Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Moomin Needs a Tax File Number

That's what the bank in Falafelland says... So, I will look today at applying for one for him. I think they should just give them out when you apply for a birth certificate. I don't know if the bank wants it because they just want a permanent ID for him or because it will affect the tax he pays as a foreign beneficiary of a local trust account. Up till now we have been using his passport number as an ID number. But passport numbers aren't permanent. You get assigned a new one every time you renew your passport, which is every 5 years for children.

1 comment:

enoughwealth@yahoo.com said...

It would make sense to give out a TFN with a birth certificate, but it will never happen. Ages ago (before TFNs) the idea of an 'Australia Card' with a unique ID being issued to every Australian, but this drew howls of outrage as a 'compulsory ID' system. So instead the TFN was introduced as a purely voluntary ID number for tax purposes (although if you invest in Australia and choose not to quote your TFN, tax will be withheld at the top marginal rate...)

So, although it makes logical sense to automatically issue a TFN along with a birth certificate, it will remain a separate 'voluntary' process to get a TFN.

In any case it is really simple - I got TFNs for DS1 and DS2 without any problems.