If you’re searching for what to sort out financially before moving from the UK to Australia, the honest answer is: more admin than you’d like, spread across two tax systems on opposite sides of the world, and most of it easier to handle before you leave than after. None of it is complicated on its own. The problem is usually that nobody hands you the full list, so things get missed — an ISA left open, HMRC never told, a pension nobody reviewed for years.

This is that list. It’s organised into three stages: what to sort before you leave the UK, what needs doing in your first few months in Australia, and what becomes an ongoing habit once you’re settled. None of it is personal advice — every situation is different enough that the specifics need a proper conversation — but it’s a solid starting map of what to be thinking about.

Before you leave the UK

Tell HMRC you’re going. If you’re leaving the UK to live abroad, HMRC needs to know, generally via a form completed when you file your final UK tax return (or separately if you don’t normally file one). This is what starts the clock on your UK tax residency status changing. Get the timing wrong and you can end up straddling two systems for longer than necessary — and with Australia a long flight away, sorting it after you land is harder, not easier.

Work out what happens to your UK bank accounts. Some UK banks are comfortable keeping accounts open for non-residents; others will close or restrict them once your address changes to an Australian one. Keeping at least one UK account open is often useful while you still have sterling income, pension statements, or bills tied to the UK — but check with each provider directly rather than assuming.

Check your ISA. You can generally keep an existing ISA open once you leave, but you typically can’t pay new money in once you’re no longer UK tax resident. The bigger point for Australia is that the ISA is a UK invention: Australia doesn’t recognise the wrapper, so once you’re an Australian tax resident the income and gains inside it may simply be taxed as ordinary investment returns. Australia can also “look through” the wrapper to what it holds, which changes how attractive keeping it really is. Big enough topic to deserve its own read — see our full piece on what happens to your UK ISA when you move abroad.

Take stock of your UK pension — but don’t rush a transfer. Whatever you hold — workplace pension, personal pension, or SIPP — it stays a UK-regulated asset wherever you live, and it’s worth knowing what you have and whether old, scattered schemes are worth consolidating and reviewing before you go. You may read that a UK pension can be moved into Australian superannuation. That is possible only in narrow circumstances: the receiving fund must be registered as a QROPS, very few Australian super funds hold that status, and the rules are complex and age-restricted. It is genuinely a decision that requires specialist, regulated cross-border advice — not something to action off the back of a checklist, and not a step to assume is right for you. We’ve written separately about how UK pensions behave when you move abroad, in the context of what actually happens to your UK pension.

Sort your UK tax position for the year you leave. Splitting a tax year between UK and Australian residency has its own rules, made trickier by the fact that the two countries run their tax years on different calendars entirely. Getting it wrong can mean paying more tax than necessary in either country. This is a genuine “speak to a tax advisor” situation rather than something to work out from a blog post — the rules depend on dates, income sources, and remaining ties to the UK.

Review your protection cover. Life cover, income protection, and critical illness cover bought in the UK don’t always travel well — some policies exclude claims once you’re resident abroad, others simply lapse. Check the wording before you assume anything carries over to Australia.

Update your will — or at least flag that you’ll need to. A UK will doesn’t automatically stop working when you move, but it may not deal sensibly with assets you acquire in Australia, or with the succession rules of the Australian state you settle in. Worth putting on the list now even if you action it after you land.

Your first few months in Australia

Open an Australian bank account. You’ll generally need this quickly for day-to-day life and to receive a salary. Many banks let you open an account before you arrive and activate it once you’re on the ground with proof of address and identification. You’ll also want a tax file number early, as it affects how you’re taxed on income and interest.

Understand your new tax residency position. Australia taxes residents on their worldwide income, with relief mechanisms for income already taxed elsewhere. Whether and when you become an Australian tax resident depends on physical presence and other tests, and it interacts with the UK rules you’re leaving behind. Again, general shape only — the specifics need a tax advisor who can look at your actual situation on both sides.

Get to grips with superannuation. Once you’re employed in Australia, your employer will generally pay compulsory contributions into a super fund on your behalf — a retirement savings system that works quite differently from a UK pension. It’s worth understanding the basics early: how funds are chosen, how the money is invested, and how it sits alongside any UK pension you’ve left in place. This is separate from, and should not be confused with, the question of whether an existing UK pension can ever be transferred in — which, as above, is a specialist matter.

Sort out Medicare and health cover. As a UK national, you may be able to access Australia’s public healthcare system, Medicare, under a reciprocal arrangement, depending on your visa. Many residents also take out private hospital cover, partly for coverage and partly because the tax and surcharge system is structured to encourage it. Registering and understanding what your visa entitles you to early avoids a gap in cover.

Think about how you’ll move money going forward. Once you’re earning in Australian dollars while still holding sterling savings, a UK pension, or property back home, currency stops being a one-off event and becomes an ongoing part of your financial life. The AUD/sterling rate can move a long way over the years, so it’s worth planning for deliberately rather than reacting to the exchange rate as it moves. Our guide for offshore investing as an expat in Australia goes deeper on this.

Locate your important documents. Marriage certificates, UK pension statements, National Insurance number, existing policy documents — the kind of paperwork that’s easy to leave behind and painful to request from the other side of the world once you need it for something official.

Ongoing, once you’re settled

Review your full financial picture as a whole, not as separate UK and Australian pieces. A UK pension, Australian superannuation, cash in two currencies, and cover in two countries can each make sense individually and still add up to something disorganised. Worth stepping back periodically and looking at the whole picture together.

Keep your currency exposure under review. Where your savings and investments sit — sterling, Australian dollars, or a mix — matters more the longer you live in Australia, and what suited you in year one may not suit you in year five.

Revisit your tax residency status if your circumstances change. Time spent back in the UK, a change in where your income comes from, or a change in family circumstances can all shift your position. This isn’t a one-time decision.

Start an Australian will (or update your existing one properly). Once you have assets, accounts, or property in Australia, it’s worth having a will that specifically covers them under the relevant Australian state law, ideally working alongside whatever you have in the UK rather than replacing it. Expats often assume one will “covers everything” — it frequently doesn’t.

Where this fits together

None of these steps are complicated in isolation. The difficulty is usually that they touch two countries, two tax systems, and two currencies at once, and it’s easy for one piece to fall through the cracks simply because nobody was looking at the whole picture. A UK pension left untouched, an ISA nobody checked, a will that only covers half your assets — these are rarely disasters, but they’re the kind of thing that’s far cheaper to sort out properly than to unwind later.

Our free offshore guide covers the broader basics of investing and moving money as an expat, and is a reasonable starting point if you’re still early in the process. If you’re British specifically, the wider guide for British expats goes deeper on UK residency, ISAs, pensions and domicile — the things that change most when you leave the UK. If you’re specifically weighing up how your investments and pensions should be arranged once you’re settled, the guide for offshore investing as an Australian expat goes deeper. If you’re already partway through a move — or trying to work out which of these applies to you — that’s exactly the kind of conversation a short introductory call sorts out faster than piecing it together yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to tell HMRC I’m moving to Australia?

Yes — generally via a form completed with your final UK tax return, or separately if you don’t normally file one. This starts the clock on your UK tax residency status changing.

Can I keep my UK ISA after moving to Australia?

You can generally keep an existing ISA open, but you typically can’t pay new money in once you’re no longer UK tax resident — and Australia doesn’t recognise the ISA wrapper, so as an Australian tax resident the income and gains inside it may be taxable there.

Can I transfer my UK pension into Australian superannuation?

Only in narrow circumstances. A UK pension can be transferred to Australia only into a scheme registered as a QROPS, and very few Australian super funds hold that status. The rules are complex and age-restricted, so it’s a decision for specialist regulated advice rather than something to action from a checklist.

Do I need an Australian will?

Once you have assets, accounts or property in Australia, it’s worth having a will that specifically covers them under the relevant Australian state law — ideally working alongside your UK will rather than replacing it.

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This article is for general information only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Rules on tax residency, cross-border pensions, and pension transfers are detailed and change over time — always confirm current requirements and seek advice specific to your circumstances before making decisions.