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Edited version of your private ruling
Authorisation Number: 1012524959219
Ruling
Subject: Lodgment of Income Tax Returns
Income tax return lodgment
Question 1
Are you required to lodge an income tax return? You receive a small pension from the an overseas country and you believe as a result of this being classified as "overseas income" you are required to lodge an income tax return.
Answer
If your only income derived in the relevant income year is your Australian government pension and your overseas pension, and no tax was withheld from your income, then you are not required to lodge an income tax return, provided your total income does not exceed a certain threshold which are as follows;
a) if at any time during the year of income the person was single, widowed or separated - $32,279; or
b) if at any time during the year of income the person and their spouse (married or de facto) had to live apart due to illness or the person or their spouse was in a nursing home - $31,279 or
c) if at any time during the year of income the person and their spouse (married or de facto) lived together - $28,974.
This ruling applies for the following periods:
01/07/2012 to 30/06/2013
The scheme commences on:
01/07/2012
Relevant facts and circumstances
1. You derive a small pension from the an overseas country each year.
2. You are also in receipt of an Australian government (Department of Veterans' Affairs) pension each year.
3. You have requested a private ruling querying whether you are required to lodge an income tax return each year based on the fact that you believe that your overseas pension income requires an income tax return to be lodged as it is classified as "overseas income".
Relevant legislative provisions
Section 161 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
Reasons for decision
Subsection 161(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) provides that;
Every person must, if required by the Commissioner by notice published in the Gazette, give to the Commissioner a return for the year of income within the period specified in the notice.
The Gazette in which the notice is published has been replaced by a Legislative Instrument. The Legislative Instrument "Lodgment of returns for the year of income ended 30 June 2013 in accordance with the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, the Taxation Administration Act 1953, the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 and the Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 (F2013L00925)" (Legislative Instrument) governs the lodgment of income tax returns for the 2013 income year.
The Legislative Instrument contains various tables and each table provides different types of income and whether a taxpayer is required to lodge an income tax return if he has derived that income.
Table A of the Legislative Instrument provides that if you have had tax withheld from most types of income you will be required to lodge an income tax return.
Your 20XX income tax return (last lodged income tax return) shows that you had $X withheld from an Australian annuity/superannuation income stream. If you are still in receipt of this income and are having tax withheld from it then you will be required to lodge an income tax return.
Table A of the Legislative Instrument also provides for other types of income that will require an income tax return to be lodged. Examples include; income from carrying on a business, partnership income, receiving an Australian superannuation lump sum that included an untaxed element and you are over 60 years of age.
If your only income is Australian government pension income (including Department of Veterans' Affairs pensions) and your foreign pension then Table M of the Legislative Instrument excludes you from the requirement to lodge an income tax return where in the relevant year your rebate income was less than or equal to the following amounts:
a) if at any time during the year of income the person was single, widowed or separated - $32,279; or
b) if at any time during the year of income the person and their spouse (married or de facto) had to live apart due to illness or the person or their spouse was in a nursing home - $31,279 or
c) if at any time during the year of income the person and their spouse (married or de facto) lived together - $28,974.
You would be required to lodge an income tax return if your overseas pension income was "exempt foreign employment income", that is, income gained from employment. Generally, pension income is not income from employment.