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I am a British citizen, currently residing in New Zealand under a 5 year Work Visa and for the past year have been working for a New Zealand based company.

I am just about to change jobs to work remotely for an Australian company. I will still be residing in New Zealand.

I have a New Zealand IRD (tax number), and have been advised to get an Australian TFN (tax number). I also file taxes in the UK for rental income earned in the UK.

Where should I be paying taxes for my Australian remote job? Should I be paying taxes to New Zealand or Australia?

I am already under the assumption that I need to file taxes in all three countries due to this change, but at the end of the day I am unsure as to whom I should be paying taxes to.

If the advice is "see an expert", then so be it :)

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  • If you are residing in NZ you should be paying tax there and not in Australia, just like if I worked for a NZ company in Australia, and I resided in Australia I would pay tax in Australia. – Victor Mar 9 '19 at 2:55
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    @Victor there are a lot of special agreements between NZ and Australia on working, citizenship, residency and taxation, so I've heard a lot of different things in passing, hence the question. It's not as clear cut as other situations, for example. – Moo Mar 9 '19 at 3:25
  • Like I said, viewing it from the Australian point of view: If I am an Australian Resident for tax purposes and I am residing and working in Australia, it does not matter what country the company I work for is from, I would pay tax in Australia. If, on the other hand, I was an Australian Resident for tax purposes and I resided in Australia but went to do some work for a NZ company in NZ, say for 6 months, then I would pay tax in NZ and in Australia (but I would receive a tax credit in Australia for the tax already paid in NZ). This is what you need to check with your tax office!!! – Victor Mar 9 '19 at 7:12
  • @Victor just incase you wanted a resolution to this - both the ATO and the NZ IRD had the same answer: pay tax to us and claim tax credits in the other jurisdiction for tax paid. In the end, the burden of either filing taxes in NZ or paying Australian "Foreign Tax Resident" status taxes (significantly higher than Australian Tax Resident status taxes) was too high, so I quit the job very early on and went back to an NZ company. Declaring the income in the UK was not a problem, they basically didn't want to know as I had not repatriated the money to the UK. – Moo Oct 24 '19 at 20:51

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