# Change Tax File Number?



## maccamlc (Mar 14, 2009)

My wife arrived in Australia with a Prospective Marriage Visa and got a Tax File Number that says she is a Non-Resident.

We have since married and she has a Temporary Resident (Subclass 820) Visa. Does this mean she is a Resident for tax purposes or still a Non-Resident. If it has changed, how do we inform the Tax department of this?

Does her employer need to do anything different if she is a Resident and not a Non-Resident?

Thanks for any information.

Regards
Matt


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

maccamlc said:


> My wife arrived in Australia with a Prospective Marriage Visa and got a Tax File Number that says she is a Non-Resident.
> 
> We have since married and she has a Temporary Resident (Subclass 820) Visa. Does this mean she is a Resident for tax purposes or still a Non-Resident. If it has changed, how do we inform the Tax department of this?
> 
> ...


I'm a bit surprised Matt that the ATO issue a TFN stipulating someone is a non-resident for AFAIK a TFN is just that and it's up to the holder to nominate in their tax returns whether they're resident or not and even people on WHVs can meet residency for taxation purposes conditions.

But anyway, it shouldn't make too much difference to what happens now and in fact she should have no trouble proving she has been resident for taxation purposes since she arrived in Australia and if her employer has been deducting tax at the higher non-residency level she ought to get a big refund on lodgement of her tax return after end of June.

You can check the residency requirements for taxation in the personal tax section on Australian Taxation Office Homepage and to just get any formality sorted out, I'd give the tax office a ring and I'd not expect there'll be much if anything that needs to be done.

With her employer, she ought to check whether they have been taxing her at a higher rate and to lower it they may just ask her to complete a new nomination form.


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