GBP Income & AUD Dollar Strength

[Jay_]

Hi Guys,

Wanted any input on the following situation before I speak with my accountant and get hit with another bill for him answering the phone! :-)

Recently moved back to Australia after 7yrs in UK. On my return back to Aus I was fortunate to continue consulting to my UK employer. Have established local ABN and now act as a supplier - which is great!
Fees have been agreed in GBP

As the business does not urgently require the cashflow at this stage I would like to hold the funds in the UK and wait (fingers crossed) for the AUD to fall back to something more attractive..

Not sure what options there are and the financial/tax ramifications are?

- Do I have to setup a UK Business Account under AUS company name?
- Are there specific business accounts for this purpose?
- Do I need to declare the "income" in Aus if the funds are left in the UK (possibly for 8-12 months)

Any comments / experience appreciated..
Jay

[King]

my expectation is you operate under you Aussie business name.

I do work for US people and I pay taxes on all income, regardless of where the money is held.

[KarenC]

According to advice I was given, and also at the www.ato.gov.au website,
you have to take a 'conversion' declaration at the same time each month on monies earned overseas, even if you keep them in another currency.

For example, I had some funds in a US account as a US client was paying me in US dollars to a PayPal account. I had to do a 'conversion rate' at the end of each of the months to Australian dollars and declare that as income.

You can still leave the money as the other currency, but you have to make the conversion time calculation the same each month (I keep PDFs of conversion rates each time I do it).

Then in your BAS and TAX you declare what was the value of those monies converted to Australian dollars at the time (not at the time you do your tax).