Foreign income

Find out what foreign income your clients need to declare on their tax returns.

On this page

• Foreign income sources
• Reporting foreign income
• Exchange of data

Foreign income sources

Your clients must declare all income they receive from foreign sources during the financial year in their tax returns.

Foreign and worldwide income includes:

• business income
• foreign employment income
• most pensions and annuities (including from managed funds)
• income streams from super funds
• bank interest
• dividends
• royalties
• rent
• capital gains
• personal services income.

Reporting foreign income

Help your clients get their tax returns right by advising them that:

• In some instances, they must include foreign income amounts that are attributed to them under Australian tax laws, even when the amounts are not actually received by them.
• Certain foreign employment income is exempt from tax in Australia, but they may still need to include it in their tax returns.
• If they paid foreign tax in another country on income they received, they may be entitled to an Australian foreign income tax offset that stops them paying tax twice.

For tax residency and what to report, see Coming to Australia or going overseas.

Exchange of data

The data we exchange with other countries has increased. This includes data we get through international agreements and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

Financial data is exchanged automatically using the Common Reporting Standard.