My Leave Australia call option is paying off. Here is where I went, what it cost and why.
Four years ago I left Australia. Unapologetically. It took time to figure out. But that call option is well and truly in the money now, and the May budget just confirmed it.
On 12 May 2026, Australia handed down its federal budget.
One change matters more than everything else.
From 1 July 2027, the 50 percent CGT discount is proposed to be gone, subject to parliamentary passage. With a majority government it is going through. It is being replaced by cost base indexation plus a minimum 30 percent tax on net gains. That discount has sat in the tax code since 1999. It is the biggest concession the country has ever offered to long term investors in shares, ETFs, managed funds, business assets, and startup equity.
Abolished in one budget.
They tried to cushion it. Here’s what that looks like:
A $1,000 instant work deduction without receipts.
A $250 Working Australians Tax Offset from 2027 to 2028.
What a joke.
As for negative gearing, I never really cared about it. I could never bring myself to borrow an obscene amount of money for a house I’d spend the next thirty years paying off just to get a tax deduction on the losses. That was never my version of wealth building.
The CGT change is the one that actually matters.
What if I told you that you can leave the system entirely and go somewhere you are treated better, where foreign income is not taxed, and you essentially keep whatever you earn when structured correctly, not expensively.
The price you pay is something called a deemed disposal. You will almost never hear anyone talk about it in Australia. Regular accountants do not understand this part of the tax system. And once the new changes kick in from July 2027, that deemed disposal could be the difference between paying the government thousands versus hundreds of thousands more, depending on what you leave with and when you walk out the door.
When I left, it felt like buying a large OTM call option. Out of the money, expensive upfront, uncertain payoff. Below is how I structured the exit, what it actually cost, the territorial tax framework Australia has never taught you, the country I picked and why I genuinely love being here, and the two and a half year grind before I worked out how to actually make real money inside a structure like this.
Personal experience, not financial or tax advice. Get your own advisors. That said, I have some great contacts for the whole sovereign internationalisation process if you’re serious about it. Get in touch.
The Door I Walked Through
Here is the part that matters for anyone reading this who is still in Australia.