# Australia Tax Residence Tax residency rule, Australia. Page: https://usecountr.com/trackers/tax-au/ ## Summary You are an Australian tax resident under the 183-day test if you are in Australia for more than half of the income year, which runs from 1 July to 30 June. The days do not need to be in a row. The test does not apply if the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) accepts that your usual home is outside Australia and that you do not intend to live in Australia. Three other tests can make you resident with far fewer days, so the day count is only one part of the answer. - Limit: More than half the income year, which the ATO treats as 183 days or more - Period: The income year, 1 July to 30 June - Days must be in a row: No, the law says continuously or intermittently - Way out of the test: Usual place of abode outside Australia and no intention to take up residence - Law: Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, section 6(1), definition of resident - Run by: Australian Taxation Office (ATO) ## Who it applies to - People who move to Australia during the year and want to know from when they are taxed as residents. - Long-stay visitors, such as parents who visit family for six or seven months. - People on temporary work visas who split the year between Australia and another country. - Australians who live abroad and come back for long visits. - Remote workers who spend the southern summer and autumn in Australia. ## The rule Section 6(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 defines a resident of Australia. The first test is the resides test: you are resident if you reside in Australia in the ordinary meaning of the word. The ATO looks at your physical presence, your intention and purpose, your family, your work and business ties, where you keep your assets and how you live. If you reside in Australia, you are resident and no other test is needed. The law then adds three statutory tests. The domicile test makes you resident if your domicile (your permanent legal home) is in Australia, unless the ATO is satisfied that your permanent place of abode is outside Australia. The 183-day test makes you resident if you have actually been in Australia, continuously or intermittently, for more than one-half of the income year. The Commonwealth superannuation test covers certain Australian Government employees who work overseas and are members of certain public sector super funds, and their spouses and children under 16. The 183-day test has a way out. It does not apply if the ATO is satisfied of two things together: your usual place of abode (the place where you usually live) is outside Australia, and you do not intend to take up residence in Australia. A holidaymaker who stays seven months but keeps a home and a job abroad can use this. A person who has started to build a life in Australia cannot. The ATO explains its view of all four tests in Taxation Ruling TR 2023/1. Residents are taxed on income from the whole world. Foreign residents are taxed only on Australian income, do not get the tax-free threshold and pay a higher rate from the first dollar. If you are resident in Australia and in another country in the same year, a tax treaty between the two countries can decide which one treats you as resident for the treaty. Why it exists: Australia taxes its residents on income from everywhere, so it needs a line between people who live in Australia and people who only visit. The resides test alone depends on many facts and is hard to apply. The 183-day test gives a simple backstop: a person who is in the country for most of the year is treated as a resident unless they can show that their home is still somewhere else. ## Counting the days You count the days you were physically in Australia inside one income year, from 1 July to 30 June. Days from different visits are added together. 1. Take one income year, for example 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. 2. List every visit to Australia in that year with the arrival date and the departure date. 3. Add up the days you were in Australia across all visits. 4. If the total is more than half the year, the 183-day test is met unless your usual place of abode is outside Australia and you do not intend to take up residence. 5. If the total is lower, check the resides test and the domicile test. They do not depend on a number of days. 6. Do the count again for the next income year. Days do not carry over. How Countr counts it: Countr counts every day on which you were in Australia for any part of the day, inside the income year that starts on 1 July. It allows 182 days and warns you 14 days before the limit, so you see the 183rd day coming. The app only counts days. It cannot judge the resides test or the domicile test, which can make you resident with fewer days, and it cannot judge the way out for people whose usual home is abroad. ## Examples ### A move to Australia in September Priya arrives in Melbourne on 1 September 2025 on a skilled visa, rents a flat and starts a job. She stays until 30 June 2026 and beyond. From 1 September to 30 June she is in Australia for 303 days, which is more than half of the income year. She also intends to live in Australia, so the way out does not apply. She is a resident for the 2025-26 income year, and in practice the resides test already makes her resident from the day she arrives. ### A long family visit Alan, who is retired and lives in Leeds, visits his daughter in Perth from 1 October 2025 to 15 April 2026. That is 197 days in the 2025-26 income year, more than half. He keeps his house in Leeds, holds a visitor visa and a return ticket, and does not plan to live in Australia. If the ATO is satisfied that his usual place of abode is in England and that he does not intend to take up residence, the 183-day test does not make him a resident. ### A stay that crosses 30 June Mei is in Australia from 1 March 2026 to 31 October 2026, which is 245 days in a row. The income year ends on 30 June, so the stay is split: 122 days fall in 2025-26 and 123 days fall in 2026-27. Neither year has more than half its days in Australia, so the 183-day test is not met in either year. The ATO can still look at whether Mei resided in Australia during those eight months under the resides test. ## Exceptions - The 183-day test does not apply when the ATO is satisfied that your usual place of abode is outside Australia and that you do not intend to take up residence in Australia. - You can be resident for only part of an income year, for example from the day you move to Australia. In that case the tax-free threshold is reduced for the months you were not resident. - Temporary residents, who hold a temporary visa and have no Australian citizen or permanent resident spouse, are usually not taxed on most foreign income even when they are tax residents. - Working holiday makers pay tax at special working holiday maker rates on income earned on those visas, and the ATO treats most of them as foreign residents. - A tax treaty can treat you as resident of only one country when both countries claim you, using tie-breaker tests such as your permanent home and your centre of vital interests. ## Common misconceptions - "If I stay under 183 days, I cannot be an Australian tax resident." The resides test and the domicile test have no day limit. A person who moves to Australia in May with a job and a lease can be resident from that day, with only 60 days in the income year. - "The 183 days are counted in the calendar year." The test uses the income year, which runs from 1 July to 30 June. A stay from March to October can be 245 days long and still not reach half of either income year. - "Anyone who is in Australia for 183 days is automatically a resident." The law gives a way out. If your usual place of abode is outside Australia and you do not intend to take up residence, the ATO can accept that the test does not apply to you. - "My visa decides my tax residency." Tax residency and immigration status are separate. A visitor visa holder can be a tax resident and an Australian citizen can be a foreign resident for tax. The visa is only one fact the ATO looks at. ## Questions and answers ### Do the 183 days have to be in one visit? No. The law says continuously or intermittently, so the days from every visit in the income year are added together. Three visits of 70 days each give 210 days. ### What happens if I am one day over half the year? The 183-day test is then met, and you are a resident for that income year unless the way out applies. To use the way out you need to show that your usual place of abode is outside Australia and that you do not intend to take up residence in Australia. ### Does leaving Australia for a short trip reset the count? No. There is nothing to reset, because the test adds up all days in the income year. The count starts again from zero only on 1 July, when a new income year begins. ### Can I be a tax resident of Australia and another country in the same year? Yes. Each country applies its own law. When that happens, a tax treaty between the two countries, if there is one, decides which country treats you as resident for the purposes of the treaty. ### Has Australia replaced these tests with a simple 183-day rule? No. In the 2021-22 Budget the Government announced a plan to replace the current tests with a new framework built on a 183-day test, and Treasury consulted on it in 2023. The plan has not become law, so section 6(1) of the 1936 Act still applies. ### Who decides whether I am a resident? You work out your own status when you lodge your tax return, and the ATO can review it. The ATO looks at your whole situation, and its view is set out in Taxation Ruling TR 2023/1. ## Sources - [Australian Taxation Office - Your tax residency](https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/coming-to-australia-or-going-overseas/your-tax-residency) - [Australian Taxation Office - Residency, the 183-day test](https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/coming-to-australia-or-going-overseas/residency-tests/residency-the-183-day-test) - [Australian Taxation Office - Taxation Ruling TR 2023/1, residency tests for individuals](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=TXR/TR20231/NAT/ATO/00001) - [Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, section 6(1) - Federal Register of Legislation](https://www.legislation.gov.au/C1936A00027/latest/text) --- Countr is an app for iPhone that counts your days in every country for visa, tax and residency rules, from the photos on your phone and your location. It explains rules and counts days. It does not give legal or tax advice. https://apps.apple.com/app/country-days-tracker-countr/id6810720800