Celia was born in Kula Lumpur in Malaysia on the 10th of January 1972, and lived there with her parents and siblings until the end of High School in 1989. In January 1990 Celia received an offer from Griffith University to study business, majoring in Taxation and Accounting, studying at the Nathan campus. Celia was extremely excited and started packing her bags ready for her adventure in Australia. On the 10th of February 1990 Celia flew from Kula Lumpur to Brisbane and moved into the student accommodation at the Nathan campus, on Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane. The student accommodation consisted of a two-bedroom flat that Celia shared with another girl studying science. Celia paid $100 per week for the accommodation, and she tried to make the flat feel like home by hanging photos and pictures, buying throw rugs and some pot plants. While studying, Celia worked part-time at a caf. She opened a bank account with the Commonwealth Bank at Sunnybank, and she got an Australian Tax File Number. Celia also got an Australian driving licence and bought a second-hand Mazda car to drive around. While studying, Celia would fly back 'home' to Malaysia to see her parents and siblings each summer for two months (December and January) each year.

In December 1993 Celia graduated from Griffith University and obtained a job with a local accounting firm at Cannon Hill specialising in tax issues for expat employees working in Australia. During this time Celia was able to obtain permanent residency in Australia, although she still retained and travelled on her Malaysian passport. Celia moved out of the student accommodation and moved in with her boyfriend, Cameron, as he owned a house in Upper Mt Gravatt. Celia would pay Cameron some rent and her share of the bills. During this time Celia's family often visited from Malysia, staying at the house in Upper Mt Gravatt - although they didn't realise Cameron was Celia's boyfriend as he was just described to them as a flatmate. In 1996 Celia and Cameron took two months off (May and June 1996) to travel through Malaysia. Celia is of a somewhat secretive disposition, and she still didn't tell her family that Cameron was her boyfriend. While away, Cameron's friend Russell moved into the house at Upper Mt Gravatt to look after the house and their pet cat - Fred. Unfortunately, in November 1996 Cameron and Celia broke up, as Cameron was concerned that Celia had never told her family about him, and he was not sure if she was really able to commit to him and life in Australia and have a family.

In 1997, Celia enrolled in an MBA part-time at Griffith's Gold Coast campus, and she bought a townhouse in Robina (Queensland) for $65,000 in March 1997. She continued to work at the Cannon Hill firm until December 1997 when she got a job with KPMG at their Gold Coast offices. After completing her MBA in 2000 Celia decided to have a career change and started to work at the University of Queensland (UQ) in marketing their business degrees throughout Asia. UQ wanted to increase its income by having greater numbers of international students. During this time, Celia was overseas a lot generally seven months a year, traveling to different schools and universities in Asia marketing UQ. Her wages were paid in Australia to her Australian bank account. Sometimes she was in Malaysia and would visit her family for up to three weeks on annual leave. During these trips, Celia would just leave the townhouse at Robina empty with the neighbours checking the mail and watering the plants. Celia gave up custody of Fred the cat, and gave it to Cameron to look after.

In April 2009 Celia's father died unexpectedly leaving Celia's aged mother in a large house alone. After the funeral in Malaysia Celia was concerned about whether her mother would be able to cope by herself as all of Celia's siblings had moved out of the family home, married and had kids. Celia was the only one who was still single. Celia remained in Malaysia from April 2009 to July 2009 on extended leave to help her mother get things organised in relation to the deceased estate, and the house.

On the 10th of July 2009 Celia returned to her townhouse in Robina but made sure that she had more work trips to Malaysia so she could regularly check on her mother. During this time, Celia spent more time overseas travelling for work. She was gone so often she got a flatmate to move into the Robina townhouse so there was always someone home (as well as to share the bills). The flatmate paid $150 a week in rent.

In May 2014, Celia's mother had a fall and hurt herself. Celia decided she must move back to Malaysia to live with mother - so she packed up her belongings - which was a lot given that she had lived in Australia for so long. Celia handed in her resignation with UQ and on the 5th of July 2014 flew back to Malaysia. Due to weight restrictions on the flight she left a number of boxes with her long-time friend, Charlie, at Kangaroo Point. She had totally forgot about these boxes and Charlie actually threw them out when they got damaged by flood waters in 2017. Celia decided not to sell her townhouse as she did have a soft spot for Queensland and hoped that someday she might return as she had so many friends there. She continued to rent out the Robina townhouse and had an Australian bank account that the rent was paid into, although each month an amount was transferred to her Malaysian bank account (there was a very favourable exchange rate at this time for Australian dollars into Malaysian Ringgits). Celia could not sell her Mazda as it was so old, and arranged for Charlie to take it to the wreckers. Charlie received $100 for the Mazda and posted the money to Celia as she had already left Australia.

Celia moved into her mother's house in Malaysia (actually her old bedroom that she had as a child). In January 2015 Celia was able to secure a job with a Malaysian University marketing their degrees in India. Celia enjoyed living with her mother as they got on well. Given that her mum paid all the bills, Celia bought an apartment in Kula Lumpur in March 2018, and she rented this out for 2,000 Ringgits (MYR) a month. From 2015 to 2019 Celia would fly back to Australia at least once a year for a month at a time to visit friends, as well as check on her townhouse in Robina.

During Covid-19 Celia got a job with Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) marketing their business and law degrees throughout Asia. Due to travel restrictions Celia was able to complete this job remotely from Malysia (June 2020 to March 2021). Once travel restrictions lifted, she was back to flying around Asia marketing Monash' degrees (generally this was for five months a year) (April 2021 to November 2022). She visited Melbourne once a month to see her Australian colleagues and to ensure she understood the different degrees on offer - generally this visit would be just for 4 to 5 days a month. During these visits, she would stay at an Air BnB that an old university friend, Trevor, rented out. Monash pays her wages ($2,600 per fortnight) partly into her Australian bank account (20%) and then the residual into her Malaysia account (approx. 80%). Monash also pays superannuation on Celia's behalf into UniSuper - an Australian superannuation fund set-up for employees of Australian universities. Monash reimburses Celia for all of her work travel (approximately $30,000 per year). Celia has accumulated a lot of frequent flyer points with Qantas, as well as with Singapore Airlines.

In December 2022, Monash appointed a new boss for Celia, Maria. Maria expressed concern about Celia working online and off-campus. The university was wanting staff not to work from home but instead be return to campus. While Celia's job still involves a lot of travelling around Asia (including Malaysia) Celia makes sure there are big segments of time that she is in Melbourne. In April 2023 Celia travelled to Melbourne for two months and stays in Trevor's long-term Air BnB near Monash's campus. During this time Celia was on-campus five days a week (except for public holidays). Trevor's Air BnB is really nice, and the place feels like home for Celia. Celia asks Trevor if she can store some personal belongings in an empty cupboard at the Air BnB so when she returns, she can set it up like home (and this saves her having to carry stuff around on the plane etc). In her last week in Melbourne Celia and Trevor actually go on a dinner date, and they have start dating although it is 'nothing serious'. In June 2023 Celia must fly out of Melbourne for work heading to Singapore (1 week), Indonesia (1 week), Philippines (1 week), and Vietnam (1 week). She then has four weeks annual leave back in Kula Lumpur with her mum in July 2023. While there Celia organises a live-in nurse to help look after her mum. Celia has even told her mum about Trevor as she misses him. Her mum was very excited about meeting this mystery man in the future.

On the 4th of August 2023 Celia flew out of Kula Lumpur heading to Melbourne with Trevor going to pick her up at the airport and drop her to the Air BnB.

Required:

a. Over Celia's life time (1972 to August 2023) - consider at what times (if any), that she might be considered an Australian tax resident under Sec 6(1) ITAA 1936 (Cth). Ensure that you address your answer using ILAC format. There is no need to consider sources of the income or in what year it is derived. Ensure that you justify your application with the relevant law.

b. Explain why is important to determine a taxpayer's residency for tax purposes, including considering what this means for the fairness and equity of the Australian tax system?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

a Issue Whether Celia can be considered an Australian tax resident under Sec 61 ITAA 1936 Cth at any point from 1972 to August 2023 Law Sec 61 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 Cth defines a resid... View the full answer