Agenda:

1. Australian tax update
2. Immigration Update
3. Human Capital Trends
4. Global trends in global mobility policies
5. Roundtable discussions and feedback 

Jane Bermejo, Global Mobility Tax Senior Manager  gave the following Australian Tax updates:

CGT Main Residence exemption for Foreign Tax Residents - Dec 2019, the Australian Government passed legislation to remove the main residence CGT exemption for most individuals who are foreign residents of Australian for Australian tax purposes at the date of sale of their main residence (the contract date). This means that for outbound Australian assignees, they will be taxable on any gain on sale of their main residence, unless they are tax residents of Australia at the contract exchange date.

www.ato.gov.au/general/capital-gains-tax/international-issues/Foreign-residents-and-main-residence-exemption/

Recent tax residency rulings were discussed (Harding v Commissioner of Taxation, AAT decision in Handsley v C of T and Pike v C of T). More information can be found on the ATO website.

On 18 September 2019, the Australian Government re-introduced legislation containing a one-off amnesty to encourage employers to self-correct past SG non-compliance without penalty.

Tiffany Hartel Immigration Director gave an update on the impact of the Corona Virus throughout the A/P region, including travel bans.

Review of skilled occupation list - started in Sept 2019 and closes in March 2020.

New Regional visa - Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 491) replaces Skilled Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 489) - first provisional stream.

And Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa (subclass 494) replaces Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme visa (subclass 187) - Direct Entry stream.

Basically regional Australia includes everywhere except Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Purpose of these visas is to attract talent to regional cities; importantly - regional visa holders will be eligible for Medicare coverage and will not need external private health insurance; cheaper to obtain, an easier pathway to permanent residency and so on. A comparison was discussed between regional visas and TSS visas.

Global Talent Scheme - eligibility criteria: 

• Highly skilled and internationally recognised in one of seven target sectors 
• Have the ability to earn the Fair Work High Income Threshold (currently $148,700) 

Kathryn Osborn, Global Workforce Director reviewed Deloitte’s 2019 10 Human Capital Trends survey results.

Global trends in global mobility policies discussed. Global mobility is expanding - Development of multiple assignment types. The key challenges include:

1 Identifying and tracking the individuals

2 Defining what non-traditional Mobility is and managing intra-regional mobility

3 Aligning to the company culture

4 Understanding and acting upon the compliance requirements

5 Balancing the needs of the employee, business requirements and risk management

The rise of non-traditional Mobility:

• Need for alignment of Mobility policies to HR policies e.g. flexible working
• Changing move profiles and requirements
• Business requirements e.g. short-term project based work, global/regional roles, international experience for leadership roles
• Technology advancements e.g. global resourcing, supporting flexible working
• Global culture – international working becomes the norm

Managing non-traditional moves via the policy suite were also discussed. The top 5 policies companies are looking to add in the next year:

1. Commuter
2. Business Traveller
3. International Permanent Transfer
4. Home-based long-term assignment light
5. Locally hired non-national 

Roundtable and group discussions continued to the end of the session and a little beyond, especially around policy flexibility.

We briefly touched on the assignee experience and how the data was not being adequately captured.