Australia tax residency: the 183-day test
You’re an Australian resident for tax if you reside in Australia, whatever the days. If you don’t, being in Australia for more than half the income year — 183 days between 1 July and 30 June — makes you resident too, unless your usual home is overseas and you don’t intend to live in Australia.
Australia 183-day calculator
The 183-day test counts your days in Australia in the income year, 1 July to 30 June: more than half of it can make you resident. The calculator counts any part of a day.
Australia tax residency: the four tests
Section 6(1) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 makes you an Australian resident for tax if any one of these applies:
| Test | You’re resident if | Days in Australia |
|---|---|---|
| Resides | you reside in Australia | no number |
| Domicile | your domicile is in Australia — unless the Commissioner is satisfied your permanent place of abode is outside Australia | no number |
| 183-day | you’ve been in Australia for more than half the income year — unless the Commissioner is satisfied your usual place of abode is outside Australia and you don’t intend to take up residence | 183, or 184 in an income year with 29 February |
| Commonwealth super | you’re in the scheme under the Superannuation Act 1990 or an eligible employee under the 1976 Act, or their spouse or child under 16 | no number |
The Act doesn’t define “resides”. A resident is taxed on income from all sources, in or out of Australia; a foreign resident, mainly on income from Australian sources.
The 183-day test: more than half the income year
The 183-day test counts the time you’ve actually been in Australia, continuously or intermittently, during the income year:
- The income year runs from 1 July to 30 June — the financial year, for most people. The count starts again on 1 July.
- Stays add up. One long stay or several short ones count the same.
- More than half is 183 days in an income year of 365 days, and 184 in one with 29 February.
- Not if your home is elsewhere. The test doesn’t make you resident if the Commissioner is satisfied that your usual place of abode is outside Australia and that you don’t intend to take up residence in Australia.
- Part days: the Act doesn’t say how a day you arrive or leave counts.
So 183 days isn’t the whole story either way: with a usual home overseas, more days may not make you resident, and if you reside in Australia or your domicile is there, fewer days don’t stop you being one.
Leaving Australia: the domicile test
The Act has no day count for leaving. If your domicile is in Australia, you stay a resident unless the Commissioner is satisfied your permanent place of abode is outside Australia — so a long stay overseas doesn’t, on its own, end your residency.
Proposed changes: not law yet
On 11 May 2021 the then Government announced it would replace these tests with the Board of Taxation’s 2019 model: a “bright line” test — 183 days or more in Australia in an income year — and, for people who don’t meet it, secondary tests the Board based on 45 days of physical presence and other factors. Treasury consulted on it from July to September 2023. Its paper says the framework hasn’t received Government approval and isn’t yet law, and the Act in force on 1 October 2026 still has the four tests above.
Worked example
You were in Australia from 1 July to 30 September: 92 days. Arriving again on 1 March, you can stay until 29 May — your 182nd day this income year. Staying on 30 May would be day 183, more than half of an income year of 365 days. Whether that makes you resident still turns on where your usual home is.
Keeping permanent residence is a different count: see the Resident Return visa. Other countries count to 183 their own way: Canada, New Zealand and the rest side by side in the 183-day rule by country.
How FlySee counts it
FlySee has no Australia tracker built in; a tax tracker of your own counts the 183-day test the way the calculator does: Australia, fewer than 183 days, a tax year from 1 July, any part of a day. The Act doesn’t say how a part day counts, so any part counts. In an income year with 29 February, more than half is 184 days; FlySee still counts 183 — a day early, never late. Where you reside, your domicile and your usual home aren’t counted.