, that unless it was part of your contract before you came over you should see it as a bonus or whatever you want to call it....

So how much is your mortage for the gaf your maintaining at home?

You know its a loop hole and so does everyone else (unless it was part of your contract before you left Ireland), but its a good one so lets hope we get another 2 years :cool:

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish so say your getting 35000 LAFHA which is about normal say 400 rent plus a weeks food for 2 people
Then your on a salary of about 85,000 now if you cant live on that theres something wrong.
How much much do you think you'l get at home?

You in the above statements is not refering to you Duke i mean in general

In the UK, I'd earn much more money than I do here (maybe 40% more). So I didn't actually come here for money, I came to experience Australia (which is turning out to be a very bad experience).

Immediately cut my takehome by 20% and I can't afford to stay. Now that's all well and good if I can leave Australia for the UK, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong etc, but all the financial clawbacks in my employment contract plus lease breakage costs plus 10k to send all our possessions back etc make that an unaffordable option. So can't afford to stay, can't afford to leave, with no transitional period to sort things out (even though that's what Australians are getting).

I don't know that I'm exploiting any loophole. I just went with the tax laws and the ATO's guidance thereon. Like I say, I'm not a tax law expert, so I couldn't back in October have predicted there would be an overnight 20% cut in my takehome pay putting me in an impossible situation. Seems vaguely sensible that the government shouldn't do that to people.

However, the whole thing is emerging as part of a wider anti-foreign worker agenda from desparate politicians trying to grab support for forthcoming elections. Any foreigners considering coming to Australia will have taken fright due to this episode, and Australia will become the last port of call for foreign expertise.

The tone coming from politicians, the media, and Australians on social networking sites is pretty much 'Go Home'.

Munka01

karl bracken wrote: »

I thought i covered that in my previous post below, that unless it was part of your contract before you came over you should see it as a bonus or whatever you want to call it....

So how much is your mortage for the gaf your maintaining at home?

You know its a loop hole and so does everyone else (unless it was part of your contract before you left Ireland), but its a good one so lets hope we get another 2 years :cool:

I just dont get the, i will have to go home now if i loose LAFHA, if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish so say your getting 35000 LAFHA which is about normal say 400 rent plus a weeks food for 2 people
Then your on a salary of about 85,000 now if you cant live on that theres something wrong.
How much much do you think you'l get at home?

You in the above statements is not refering to you Duke i mean in general

Karl

Are you just trying to wind people up on here? If you are fine with losing LAHFA then why are you on this thread? There are obviously far more people here that see this as a major factor in whether they stay in aus.

You're numbers are way out. My after tax pay with LAHFA is $62,000 now without it is $52,000.

Lahfa was offered with my contract, I made the move in Aug last year based on this. I have now lost pretty much $30,000 in earnings for the next three years. And will mean that after my 4 years in this country I will most likely be earning less or the same as I did when I first arrived. I am 26 and I expected my earnings increase over the 4 years I am here. This will now not happen and makes staying here a lot less attractive.

I used to live in London and will have no problems getting a job back there on equivelent wages.

My outgoings here are almost 4times more that they were at home. ($600 a month rent in the UK comparedto $2000 rent here as an example) The accomodation I have here is of a lesser standard as I had in the UK. I could deal with the extra expenses with LAHFA but as I came to australia for financial and career progression reasons, but had I been aware that I would lose $30,000 in earning before I made my decision I would not have made the move.

I was not aware of the ins and outs of how LAHFA is meant to be utilised and was not required to research this before I came as my company did all this for me. I was is no way aware that this is a supposed loop hole.

Zambia

Munka01 wrote: »

Karl

Are you just trying to wind people up on here? If you are fine with losing LAHFA then why are you on this thread? There are obviously far more people here that see this as a major factor in whether they stay in aus.

You're numbers are way out. My after tax pay with LAHFA is $62,000 now without it is $52,000.

That's still not a bad wage after tax

Munka01 wrote: »

Lahfa was offered with my contract, I made the move in Aug last year based on this. I have now lost pretty much $30,000 in earnings for the next three years. And will mean that after my 4 years in this country I will most likely be earning less or the same as I did when I first arrived. I am 26 and I expected my earnings increase over the 4 years I am here. This will now not happen and makes staying here a lot less attractive.

With Respect Munka LAFHA was paid for by the Aus Goverment you had no contract with them.

Chances are your skills are in demand and you are worth 62 Net a year.

You need to approach your employers and tell them your wage has dropped due to LAFHA ending and you require more money from them.

Alternatively you could approach them and request they support your PR application which would entitle you to more goverment support. Which would also cut your ties to them and allow you to job hunt in your field in Oz (for more money).

Munka01

Zambia wrote: »

That's still not a bad wage after tax


With Respect Munka LAFHA was paid for by the Aus Goverment you had no contract with them.

Chances are your skills are in demand and you are worth 62 Net a year.

You need to approach your employers and tell them your wage has dropped due to LAFHA ending and you require more money from them.

Alternatively you could approach them and request they support your PR application which would entitle you to more goverment support. Which would also cut your ties to them and allow you to job hunt in your field in Oz (for more money).

I understand what you are saying but my knowledge of LAHFA and how it is meant to be applied was none existant and even now I think getting information on LAHFA is extremely difficult. My understanding and interpretation based on information supplied in my contract was that I would receive LAHFA for my 4 year in this country.

I have just checked my contract and under the section of LAHFA there is no mention of the government.

PR is an option but I believe a majority of the benefits you receive from going PR are aimed towards families. I am single and came here alone so school fees and such are not an issue for me.

My role is quite niche in Australia, so would be difficult to find another company that requires my skills.

Ianbee123

Well said Munka01 !!...and you weren't aware that hit was a "loophole" as it isn't a "loophole" It is a legitimate tax break that is currently abvailable to both tempoaray & permanent residents and also Citizens of Australia....I know he keeps saying that we all know its a "loophole"..but only Karl keeps saying it is..IF he wants to belive that then fine...on this therad he is in a majority of 1 !!
If it was a loophole it would have been closed a long time ago... the fact is LAFHA has been and still is an allowance against tax to pay for extra costs for temporarily living away from your perrmanent place of residence. The only "loophole" is the fact that the Australian tax office have been extreamly lax in ensuring that the permanent residence actually exists (both for Australians and Temps alike) and people who do not have a residence elsewhere (or if they do have any intention of returning to it,) have been able to claim LAFHA ( again I will re-itterate both Australians and temps have exploited this). So why then are only temps being singled out for it to be withdrawn on July 1st this year??...all they had to do was tighten up the already existing rules around LAFHA (i.e. you had to at least proove you had another home on which either your name was on the deeds/ the mortgage or the rental agreement and you had to re show this each year....but why scrap it completely...and why in a way that is so discriminatory against forgein temporary workers who contribute in tax just the same as any Aussie who also gets LAFHA would???...this is the issue

Munka01

Ianbee123 wrote: »

Well said Munka01 !!...and you weren't aware that hit was a "loophole" as it isn't a "loophole" It is a legitimate tax break that is currently abvailable to both tempoaray & permanent residents and also Citizens of Australia....I know he keeps saying that we all know its a "loophole"..but only Karl keeps saying it is..IF he wants to belive that then fine...on this therad he is in a majority of 1 !!
If it was a loophole it would have been closed a long time ago... the fact is LAFHA has been and still is an allowance against tax to pay for extra costs for temporarily living away from your perrmanent place of residence. The only "loophole" is the fact that the Australian tax office have been extreamly lax in ensuring that the permanent residence actually exists (both for Australians and Temps alike) and people who do not have a residence elsewhere (or if they do have any intention of returning to it,) have been able to claim LAFHA ( again I will re-itterate both Australians and temps have exploited this). So why then are only temps being singled out for it to be withdrawn on July 1st this year??...all they had to do was tighten up the already existing rules around LAFHA (i.e. you had to at least proove you had another home on which either your name was on the deeds/ the mortgage or the rental agreement and you had to re show this each year....but why scrap it completely...and why in a way that is so discriminatory against forgein temporary workers who contribute in tax just the same as any Aussie who also gets LAFHA would???...this is the issue

Exactly.

I came to Australia as a company head hunted me and offered me employment in this country as they required my skills. I didn't go looking to move to Australia and was not something I ever planned to do.

I am all for them tightening up this allowance but this should be something that is applied from a certain date and should not effect people that came over to Australia before these reforms were announced.

I am now in a position that I was never able to envisage, had I known that this was going to happen there is a good chance I would still be in the UK.

These reforms should apply to people have not yet made the move and have the choice to decide whether it is still financially viable to move to this country, they should not apply to people that have moved half way across the world (to assist this country)and now suddenly find themselves in a position where there are all sorts of issues to now be able to go back to the UK.

Its basically put many people up s**t street without a paddle through none of their own doing.

Ianbee123

I am here exactly for the same reason as you..head hunted and asked to come, and LAFHA was offered as a legitmate tax concession by my employer. I signed a lease for 12 months on a property here based on what my take home earnings would be with the LAFHA tax allowance on what I pay for rent and food...now 8 months in and suddenly the rug is pulled. I signed my lease on November 12th. last year (i.e two weeks before there was even a hint of any reform on LAFHA)...so after July 1st upto November I'm one of those up s**t creek without a paddle and if I make it through to November without being evicted (and therefore not get a reference from my landlord to rent somweher else) ...I will move to cheaper place which will deffinately be well below the standard I had in the UK (for 3 times the ammount of monthly payment.) What I have now is around the same for 4 times the ammount I was paying inthe UK) so I'm one of those obviously "rorting" the system because I have so much more here than I had in the UK!!...Don't get me wrong, I have lots of other reasons to stay here unfortunately none of those reasons will pay the bills and I am prepared to make some sacrifices in my lifestyle to stick it out...but please just give me the time to adjust...like many others that is all we want.... I don't know many Aussies that would accept a cut in their take home pay of 20 - 25% with only 6 weeks notice for whatever the reason...and they won't which is why of course they will still get it for two more years...well Mr Swann I have news for you we won't accept it either..we will either leave or fight...personally I will stay and fight for what I belive to be fair and just and will in the long run benefit both Temporaray workers and Australians (PR's or Citzens) alike and Australia as a whole. That is to reform LAFHA but not get rid of it..make sure it only goes where it should, legitimate owners / renters of a residence that they owned/rented and lived in immediately BEFORE they took up the temporary role they have now. That residence can be in or outside of Australia becuase where it is, makes absolutely no difference to the fact you are living away from it and therefore incur extra costs.

ellaq

Allowances are vulnerable to change every budget and that is not unique to Australia. LAFHA has been under threat for a while and the changes were tabled late last year. Your companies would have been aware of this. Unfortunately some companies like to dress up their packages by including the LAFHA and superannuation. But you should only ever really consider the actual wage and whether you can live on it. This is not the only allowance that is being changed this year. We will also be worse off financially due to an allowance being removed, as will lots of Australian tax payers.

Ian - I really struggle to understand how renting a property overseas prior to being sponsored to work in Australia should qualify anyone for LAFHA. It is not like the prior rental needs to be maintained.

Is there a possibility that some of you are being underpaid for your skills? You sound like you are if you cannot possibly live on the wages offered. A lot of migrants suffer from a drop in their standard of living here these days especially if they are coming from the UK.

Munka01

ellaq wrote: »

Allowances are vulnerable to change every budget and that is not unique to Australia. LAFHA has been under threat for a while and the changes were tabled late last year. Your companies would have been aware of this. Unfortunately some companies like to dress up their packages by including the LAFHA and superannuation. But you should only ever really consider the actual wage and whether you can live on it. This is not the only allowance that is being changed this year. We will also be worse off financially due to an allowance being removed, as will lots of Australian tax payers.

Ian - I really struggle to understand how renting a property overseas prior to being sponsored to work in Australia should qualify anyone for LAFHA. It is not like the prior rental needs to be maintained.

Is there a possibility that some of you are being underpaid for your skills? You sound like you are if you cannot possibly live on the wages offered. A lot of migrants suffer from a drop in their standard of living here these days especially if they are coming from the UK.

This is all well and good for you to say but have you moved to the other side of the world and been put in this situation?

Can you honestly say that put in the same position you would just sit back and accept this?

I struggle to see the point of your post. If you have nothing positive, insightful or helpful to say then why bother?

Or is it just to have a dig at expats that have come to your country as you needed us?

ellaq

Munka01 wrote: »

This is all well and good for you to say but have you moved to the other side of the world and been put in this situation?

Can you honestly say that put in the same position you would just sit back and accept this?

I struggle to see the point of your post. If you have nothing positive, insightful or helpful to say then why bother?

Or is it just to have a dig at expats that have come to your country as you needed us?

Where the dig? Where have I called this my country? What am I if not an expat myself.

My main problem is with big businesses that exploit sponsored workers. There are plenty of sponsored workers being underpaid in this country. This might not be the situation for you. But where is your companies involvement in this? You said that LAHFA was in your contract for 4 years. Your company sponsored your over here to work and I think that they have a responsibily to you all.

I can't see Swan changing his mind. After all you don't have a vote.

Ianbee123

ellaq wrote: »

Allowances are vulnerable to change every budget and that is not unique to Australia. LAFHA has been under threat for a while and the changes were tabled late last year. Your companies would have been aware of this. Unfortunately some companies like to dress up their packages by including the LAFHA and superannuation. But you should only ever really consider the actual wage and whether you can live on it. This is not the only allowance that is being changed this year. We will also be worse off financially due to an allowance being removed, as will lots of Australian tax payers.

Ian - I really struggle to understand how renting a property overseas prior to being sponsored to work in Australia should qualify anyone for LAFHA. It is not like the prior rental needs to be maintained.

Is there a possibility that some of you are being underpaid for your skills? You sound like you are if you cannot possibly live on the wages offered. A lot of migrants suffer from a drop in their standard of living here these days especially if they are coming from the UK.

I understand what you are saying fully. As a temporary resident I am classed as a permanent resident for tax so get exactly the same ups and downs in tax as you do. In addition however I also have to pay school fees even for public school and more costly health insurance. So if I am taxed the same as an Australian why should I not get the same LAFHA? more than 50% of peole getting LAFHA are Australians... Must be as the treasury reckons that LAFHA cost nearly 750 million last year but making the changes in July this year by taking it away from temp residents will save around 300 million. That means 400+ million will still be allowed for Australians who are getting LAFHA.
Next point... Why do you have to keep another home going back in the UK .... Because unlike Australians when you are on a temp visa if you do not earn the required minimum wage for 4 weeks you have to leave the country!! So you need to keep a home back where you come from because you may need to go back to it pretty quick. Also if you are paying a mortgage on a house in the UK and are classed as an owner currently it is taking 6 months to sell so even a muted we are looking at reforming LAFHA in November does not help and the fact that they so said that they would be looking at how to transition it so it was not a problem was what everyone was waiting for .... The transition plan of "we will allow Australians two years to adjust but screw the temp residents " just doesn't wash which ever way you look at it apart from xenophobic discrimination and that just isn't what you would expect from a civilised progressive country!

Ianbee123

All in all it could have been so simple:- if the government had said " Here's the deal guys...anyone who is getting LAFHA now and was getting LAFHA prior to the budget annoucement will continue to do so either until their own indivudual LAFHA arrangement runs out or by July 1st 2014 which ever is the sooner. This applies to all who are currently getting LAFHA .....PR's , Citizens and Temp Residents".
"Any LAFHA arrangements entered into post the budget announcement will lose LAFHA on July 1st 2012. After July 1st 2012 there will no longer be any new LAFHA arrangements.

There would have been little argument against that apart from maybe the top 100 employers who state that if LAFHA goes it will be harder to attract talent into the country without paying foreign temp residents more than their Australian equivalents...which also seems unfair.

That way it would give everyone, employers & individuals the ability to adjust their policies and budgets to make the necessary ammendments to their lifestyle and also make decsions on what they want to do about their usual permanent residence. It will also make it clear that if you are thinking of comming to Australia excatly what you can expect in the way of any support while you are here.(i.e. what ever support your employer may chose to give you)
Instead they have come up with this discriminatory debacle, which insinuates that it is temp residents who are "Rorting" (Cheating) LAFHA (and that they are getting the lions share) and that it is only they that should not get it...which is creating much bad feeling and stirring up some real xenophobic reactions from Australians who believe this to be the case..and BTW are shocked when they find out that it isn't actually.( most I have talked to thought LAFHA was a "benefit payment" that "immigrants" and "temp residents" got on top of their salary that their taxes paid for !!!
Can anyone please tell me then , apart from the comment that was made above that it's "because we can't vote" (but we can fight in other ways )... why it is being done in the fashion in which it is being proposed. What extra financial burden an Australian may have temporarily living away from their permanent residence that a temp resident would not also have...there is no financial justification, none whatsoever..yet this is being portrayed as purely a financial excersise.
The message it sends rightly or wrongly is "thanks for comming but we dont want you...although you pay the same taxes and on top pay extras for education and extra towards our health care system, we are going to give Australians some relief for any extra costs incurred to help them but not you". Now that maybe is not what Mr Swann intended but that is what is comming over...not by looking at removing LAFHA, but by discriminating against "foreign workers" in the way it is being removed....think again Mr Swann because we will not stand for it...discrimination even finacial and fiscal based puerly on someones nationality or residential status is wrong, wrong , wrong...it breaks the tax treaties in place with the UK (and other coutries) and is illegal...more than that it is morally corrupt!!..shame on you, the ALP, and the rest of the Australian parliment if it ever gets voted through.

karl bracken

I said a few times that i am not including people who were offered LAFHA as part of your deal to come over here and i hope we all keep it, some people just arent reading my comments.

My problem was with people saying im loosing for example 2000 net a month and will have to move home, has anyone bothered to do the maths on how much you would need to earn to loose 2000 a month net and find it hard to live? are you joking me!

Heres some simple facts, its up to you to understand your contract as some of you have said you just looked at the figure and didnt take in Super or know what LAFHA was.
Unfortunately for us laws change you were warned in November what have you done since then with your employer to tackle this?

People seam to be picking me up on grammer/wording like loophole and not debating my figures....

kdevitt wrote: »

Your point is absolute tosh - as I said, and you seemed to agree, you don't have a clue what other people circumstances are so not sure why you think you're well placed to judge whether other people have a problem based on an 85k figure which you've plucked out of the sky.

karl bracken wrote: »

if your on a 457 you have to be on a minimun of 49500ish so say your getting 35000 LAFHA which is about normal say 400 rent plus a weeks food for 2 people
Then your on a salary of about 85,000 now if you cant live on that theres something wrong.

Thats where the figure came from im sure you can do the maths unless your LAFHA is taking you below the minimum treshold and that would mean your breaking your 457 visa requirements

Munka01 wrote: »

Karl

You're numbers are way out. My after tax pay with LAHFA is $62,000 now without it is $52,000.

Lahfa was offered with my contract, I made the move in Aug last year based on this. I have now lost pretty much $30,000 in earnings for the next three years.

Why are my numbers way out?

I spoke about the the TSMIT and your LAFHA on top with no mention of a 52000 or 62000 and who does a budget over 3 years?!
You know you can go for PR after 2 years on a 457 which depending on your circumstances can be a big bonus, including giving you the chance to get a new job with more money.
You said yourself you dont understand LAFHA and find it hard to get info on it, so what was wrong with my figures?

Sure IANBEE if it wasnt a loophole or some kinda dodgy tax thing we'd all be keeping it right?
And you morgtage payments at home are how much? Either ways that dosent matter now

From my understanding LAFHA was for politicians working in Canberra from somewhere else as a way to dodge tax, Australia is tightening up its tax laws which Ireland should have done years ago and we may not be in such a mess.
18% of social at home is now being claimed by foreigners, looks like Australia is stamping that out now.

The next quotes from my comment would be nice if you argued the points and not your assumptions or just saying thats wrong with no weight behind your statement.

And someone said im in a majority of 1, im just calling it how it is.... The majority aint always right

karl bracken

And the vote is the other thing someone else mentioned, unfortunately 457 holders are similar to second class citizens. We have no real say these 2 yeras on a 457 are serving your time taking the sh!t thats handed to you and moving onto PR.
We have no real rights over here, we are not citizens so just man up serve your time and if you want to stay there are better opportunities than at home
(except for the few that came for the experience and took big wage cuts just for the experience, there are holidays you know!)

kdevitt

LAFHA was for everyone living away from their primary place of residence temporarily because their job required them to - such as me. The ATO updated food figures specifically to take internationally migrants into account in the past, so its disingenuous to now suggest it was for Australian residents only, and was being rorted by evil foreigners. It wasn't originally the intention of it, but thats how it evolved - and intentionally so - it was used as a carrot to get skilled people over here to fill jobs that couldn't be filled by Aussies.

Anyway, your numbers are way out because you just picked a figure you reckon everyone should be able to live on, ignoring that a lot of people are sole breadwinners supporting a family.

I'll keep it really simple Karl using your 2k per month LAFHA allowance example - because you seem to have issues understanding the simple concept of everyone having different outgoings and responsibilities. Based on roughly $160k per year - which isn't bad money, but takes home less than a couple both earning a very average $80k each.

Example-
Current take home including LAFHA = $10000
Current outgoings = $9000
New salary after LAFHA = $8000

Equals $1000 per month shortfall. If you have outgoings which you can't get rid of, then you're losing money every month. There are plenty of people who didn't come here for the so called lifestyle - I'm here for a job only, I had a better life in Ireland, thankfully for me I've already secured my transfer back.

Ianbee123

and finally from me..A)Karl I think most of the people who are saying they are going to leave are actually the people who had LAFHA included in their contracts and therefore knew they would be getting it,weighed up the financials with everything else and made the decsion to come...now theye are making the decsion to leave...and that will be Australias loss because if Australia didn't need them in the first place they would not have been issued a visa to come here !
b) (also for Karl) the point is well made by KDevitt, the fact is some expenses you just cannot get rid of that quickly (even in 7 months).. for example two weeks before any annoucement was made about LAFHA last November I signed a 12 month contract on a rental property.. I took the LAFHA and tax rates into account when I did it...can't get out of it until November this year...but I'm over 2000 down in my take home pay ...not much I can do about that until November.
C) IT WONT HAPPEN ANYWAY!! I have some small faith left in the Australian legislative process, enough to hope that they will see that this is an illegal proposition..by being discriminatory for tax reasons against UK residents, (not sure about Irish) it breaks the reciprocal tax treaty and is therefore illegal (remember Australia is still part of the Britsh comonwealth also so will deffinately not want to be falling out with the Britsh government over this) The only way to get around this for July 1st this year would be to make it the same date for Australians to lose LAFHA too...but he wont do that as it will cost votes and jobs straight away...so rather than us being in sh*t creek without a paddle I think Mr Swan is....that is why the representations from business etc put in to the government between November last year and February this year were not made public until AFTER the budget...why?....because all of the submissions (even from NSW police) said that getting rid of LAFHA for anyone would end up costing Australian jobs...now Swanny would not want that being leveled at him before the budget by the opposition....so he carries on regadless knowing that it's never going to happen but keeps the numbers in his budget knowing he's never going to deliver..... but who cares as he won't be in his job anyway in 12 months and if by some miracle he still is then he can blame the lawyers for not letting him get rid of LAFHA.

It's called politics!!!..but what makes me really mad is the fact that by splitting the Australian and Foreign residents as far as suggesting a cut off date, and blaming highly paid foreign residents for cheating (rorting). And so as siuch in the process of the smoke and mirrors game he is playing, he has stirred up all sorts of xenophobic, racial crap...and that is what is shameful and unforgivable.
Australians look on us now as some sort of benefit cheats, comming over here stealing their money...when actually we come we pay our tax like any other Australian (who gets LAFHA) and even pay on top for things that Australians get for free and if we were not needed belive me we would not have been granted a visa. Good job we don't look the same way on the 100,000+ Aussies that are currently in the UK!!

karl bracken

kdevitt wrote: »

Anyway, your numbers are way out because you just picked a figure you reckon everyone should be able to live on, ignoring that a lot of people are sole breadwinners supporting a family.

I'll keep it really simple Karl using your 2k per month LAFHA allowance example - because you seem to have issues understanding the simple concept of everyone having different outgoings and responsibilities. Based on roughly $160k per year - which isn't bad money, but takes home less than a couple both earning a very average $80k each.

Sure your contraditing yourself there saying i picked a figure people should be able to live on which was 85k and then agreeing that 80k is average :eek:
The fact that people are living on an above average Australian wage is outrageous

And then taking my example of 2k. That was actually your example, not remember, are you a natural blonde? lol

kdevitt wrote: »

Its going to cost me $2k per month in net pay, believe me - I don't want it to be the case.

I would imagine people on 457s in a sole bread winner situation is a fairly rare situation, theres no reason not to work here anyways.

I think even you can agree that tax between 37k - 80k is 30%
and 80000 and 180000 is 37%

So for every 10k you have LAFHA would equal roughly 3000 net in your pocket

Judging by that your on about 80000 LAFHA
Mmmmm 80k tax free allowance are you a politician?


IANBEE

For your part A

Let me say it clearly because i have said it twice already and your not listening

I WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE WHO CAME OVER WITH LAFHA AS PART OF THEIR CONTRACT

karl bracken wrote: »

I said a few times that i am not including people who were offered LAFHA as part of your deal to come over here and i hope we all keep it, some people just arent reading my comments.

Part B

Thats unfortunate about your rent just a case of unlucky timing really, you win some you loose some maybe have a word to your landlord and they might look after you, i signed mine in Nov as well and found out the GF was pregnant a week later and she said we could break the lease for a bigger place once we gave her plenty of notice

Part C

Well unfortunately we got the email Fri from Ernst and Young who look after our companies affairs saying that LAFHA is gone for 457 holders so i imagine bad news may be on the cards for more of ye this week

Feelgood

The Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce (IACC) will host an information meeting in Sydney next month to give members and prospective members a breakdown of the forthcoming changes to the living away from home allowance (LAFHA) and Australian visas.

http://www.irishecho.com.au/2012/06/04/chamber-to-host-lafha-event-in-sydney/18857