Do I file in both US and Australia?
Usually yes, at least for the transition year. US persons in Australia deal with superannuation characterisation and fund reporting; Australians in the US deal with their own home-country residency exit.
Which return do you prepare first?
Whichever one the credit depends on. Preparing them in the wrong order is the most common reason a credit is claimed in the wrong place, and it is also the most common reason a client ends up paying twice and reclaiming later.
Does the treaty mean I only file once?
No. A treaty allocates the tax; it does not consolidate the filing. Both obligations survive, and in some cases the treaty position itself has to be disclosed on a return before it can be relied on.
What about sub-national tax — states and provinces?
They set their own residency and sourcing rules and are not bound by the federal treaty in the same way. A position that is protected federally can still produce a state or provincial return, which is the single most common surprise in this corridor.
Can you work with my adviser in the other country?
That is how most corridor engagements run. They keep their side, we take ours and the interaction between the two, and the scope boundary is agreed in writing so nothing is duplicated or dropped.
What if I am behind in one country and current in the other?
That is the usual pattern. We map the unfiled years first and check which catch-up routes are open before anything is filed, because the route chosen for one year affects the relief available for the rest.
Is my Australian superannuation recognised by the US tax system?
Not in the way a domestic plan is, and that is the whole of the problem in this corridor. A superannuation interest has to be characterised under US rules before anything can be decided about it — what it is treated as, whether contributions and growth are looked through, and what reporting follows from the characterisation. The answer depends on the particular arrangement: an employer-sponsored fund and a self-managed one do not sit in the same place. We read the fund's own documents before offering a view, because the characterisation drives both the return and the reporting, and a guess made early is expensive to unwind.
How do I match the Australian tax year to a US return?
The Australian year ends mid-year, so a US calendar year overlaps two Australian ones. Every credit claim therefore begins as an apportionment: the income is allocated to the periods it actually arose in, and the Australian tax attributed to those parts, before any US figure is computed. Statements that look complete on one side cover halves of two periods on the other. We build the apportionment schedule first and keep it, because the same mapping is needed every year, and rebuilding it from scratch each time is where inconsistencies creep in.
I moved to the US mid-year — which country taxes what?
It turns on a single date, and both countries have to be working from the same one. The departure-year computation in Australia and the arrival-year computation in the US each depend on when residence changed, and if the two returns assume different dates the same income is either taxed twice or reported nowhere. So the residence position is settled under each country's domestic rules first, the date is fixed and written down, and only then is income allocated either side of it. Everything else in the file follows from that date.
Do I have to report my super fund as well as my income?
Possibly, and it is a separate question from how the income is taxed. Characterising the arrangement decides the reporting: an interest in a foreign fund can carry obligations of its own, distinct from anything on the face of the return. This is the part clients most often discover late, usually after several years of US returns that were correct about wages and silent about the fund. We read the fund documents, set out what the characterisation is and what reporting follows from it, and put the position in writing so that it can be defended if it is ever queried.
I kept my house in Australia after moving — what happens?
Two things run in parallel. Australia continues to tax the income arising from the property, and the US, taxing by reference to your status rather than the location of the asset, wants the same income reported again with relief claimed for the Australian tax. The complication is the calendar: an Australian rental year straddles two US years, so the income and the tax both have to be apportioned before the credit claim is built. There is also the position on an eventual sale, which is worth settling while the purchase and improvement records still exist.
Am I still an Australian resident on a US skilled visa?
Your visa does not decide it. Australian residence is determined by Australia's own rules and US residence by the US rules, and the two are capable of both saying yes. Where they do, the treaty is used to break the tie, and that analysis rests on facts — where the home is, where the family and the economic ties sit — rather than on the label on a visa. Settle it before filing. A residence position adopted by implication in a return, and contradicted a year later, is far harder to correct than one documented at the outset.
How do I actually stop being taxed twice?
In this order. Fix your residence under each country's own rules, and if both claim you, apply the treaty tie-breaker. Identify where each type of income is sourced. Read the article that covers that income type, because it decides who taxes and at what maximum rate. Then claim the relief on the residence-country return, with proof of the foreign tax. Most of the tax people lose to double taxation is lost at the last step, not the first. See how double taxation is relieved.
What happens if the two countries disagree about which of them can tax me?
The treaty has a procedure for exactly that. You apply to the competent authority in your residence country, which takes the case up with its counterpart, and the two negotiate a position that removes the double taxation. Some treaties add binding arbitration if they cannot agree. It is slow and it runs on documents, so the practical work is preserving the record and filing protective claims while the clock runs. See our treaty work.
