Usually yes. But that is the less interesting of the two statuses you hold. The one that decides whether Australia taxes your apartment back home is — a different test, in a different Act, that most guides never mention.
Living and working here on a 482 normally satisfies the resides test, so you are an Australian resident for tax purposes: ordinary rates, the $18,200 tax-free threshold, and worldwide income in scope. Holding a temporary visa does not prevent that — residency and immigration status are decided under separate rules.
Separately, s 995-1 of the ITAA 1997 makes you a temporary resident if all three are true:
Almost every 482 holder ticks all three. The consequences are large.
Section 768-910 makes a temporary resident's foreign-source ordinary and statutory income non-assessable non-exempt income. Rent from a flat overseas, bank interest, dividends from foreign shares — outside the Australian net while you hold that status. Section 768-915 does the same for capital gains on assets that are not taxable Australian property.
The exception is where people get caught. Subsection 768-910(3) pulls back in any foreign-source income that is remuneration for employment undertaken, or services provided, while you are a temporary resident. So:
If your spouse is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, limb (c) of the definition fails and you are not a temporary resident — even though your own visa has not changed. Your worldwide income becomes assessable. A partner's PR grant is a tax event for you, and nothing in the process tells you so.
When you stop being a temporary resident but stay an Australian resident — the usual PR scenario — s 768-955 treats each of your non-taxable-Australian-property assets as acquired at that moment for its market value. Gains that accrued while you were a temporary resident stay outside the Australian CGT net; only growth after that date counts.
So the day your temporary resident status ends is a valuation date worth recording. If you hold overseas shares or property, note their market value then — you will need it years later.
As a resident you pay the 2% levy unless you obtain a from Services Australia. The catch is nationality-based: if you are from a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement country (UK, New Zealand, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Slovenia, Malta, Ireland) you are entitled to Medicare, so no MES and the 2% stands. China is not on that list, so Chinese nationals on a 482 can usually obtain one. You must reapply each financial year.
Yes. The four statutory tests say nothing about visa class. Most 482 holders are tax residents and temporary residents at the same time — the labels sound contradictory but they come from different provisions.
Generally not while you are a temporary resident (s 768-910). But check the spouse limb of the definition first, and remember that foreign income which is pay for work you performed here is not covered.
Yes. You stop being a temporary resident, and your worldwide income becomes assessable from that point. Section 768-955 also resets the cost base of your non-Australian assets to market value at that date.
No. Subsection 768-910(3) excludes foreign income that is remuneration for employment or services performed while you are a temporary resident. Work done from Australia is taxable here regardless of who pays you or where.