I moved from the UK to Australia a number of years ago and after 2 x 457 visas have been a permanent resident for about 18 months.

I have some bank savings and own a property in the UK which I rent out. I have completed the necessary forms to have my rent payed without tax witheld and all my bank account interest is paid gross. After expenses (mortgage interest, ground rent, management fees etc) I get a gross return of around GBP 5k annually from these investments.

I have never lodged a UK tax return since being in Australia. I do however, declare the circa GBP 5k in my Australian tax return and hence pay tax on this amount at my marginal Australian tax rate.

I have some questions on whether my understanding of my tax situation is correct:

1. As my UK income is less than the UK personal allowance I do not need to lodge a UK tax return. Is this correct?

2. If my UK investment derived income exceeds the personal allowance level, and thus incurs income tax in the UK, I would have to complete a UK tax return in the years that this occurs. Is this correct?

3. If I lodged a UK tax return any tax paid in the UK is a tax credit on my Australian return. Is this correct?

4. I understand that from the 2008-2009 Australian tax year, losses on overseas income can be used to reduce tax payable on Australian income, hence negatively gearing my UK property would reduce my tax liability in Australia. Is this correct?

5. Can anyone recommend a tax accountant, based in Sydney, specialising in UK/Australian tax issues. I have found a number on this website that are either UK based or have no offices in Sydney.

Further to this post, I was wondering if we have rental income for a property in the UK which is in both names (me and wife) and the income accrued is less than 10k (twice our combined personal allowance) are we also not liable for tax on this income in the UK.

At the moment, this property does not have a mortgage though we plan to raise one in the future to secure a property in Australia. We would then convert to an interest only where the rental income would essentially pay for the mortgage interest and thus not represent a capital gain. Am I understanding the situation correctly?

Sorry Dundee to hog your post but I am intersted in the responses to your query.