It seems like both of the cases I’ve heard of this happening were with Australians, actually.
Well when they left did they tell the Australian tax authorities they were moving overseas and would be non tax resident? This is what I did. My Australian accounts show me as Non Resident in Australia with no TIN listed and tax resident in Taiwan.
I do not list TIN as my tax file number has been stopped by ATO.
So it is their fault if they do not declare to ATO they have left Australia and are no longer tax resident. I wrote about this in another thread and provided screen shots. Many people do not even notify their banks they are non resident for taxation purposes as well.
I do share trading on my NAB trade account. Any gains I earn as a non tax resident are not taxed. Only dividends are taxed. If I was tax resident I would have to file taxes in Australia. If people leave Australia and do not inform their banks or the ATO then it’s their issue. They would not get contacted about overseas earned income.
In terms of “data matching” tech… The Australian Tax Office is a world leader… But don’t think for a second that others won’t follow what they’re doing very shortly…
You do that when you file the tax return. My guess is that he did file and is getting investigated regardless because residency can be blurred… IE you are temporally here and your house job etc are still in Australia and he worked for 6 months on a break… (This is what the tax office will assume if you declare yourself as a tax resident on banking forms) - of course they arer trained to assume the worse unless proven otherwise.
(Just the same as consulate officers)
That is the fault of people who leave Australia and do not tell the ATO they are leaving and file a last tax return. Also their banks. I do not have these issues.
Already covered here
Mate you declare the residency on the tax return now and tick the box “this is my last tax return”
You can either lodge early or during tax time. All online now.
If you have a student loan you cannot lodge early. You have to file at the normal time
Hey I left in 88 before all this online crap. Anyway they did verify I was resident in Taiwan by my Taiwan visa and ARC easy peasy.
With me I have never been questioned to be honest. But… none of my banks have my Australian TFN… I also changed my address on my Aussie accounts online after leaving too.
In @justintaiwan 's case I think it was down to the CRS false declaration
Nothing ended up happening with mine that I know of. I just got a warning that they’re investigating and that wa sit.
Doesn’t matter now that I’m in Aus 
When I left Australia I asked my accountant if I need to tell the ATO. He said no. I also did a Google search to see if there were any ATO forms to do this, there wasn’t any I could find.
I did remove myself from the electoral roll. I also submitted a final tax return and filled out the “non-lodgment advice” stating I would not need to lodge future tax returns.
I also didn’t give my tax file number to anyone for CRS. So I guess that’s why I haven’t had any problems.
Get rid of that accountant then. Obviously has no clue.
Apart from the “non lodgment advice” are there other forms?
Updating your contact details on the online portal of the ATO and all of the banks you have accounts with.
I did change the ATO portal details to overseas.
That’s one thing I didn’t do, change the bank contact details. But I also haven’t used them in years. I doubt I could still sign in.
Bank accounts don’t expire. You can get a log in if required with online banking. You might though sometimes need to call so I use skype for that.
They do in Australia if there’s been no activity for 7 years.
Not without contacting account owners first.
I’ve recently found out that this isn’t just a Taiwan problem. I flew over to Singapore last month to open a bank account there. During the bank opening process, I was asked my UK social security (tax) number. I explained it wasn’t relevant as I haven’t lived in the UK for a decade and am not a tax resident there, and they said it was just for due diligence purposes that they needed it as I’m a UK citizen. Begrudgingly I gave them it for due diligence purposes only. Two weeks later after the account was opened and I’d transferred a lot of money into it, I receive my completed application form by email which has me down under CRS information as a tax resident in the UK as well as Taiwan. I called the bank manager who apologised but said it cannot be removed unless I close down my account. Extremely frustrating.
That is very interesting, I had that at first in HK too at HSBC, but then you can actually change the CRS form online by yourself.
But the thing that you can’t change that unless u close the account sound BS to me, I would make a.complaint with the MAS, they don’t joke
Thanks man yeah this is a good idea. I’m going to try and reach someone higher at the bank first then will try this as the next step if they refuse to budge.