Australia’s Federal Court rejected an appeal on 8 June 2018 against an issued but undisclosed tax assessment from the Australian Taxation Office for the 2011 income year.

The case revolved around whether or not an apartment in Bahrain was a permanent home for tax purposes on 8 June 2018 under the ‘domicile’ test.

The case involved a former aircraft engineer, Glenn Harding who lived in Bahrain for more than five years in the same block of fully-furnished apartments. He had appealed on the basis he was not a ‘resident’ in the 2011 income year, but the Federal Court rejected that partly because of the type of accommodation he lived in.

The ruling means renting out a fully-furnished apartment overseas may not be enough to convince the tax office an individual is a non-resident for tax purposes.