Major blow as Aussies who work overseas will lose huge benefit under Albo's tax reforms

By SARAH BROOKES - SENIOR REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 03:12, 13 July 2026 | Updated: 03:21, 13 July 2026 Australians who move overseas for work could be hit with a surprise tax sting worth tens of thousands of dollars under a little-noticed budget change that strips expats of a lucrative capital gains tax discount (CGT) on investment properties.  Tax specialists say the change, due to take effect from July 1, 2027, means expats will lose access to the new GCT indexation regime on investment properties regardless of how long they previously lived and paid tax in Australia.  Atlas Wealth Management expat tax specialist Ben Turner described the residency requirement as 'surprisingly harsh', warning it was buried in budget legislation that quietly passed parliament in late June. 'To qualify for the new CGT indexation regime, an individual must not be a foreign resident or temporary resident at any time during the testing period,' he told the Australian Financial Review. KPMG workforce and innovation partner Craig Robinson, who also advises expats on tax, said his reading of the legislation showed non-tax residents would be shut out from the new concession altogether. 'You must be neither a foreign resident nor a temporary resident at any time during the period,' the budget legislation reads, in a section entitled 'residency requirements for individuals for indexation to be included in a cost base,' he said.   Currently, Australians who move overseas and become non-residents only lose access to the capital gains tax discount for the period they are living abroad. That means someone who owned an investment property for 30 years but spent just three years overseas could still claim the discount for the remaining 27 years when they sold the property. Australians who move overseas for work could be hit with a surprise tax sting worth tens of thousands of dollars under a little-noticed budget change that strips expats of a lucrative capital gains tax discount (GCT) on investment properties (stock image) Under the new rules, however, that same investor could lose access to the discount altogether – even if they had spent decades living and paying tax in Australia before accepting an overseas posting.