What it is to be an expat

This is the first edition of Majenda Insights. My name’s Geoff Taylor and I’m a tax accountant and financial planner based in Sydney. I’ve been looking after Australian expats and returned expats for the last 20 years. And I thought I’d make a series of videos to provide some insights into what I’ve observed in the time of advising expats. To start off with, this is just general advice. I haven’t taken into account your personal circumstances, goals, or needs. If you need me to do that, I can certainly do that one-on-one if you would like to set up a meeting. Really this insight is about what it is to be an expat.

And you may be thinking about becoming an expat or you may already be an expat. I’ve had clients over the years that have worked in a whole range of fields including aviation, banking and finance, real estate, construction, a whole gamut. And I would make the observation that Australian expats are typically world-class, so they really know what they’re doing and therefore able to compete on the international stage.

Some of the reasons that people would go overseas, in most cases it’s career development, in some cases it’s earning a higher salary, other cases it might be because the tax regime is favourable. The Middle East, as an example, many countries have got no tax, no personal tax. It is possible to save at a faster rate. Some of the Asian countries have got territorial tax systems at lower rates than would typically apply in Australia. That may be a driver to earn some tax-free money. There’s also travel opportunities and maybe even to learn a new language. There’s a whole range of benefits.

Probably on the negative side, I would say just the tyranny of distance being away from family. And education is sometimes an issue that you may well have access to great private education overseas, but it might be expensive. Then the question is how do the kids integrate back when they come back to Australia.

Where do we come in? My expertise is around international tax. I have a Master of International Tax from the University of Sydney and I work with other specialist tax advisors. We’re able to look at a situation no matter which country you are in the world and provide tax advice either before you leave that country or after you have returned to Australia around optimising your tax position.

Our preference is to be giving advice six to 12 months before you return to Australia. There’s a lead time so that if there is a recommendation to sell certain assets or to change your personal situation, that can be done ahead of time. That’s where we can assist.

Back in Australia, I’m also a qualified financial planner. I can only advise whilst clients are in Australia on financial matters. I can provide superannuation advice, retirement advice. Typically, many clients would seek out my financial advice once they’re back in Australia. That’s the first of the insights. If you would like to set up a meeting, typically I can do Zoom calls or Teams calls. Also, my physical office is actually in Sydney. If you did want to come and see me face to face, happy to set up a meeting. I hope you get some benefit out of this insight series. And I look forward to seeing you at some point in the future.