myTax 2020 Non-resident foreign income

Complete this section to report your worldwide income if you:

• were a part or full year non-resident for Australian taxation purposes during the 2019–20 income year, and
• had a Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), VET Student Loan (VSL) or Trade Support Loan (TSL) liability on 1 June 2020.

On this page

• Things to know
• Completing this section

Things to know

Warning:

This information may not apply to the current year. Check the content carefully to ensure it is applicable to your circumstances.

End of attention

Worldwide income is your:

• repayment income, and
• non-resident foreign-sourced income.

Non-residents with worldwide income converted into Australian dollars exceeding the minimum repayment threshold will be liable to make a repayment of their HELP, VSL and TSL liability. Repayment may be in the form of a compulsory repayment and/or an overseas levy depending on how the worldwide income is made up. For more information see Overseas obligations.

For the period you were a resident during the year, show on your Australian tax return section all your income for that period, that is, both your Australian repayment income and any foreign-sourced income you earned as an Australian resident for taxation purposes.

For the period you were a non-resident during the year, report all income earned from sources outside Australia in the Non-resident foreign income section. Continue to report any Australian income earned as a non-resident in your Australian tax return section.

For more information about whether you were a resident or non-resident for tax purposes see Work out your residency status for tax purposes.

Completing this section

This section will assist you to determine the non-resident foreign-sourced income component of your worldwide income.

At Personalise return, you don’t need to make a selection to show non-resident foreign income as it's always displayed at Prepare return when:

• you have a HELP, VSL or TSL debt
• your answer to the question Were you an Australian resident for tax purposes from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020? is No.

To show your non-resident foreign income, at Prepare return select 'Add/Edit' at the Non-resident foreign income banner.

At the Non-resident foreign income heading:

1. Select Add to provide the name of each country where you earned non-resident foreign income during the 2019–20 income year.
2. Select Save.
3. Enter your Foreign occupation.  
   • Select the closest matching foreign occupation from which you earned the majority of your foreign-sourced income during the year.
   • If your occupation is not listed, or you were not employed (for example, you were an investor, retired or a pensioner), select 'Occupation not listed'.
4. Answer the question Did you receive a foreign assessment that overlaps the Australian income year?
   For more information, see Did you receive a foreign assessment that overlaps the Australian income year?  
   • If you answer Yes, enter the foreign assessment year Start date and End date. This will determine which assessment methods you are eligible to use.
5. Select the income assessment method to calculate your foreign-sourced income.
   For more information, see Assessment methods.
6. Enter information into the corresponding fields.  
   • Simple self-assessment method
   • Comprehensive tax-based assessment method
   • Overseas assessed method
   • All amounts must be converted to Australian dollars before being reported, using the average annual exchange rate for the financial year most closely corresponding to the 2019–20 income year. For assistance converting your currency, you can use the foreign income conversion calculatorThis link opens in a new window.
7. Select Save and continue when you have completed the Non-resident foreign income section.

Did you receive a foreign assessment that overlaps the Australian income year?

Answer Yes if:

• you received a tax assessment for a 12 month period from a taxation authority of that country (even if you didn't work for the full 12 months), and
• no other foreign tax authorities have made an assessment of your income for the periods of 12 months that overlap the 2019–20 income year.

Answer No if:

• you did not receive a tax assessment from a foreign tax authority, or
• you received a tax assessment that does not cover a 12 month period, or
• you received separate tax assessments from tax authorities of different foreign countries for 12 month periods that overlap the 2019–20 income year.