Many people take great pains to plan before they migrate to another country. They do great deal of research about jobs, housing, political stability and so on but often they overlook one area – taxes. Countries such as Australia have one of the worst form of tax. Australian residents are tax on a worldwide basis. Both interest income and capital gains occurring outside Australia are taxable. Its tax laws are not simple and hiring a tax consultant is necessary. I know of people who after converting to Australia resident want to “hide” their overseas monies by non-reporting. However, this is tax evasion. In modern times, such assets “hidden” outside the country could end up being viewed as “dirty money” and be frozen by the various financial institutions in accordance to anti-money laundering procedure. It is not worth wide evading tax. For those who are planning to migrate to any country, always check the tax status of that country. Singapore tax system is so simple and easy that many Singaporeans take for granted. I am not a tax adviser. Don’t ask me anything about tax though.