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Old 05-07-2022, 10:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
I'm not an Australian GP but I am curious as a med student so did some quick Google-fu and found that Australian GPs job sites advertised rates are at $200/hour for FRACGP fellows. Based on OP's hours, that is $200/hour x 40 hours/week x 52 weeks = $416,000. Even after 30 percent tax, that is more than local GPs. Big tickets items in Australia like cars and property are less than half of ours and a home is not an overpriced 99 years leasehold.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe only pharmacists can legally sell meds in Australia unlike Singapore, so that's an additional source of income for Australian GPs if the Australian government legalise it like Singapore in future? I'm thinking of doing an overseas elective in Australia just to find out what life there is like as a GP.
Australia will never allow GPs to dispense medicine as it is a conflict of interest professionally. The Pharmacist Professional Body will also protest against such a move as it infringes on their professional role too.

I think the $416,000 is the best of the best case scenarios. If you actually apply the real remuneration is around $200-300,000 pre tax. Even if we want to use the best case scenario of $416,000 it is not really possible given all the public holidays and often during Xmas and New Year it is rather more quiet. Nevertheless, if you use the $416,000

From the tax calculator

Your taxable income: $416,000
Income tax payable: $157,867
Medicare levy payable: $8,320
Your income after tax & Medicare levy: $249,813
Your marginal tax rate: 45%
This means for an annual income of $416,000 you pay:

No tax on income between $1 - $18,200 $0
19c for every dollar between $18,201 - $45,000 $5,092
32.5c for every dollar between $45,001 - $120,000 $24,375
37c for every dollar between $120,001 - $180,000 $22,200
45c for every dollar over $180,000 $106,200
Income tax payable $157,867

So that's about $250,000 after tax. And this is the best case scenario.

The more realistic after tax income from a pre-tax income/billing takings after splits $200-300,000 would be between $135,000 - $188,000

You can incorporate your medical practice and choose to only pay yourself how much you need or want per annum out of that corporation. So your earnings go into the corp. The corp pays corporate taxes on that amount. You pay yourself out from the corp. So let's say you only need $75,000 a year. Then you only need to pay yourself $100,000 for the year out of the $416,000 you earned. Your personal income tax for that year is then $22,967 instead of $157,867. Think of it as saving some pre tax money in your corp for retirement. Later on when your work is reduced, you can still pay that $75,000 over many years and pay lower taxes than take that higher one time hit. Remember tax rates are tiered. The higher the income for that FY, when you hit above $180,000 every dollar above that is 45% taxed.

The advantage with Australia is the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in some categories

s://.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Singapore&country2=Aus tralia&city1=Singapore&city2=Melbourne&tracking=ge tDispatchComparison


Cooked food and eating out will cost you more
Beer will cost less
Groceries is a mixed bag. Local produce like Milk and Eggs will be cheaper but otherwise is comparable to SG

Much more affordable is a car
Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car) 140,000.00 S$
(146,086.71 A$) 29,219.63 S$
(30,490.00 A$) -79.13 %
Toyota Corolla Sedan 1.6l 97kW Comfort (Or Equivalent New Car) 125,306.56 S$
(130,754.45 A$) 26,925.58 S$
(28,096.21 A$) -78.51 %

Utilities are higher in Melbourne
So is going to the cinema
Childcare is also more expensive

rent is much cheaper in Melbourne than SG (this we all know)
Same with buying a house or condo/apartment

So nothing surprising. You income (post tax) is likely to be less than if you stay in Singapore. Besides housing and car, the costs of living in Australia will be slightly higher than in SG. But the lower cost of housing and cars makes it more reachable if that's what your goals are.

I think the main reason people move from Singapore is not about money. It is about the lifestyle. Truthfully, if you move as a doctor to anywhere else you are most likely to have DROP in your income.

So I find it strange when drs come here talking about salaries and indicating they will earn MORE. Sorry to burst that bubble.

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