I owe money!

lauren1988

Hi Guys! would like your help or opinion. I left oz in december after 2 years. I did an early tax return and received under $2,000 return a few weeks later and that was that.

Last week i received a letter from the tax office in oz saying I owe them $899 as there was a Discrepancy between their records and my tax return. I filled out my tax return correctly and honestly so im not sure if my employer did not pay tax for me or what is going on!


Now the thing is since i have came back to ireland i have not been working full time and there is no way i can afford to pay it. Its says on the letter interest will be added on if I dont pay. I will probably never go back to life in oz so I am thinking of just ignoring it but is this a stupid idea? The letter was sent to my home address in ireland and I have now moved to my own place so i could say i never received the letter but I also do not want to get in trouble as i really feel its not my fault.

Really stressed out so any advice is welcome

Peregrinus

As long as you have no intention of going back to Australia and do not own any property there there is nothing they can do about it, since countries will not enforce one another's tax debts. There is no action they can take against you and they know this, so they will fairly soon stop chasing you. At worst, they may keep something on file in case you ever want to go back to Australia.

So you can ignore this.

If you decide you want to keep open your option of ever visiting Australia again, it might be better to engage with it but, realistically, you will pretty soon get to the point of needing professional Aussie tax advice, and for $899 it's not really going to be economic. If you want to go down that road, though, you can start by writing to them telling them that to the best of your knowledge your tax return was complete and accurate, and ask them to identify and vouch the discrepancy they say they have identified.

ifeelill

You say it yourself "I owe money" this implies that you know from the off that you do owe them the money.

In the interest of fairness to you you should write to the tax authorities if you genuinely believe that you have filled out your tax return correctly stating that you wish to see a copy of the records that they say differ from your own.

If they can show that you have been overpaid when you got your tax return then you should contact them and either arrange to pay a nominal amount each week or ask for a lower settlement due to your current financial circumstances.

In any case the best and most ethical course of action would be to confront the situation rather than burying your head in the sand.

skippy2

Dont know what age you are but never say you are not going back to Oz you dont know what life holds for you.................You might need it some day and €899 might seem very cheap at that stage

ifeelill

Can you file a tax return before you get a group certificate ?

Legend100

ifeelill wrote: »

Can you file a tax return before you get a group certificate ?

technically yes but, legally, I don't think so as the return specifically asks for data reported on the payment summary rather than on a payslip

Blondie 1986

Hi,

I am in the same position. The ATO are saying I owe them $1,600 in tax, even though I left the country 18 months ago and genuinely never want to go back.

What happened in this case?

They have said they can issue a Garnishee notice, and I am wondering can that be international, or is it only effective if I was still living in Australia?

I cannot afford to pay this.

Thanks,

jackbhoy

Call them! If you filled out return correctly you might be able to settle it over phone. They are actually decent to deal with and quite helpful in my experience.
Burying your head in sand and hoping it goes away is not a mature or productive way to resolve the issue.

Peregrinus

Blondie 1986 wrote: »

They have said they can issue a Garnishee notice, and I am wondering can that be international, or is it only effective if I was still living in Australia?

It's not effective internationally. Governments don't help collect other government's tax debts.

It's effective in Australia, whether or not you are still living there. If you still have any assets or entitlements owing to you in Australia - wages due from an employer, money on deposit in an Australian bank - the ATO can chase those. But if you have no financial or property interests of any kind in Australia, and firmly intend never to go back there, I can't see that the ATO can reach you.

Blondie 1986

Thanks for both your advice. To be honest, I got advice to not do a return on the job I had worked for the extra few months as I wouldn't have earnt enough to pay tax on, but apparently I did. I had a tax consultant here in Ireland try and sort this out in September and I thought it had all been resolved, considering I had to pay over $1,600 alone to get my qualifications recognised to even obtain that job!!

But they came back again a few days ago, and I don't see them going away. Taxback.com have advised that it could affect my credit rating in the future, even outside of Australia. Which I am not sure I believe.

I don't have any property/income/accounts or financial interests in Australia and I do not intent to ever go back to be honest, so I think surely I can just let this go. Don't see the point in paying tax to a country I don't ever intent to return to, because I definitely cannot afford it.

Thank you both,

lg123

i had a similar discrepancy from a summer i spent in london a good few years ago. the queen was sending me letters for a few years but she eventually lost interest.

lauren, its only a few hundred bucks. even if you came back looking for a residency visa in the future, i don't think a tax bill would be much of a problem.