Reference no: EM133670545 , Length: word count:1500

Fundamentals of Australian Tax Law

Assessment - Research Essay

Factual situation

Mogambo Khushhua and his spouse were born in Kenya. In 2011, Mr. Khushhua emigrated from Kenya to Australia with his family (wife and two daughters) on a permanent resident visa. In 2016, Mogambo bought a house in Perth jointly with his wife. By December 2018, Mr Khushhua had realized that the salary from his present job was not enough to liquidate the mortgage on the house as quickly as he would have wished to. For this reason, he started searching for new jobs overseas from January 2019.

In June 2018, Mrs. Khushhua and the daughters became Australian citizens; however, Mr. Khushhua kept his permanent resident visa because he was in the process of negotiating a job offer with Singa Gas, a company in Qatar, and knew that he might need his passport immediately to move to Qatar. Singa Gas offered Mr. Khushhua a position as a Senior Engineer in a project that was supposed to last for two years. The employment contract was for a fixed term of two years and gave Singa Gas an option to extend the employment depending on the status of the project and on Mr. Khushhua's performance. Mr Khushhua was asked to relocate to Qatar immediately.

Mr. Khushhua moved to Qatar on 1 July 2019. Initially his plan was that his family would join him in Qatar after six months from his joining the job. So, from July 2019 to August 2019, he stayed in a hotel accommodation. In September 2019, he moved to a partially furnished villa with 3 bedrooms, which was leased by Singa Gas on its account. In June 2020, Mrs. Khushhua and daughter decided that they would stay back in Perth, where the elder daughter was about to start her studies at the Curtin University, and the younger one wanted to continue to attend her school. Following his family's decision, Mr. Khushhua moved in a one-bedroom apartment in Qatar.

In April 2021, Singa Gas extended Mr. Khushhua's employment contract for two years. Mr. Khushhua continued to stay in Quatar until June 2023, when the project finished, after which he returned to Perth.

During his stay in Qatar, Mr. Khushhua became a member of a football club and joined a Kenyen social club. Mr. Khushhua left behind in Perth two cars, household furniture and electrical appliances. While he closed his transactional bank account, he kept his loan account (which he jointly held with his wife) and investment account operating. He informed his bank and other Australian government departments that he was leaving Australia for two years. Mr Khushhua returned to Australia and stayed with his wife and daughters in Perth for 14 days in 2019, 10 days in 2021, 14 days in 2022 and 9 days in 2023.

Question

What is Mr. Khushhua's residency status for tax purposes from the income year 2019-20 to income year 2022-23?

Support your answer with reference to relevant provisions, principles, rules and/or cases. If you consider that you would require further information to answer the question, state what information you would require, and why it would be relevant.