14) The Tax Man Cometh

At this time we were still mistakenly under the impression that our visa gave us permission to work so we contacted employment bureaus looking for jobs. Jonny went for a few interviews but it was pretty obvious that there were not many people who wanted a 66 year old boilermaker. Then one of the young ladies at an employment agency asked if our immigration visa gave us the right to work and we told her ‘yes’ as this is what we believed. She told us that we would need a letter from the immigration department stating that fact and we told her we would get one. We wrote to the department and immediately got a reply saying that we were not allowed to work. We had come into the country on a business visa and so we were only allowed to conduct a business and not allowed to get a job as such. We had thought that they had told us that we could work but I suppose looking back on it now they had meant that we would be allowed to work once our permanent residence was granted. So now we had to change our way of thinking and start looking for some form of business to do. The bowling machine that Jonny hoped to promote and get into the market was still on the high seas so we needed something else to do meanwhile.

We decided to find out what the income tax department required if we were to set up a contracting business and I phoned the head office. I was put through to a very helpful young lady who suggested that they send a representative around to our house to talk the matter over with us. I did not much like this idea as, lets face it, no one likes the tax man and I was nervous of such a meeting but she was quite insistent. I told her that we had not decided what we wanted to do and tried to wriggle out of it by saying that we did not want to be a nuisance but she was friendly but firm and an appointment was made.

A few days later a young man called to see us. He was so friendly and so helpful. He explained what we would need to do to set up a business. He told us how to go about it and was full of really good advice. He also gave us a computer programme that would help us to keep our records straight and fill in our Business Activity Statement once our computer arrived – and we had been dreading seeing him. Since that time we have always found that any dealings we have had with the Australian Tax Office have been very good. They have been friendly and helpful, explained what we needed to know and been patient with me when I did not understand any procedure. One could understand it if we were multi-millionaires paying huge amounts of tax that could make or break the Australian economy but the small amount we would be paying was hardly worth collecting. I am sure that not everyone would agree with me about the Tax department but I think they are great.