Last month I was looking for remote hospitality work in Australia. I was just about to settle for a fruit picking job, but then I found work at a remote petrol station/convenience store.
I have to the say, the job is everything Louie said it would be. I’m getting the $15.79/hr, with only $6/day living expenses. I get a bedroom to myself and I only have the share the bathroom, kitchen and living room with one other person. Internet is reliable and available all day, as long as I save the high-bandwidth stuff for night. I also have access to satellite TV, an Xbox 360, and a couple hundred dvds.
The job itself is easier than when I was working on petrol station in America. There’s no odd hours; I just work 9:30 to 5:30, five days a week. My coworkers are more mature and the customers are more patient than when I was in America. Really the only hard part is trying to talk to some of the aboriginals who don’t speak English.
Significantly reduced. Not sure if residency differs from citizenship, but the first $18,000 you earn is tax-free, then 19% between 18,000 and 37,000, then 32% up to $80,000 (followed by 37% up to 180,000 and 45% from there on). Source
This averages out to something like 7.5% overall? Pretty decent! What’s involved in becoming a resident?
It’s not exactly clear. The most plausible way I could become a resident for tax purposes is
are visiting Australia for more than six months and for most of that time you live at the same place, and you either have or establish ties in the local community.
The fiscal year starts July 1st. So if I work here another five months, and then get another job near Alice Springs for a couple months, I could pull off the first requirement. Not really sure what having or establishing ties in the local community would entail. Louie managed to get resident status, so maybe I’ll ask him about it.
Last month I was looking for remote hospitality work in Australia. I was just about to settle for a fruit picking job, but then I found work at a remote petrol station/convenience store.
I have to the say, the job is everything Louie said it would be. I’m getting the $15.79/hr, with only $6/day living expenses. I get a bedroom to myself and I only have the share the bathroom, kitchen and living room with one other person. Internet is reliable and available all day, as long as I save the high-bandwidth stuff for night. I also have access to satellite TV, an Xbox 360, and a couple hundred dvds.
The job itself is easier than when I was working on petrol station in America. There’s no odd hours; I just work 9:30 to 5:30, five days a week. My coworkers are more mature and the customers are more patient than when I was in America. Really the only hard part is trying to talk to some of the aboriginals who don’t speak English.
What’s your hourly wage after taxes? (Curious to compare it to that of my programming internship here in the States.)
Right now I’m paying 31% taxes out of my $15.79 base pay rate. (Edit: this will probably be reduced if I become a resident for tax purposes.)
(Base pay + superannuation + unused holiday pay) - (taxes + meal deductions) = $10.89/hr
Significantly reduced. Not sure if residency differs from citizenship, but the first $18,000 you earn is tax-free, then 19% between 18,000 and 37,000, then 32% up to $80,000 (followed by 37% up to 180,000 and 45% from there on). Source
This averages out to something like 7.5% overall? Pretty decent! What’s involved in becoming a resident?
It’s not exactly clear. The most plausible way I could become a resident for tax purposes is
The fiscal year starts July 1st. So if I work here another five months, and then get another job near Alice Springs for a couple months, I could pull off the first requirement. Not really sure what having or establishing ties in the local community would entail. Louie managed to get resident status, so maybe I’ll ask him about it.
Probably? Making a few friends, not being shunned. I suspect that clause is mostly there to prevent someone from gaining residency on a technicality.
Not bad. Subtracting commute costs, my pay just barely clears that (and I live at home, so I basically have 0 cost of living right now).
Thanks for doing this as a data point for the rest of us—sounds like it’s working out well for you, too :)