Australia Tax Residency

Key parameters
Threshold	183 days
Period / Window	Income year (1 Jul – 30 Jun)
Counting	Any part of a day
Alternative	Resides, domicile, superannuation tests

You are an Australian tax resident for an income year if you meet any one of 4 tests:

• Resides test — you reside in Australia under its ordinary meaning, based on your behavior, family and business ties, and living arrangements. This is the primary test, with no day-count threshold at all.
• Domicile test — your domicile is in Australia, unless the Commissioner is satisfied your permanent home is genuinely established outside Australia.
• 183-day test — you're present in Australia for 183 days or more in the income year, subject to a carve-out for a genuine overseas home.
• Superannuation test — you, or your spouse or child under 16, are a contributing member of a specific Commonwealth government superannuation scheme.

Meeting any one test makes you an Australian tax resident, taxed on worldwide income. Falling short of all four makes you a nonresident, taxed only on Australian-source income.

• Escaping the domicile test isn't automatic. Even with an Australian domicile, the Commissioner must be satisfied your permanent home is genuinely established elsewhere — the default assumption favours residency.
• The 183-day test has a two-part carve-out. Exceeding 183 days doesn't make you resident if your usual home is genuinely overseas, and you have no intention of taking up residence in Australia. Missing either condition means the carve-out doesn't apply.
• The superannuation test is narrow but absolute. It applies mainly to specific Commonwealth government employees and their spouse or young child, and it overrides everything else regardless of where they actually live.
• A simpler residency test has been proposed but isn't law. A bright-line reform has been floated by the government, but it hasn't been legislated — the four tests above remain the current rules.

Getting your residency status wrong risks a shortfall penalty on the tax you should have paid, starting at 25% for a genuine mistake and rising to 75% if the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) decides you knowingly ignored the law. Professional tax advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

The resides test applies before any day count matters

You move to Melbourne permanently in March, renting a home, enrolling your children in school, and starting a local job, having spent only 60 days in Australia so far this income year. Your circumstances clearly show you're living there under the resides test, so you're an Australian tax resident from the time you arrived, regardless of day count.

Clearing 183 days doesn't always mean resident

You work a series of long assignments in Australia totalling 210 days this income year, but your only home stays overseas with your family, and you have no plan to relocate. Even though you clear the 183-day threshold, the carve-out for a genuine overseas home and no intention to reside applies, so you remain a nonresident.

The superannuation test overrides physical absence

You're posted overseas for several years as an Australian government employee and remain a contributing member of a Commonwealth superannuation scheme throughout. Despite living entirely outside Australia with no other ties, the superannuation test alone makes you an Australian tax resident for the whole period.

• Australian Taxation Office — Residency tests
• Australian Taxation Office — Residency: the 183-day test