Moving to Vietnam from Australia

If you stop being resident, assets other than taxable Australian property, such as many shares, are treated as sold at market value unless you choose to disregard this. The agreement between Australia and Vietnam was signed on 13 April 1992 and has been in force since 10 December 1992; Treasury lists it as modified by the Multilateral Instrument from 1 September 2023, and the ATO's synthesised text shows its residence, employment, independent-services and pensions articles in their original wording. If both countries treat you as resident, you are treated as resident of the country where you have a permanent home, or, if you have one in both or neither, where your personal and economic relations are closer. Pay for work done in Vietnam can be taxed there, unless all of these apply: you are in Vietnam no more than 183 days in the Vietnamese year of income, your employer is not a Vietnamese resident, the pay is not deducted in the profits of a Vietnamese permanent establishment or fixed base, and the pay is taxed in Australia. Income from professional or other independent services is taxable only in Australia unless you have a fixed base regularly available in Vietnam. Australia allows a credit for Vietnamese tax paid under the agreement, and pensions are taxable only where you are resident.

The loan keeps being indexed. If you cancel private hospital cover while away, you may owe the Medicare levy surcharge if your income is above the threshold. If you get Age Pension, you move to an outside-Australia rate from the day you leave, and after 26 weeks the rate depends on how long you were an Australian resident between 16 and Age Pension age; with 10 years you would get 10/35ths of the usual rate in most cases.