A financial adviser for Australian expats earning overseas.
Getting a loan on foreign income, what tax you owe on the family home, buying a place without seeing it, and planning the year you come back. All from one adviser who has done this work for doctors and corporate clients in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and the US.
Six things that come up when you live overseas.
These files are fiddly, and the reasons pile up on each other: which country, which currency, who you work for, whether Australia still counts you as a resident, how long you're away, and what you plan to do when you get back. The job is keeping all of it in one place instead of four.
Non-resident lending
Fewer lenders will touch foreign income, they discount it by different amounts depending on the currency, and they lend less against the place. The job is matching your income, currency and country to a lender that will actually say yes.
What you owe the ATO
Whether Australia still counts you as a resident for tax, what happens to the tax break on your family home, tax held back from rent, and the treaties that stop you being taxed twice.
Property from overseas
Places found before they are advertised, inspections done for you, the legal work handled in Australian hours, and settlement run while you are asleep.
Your super while you are away
What you can still put in, what you cannot, what happens to the insurance sitting inside your fund, and the old accounts that quietly cancel your cover when the money stops going in.
The year you come home
When Australia starts taxing you again, what to tidy up overseas, getting your savings back, and when to sell any property you own over there.
Cover that follows you
Most Australian income protection stops paying after a while overseas. Life and trauma cover travel better. We work out what still holds and what needs replacing while you are away.
Borrowing from overseas is harder. We won't pretend it isn't.
Fewer lenders will take foreign income at all. The ones that do knock a chunk off it before they count it, and they will only lend 60 to 70 per cent of what the place is worth, against the 80 to 95 per cent someone living here could get. Rates run a bit higher and there is more paperwork.
That is the honest starting point. Good outcomes are still very much available — particularly for doctors in the UK and Singapore on steady employment, and corporate people in the US and Hong Kong on regular payroll. Matching your situation to the right lender is the entire job.
Same honesty on the planning side. Whether you are still an Australian tax resident, and what that does to the tax break on your home, is genuinely complicated. We work alongside your tax agent rather than trying to replace them, and if you haven't got one we can point you at people who do this properly. Decisions about how things are owned usually sit under tax-effective investing, and the property-buying side runs through the investment-property buyer's agent service with non-resident-friendly investment lending sitting next to it.
Where our clients overseas tend to be.
Every country has its quirks. Here is the general shape. The specifics come out on the first call, once we know who you work for and what sort of contract you are on.
GBP income
NHS doctors, City solicitors and corporate roles. A few lenders take pounds. There is a tax treaty in place. Expect them to count about 70 to 80 per cent of your gross pay.
SGD income
Banking, consulting and medical clients. Stable currency view from lenders. Low personal tax on the Singapore side. Strong tax treaty position.
HKD or USD income
Banking, asset management, regional management. HKD is pegged to USD which simplifies the lender view. Tax residency on return is the bigger conversation.
USD income
Tech, finance, academic medicine. Most lenders comfortable with USD W-2 income. 401(k) and US property holdings need attention on the return plan.
This is general orientation only. Lender policies and DTAs change. Personalised work happens in the consultation with your actual contract and payslip on the table.
Planning the year you come home makes the biggest difference of all.
The financial year a long-term expat returns to Australia is usually the most consequential twelve months on the file. We map it backwards from the move date.
Review offshore investments, retirement accounts and any property. Identify what should be realised while non-resident versus brought across.
Pre-approval for any planned Australian purchase. Currency strategy on the move funds. Insurance reviewed for the return.
Tax residency date matters. capital gains tax on offshore assets, super contributions inside the cap, and the new role's salary packaging if any.
Questions expat clients ask first.
Fewer than you would hope. The big banks will lend to non-residents, but they knock 20 to 40 per cent off your income before they count it, and they will only lend about 60 to 70 per cent of what the place is worth. Some smaller lenders are more relaxed about currency and who you work for. It depends on your country, your currency, your employer and how you get paid — so we work through the panel rather than guessing.
Usually not. Australia has treaties with most big countries — the UK, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong among them — that decide which country gets to tax what, and give you credit in the other. The detail matters, and questions about residency, the tax break on your family home, and tax held back from rent are beyond what a web page can settle. Get a registered tax agent onto your actual return.
Yes. As an Australian citizen you don't need government approval to buy. The looking, the checking and the settlement all run through our licensed partner. Most of our clients overseas never set foot in the place before they own it. It feels strange the first time and completely normal after that.
Since 2020, the tax break on your family home has been cut back for people who are no longer Australian tax residents. If you left, stopped being a tax resident, and then sell while you are still away, you might lose the break for the entire time you owned it — not just the years abroad. Selling before you go, or after you are back and a resident again, is usually better. Get proper tax advice before you sign anything.
Yes. You can still put your own money into Australian super up to the yearly limits, and plenty of people do. Whether it is a good idea depends on how your current country treats it — some tax you on it. We can walk you through the trade-off. We just can't file your tax return.
Sooner than you'd think. The financial year you come home is often the single most valuable planning window you'll get for a decade — selling things overseas while you're still a non-resident, timing what goes into super, sorting out any property. Twelve to eighteen months ahead is comfortable.
Keep reading
- Finance broking50+ lender panel including those that accept foreign income.
- Investment property loansInvestment lending including from overseas, with non-resident policy in mind.
- Investment property buyer's agentFinding places before they are advertised handled remotely for expat clients.
- Financial planningStatement of Advice work for Australian-resident and returning clients.
- Tax-effective investingStructures, deductions, and tax-aware portfolio decisions.
Cross-border tax and residency advice on this page is general only. Personal tax returns and residency determinations should be handled with a registered tax agent. Opes works alongside your tax adviser; we do not replace them.
One file. Two time zones. One adviser.
Whether you are three years into a posting or twelve months from coming home, the first call is free. Virtual, scheduled around your time zone where possible.