Pack Your Bags, Albo’s Coming for Your Capital Gains: 5 Tropical Escapes for Tax-Weary Aussies

Where to Move to Avoid Australia’s New CGT Changes in 2027

Last week the government confirmed what investors had been dreading. From 1 July 2027, the 50% CGT discount that Australians have relied on since 1999 is being torn up. In its place comes inflation-adjusted indexation plus a minimum 30% tax rate on realised capital gains, applying to shares, ETFs, managed funds and investment property alike. Negative gearing for residential property will also be limited to new builds. The mechanics matter: under indexation you’ll only be taxed on your real gain above inflation, but with a 30% floor slapped on top, anyone who’s done well out of a long-held growth portfolio or an investment property is staring down a materially heavier bill.

The good news, such as it is: gains accrued on existing assets before the start date keep the old 50% discount, and the change is prospective. The bad news: the long-term maths for Australian investors just got uglier, and a 30% minimum is a blunt instrument dressed up as fairness.

For some, the rational response isn’t a stern email to your MP. It’s a one-way ticket somewhere warm. Here are five destinations, four within a 10-hour flight, plus one worth the extra hours — that combine good living, low crime, great beaches, sensible tax and food worth crossing an ocean for.

1. Thailand: Where Your Capital Gains Get a Tan, Not a Tax Bill

The Thailand retirement visa and DTV digital nomad visa explained for Australian investors

The Thailand retirement visa for Australians is a great way to go. Thailand has quietly become the spiritual home of the tax-conscious expat, and it’s not hard to see why. Thai tax liability for foreigners hinges on the 180-day rule: stay fewer than 180 days in a calendar year and you’re generally a non-resident who won’t owe Thai income tax on foreign earnings. Cross that threshold and remitted foreign income can become taxable, so the savvy play involves careful day-counting and a good local adviser.

On the visa front, the standout is the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), launched in 2024. It’s a 5-year, multi-entry visa for freelancers and remote workers with a relatively low bar — roughly THB 500,000 in the bank and a THB 10,000 fee. It permits stays of up to 180 days per entry, extendable to 360. Higher earners can look at the Long-Term Resident visa, aimed at those earning USD 80,000+ a year, offering a 10-year stay and a tax cap. Phuket and Koh Samui deliver the beaches; Chiang Mai delivers the cheap, brilliant food. Bangkok is about nine hours from Sydney, so the kids can visit at Christmas. The catch? The DTV is a long-stay visa, not a path to citizenship.

2. Malaysia: Second Home, First-Class Tax Treatment

Also high on the list of low tax countries for Australian expats is Malaysia. If Thailand is the backpacker who grew up, Malaysia is the grown-up who never left. The Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) program offers a renewable long-term visa, and crucially, Malaysia doesn’t tax foreign-sourced income, including pensions. For a retiree drawing on an Australian super pension or an investor living off offshore dividends, that’s the whole ballgame.

Be warned, though, Albo isn’t the only government fond of moving goalposts. MM2H was overhauled in 2024, and the financial requirements jumped substantially across its Silver, Gold, Platinum and SEZ tiers. Expect an income requirement around USD 8,800/month and a fixed deposit north of USD 110,000 — far higher than Thailand. The newer SEZ category offers reduced thresholds for younger professionals and early retirees willing to settle in designated zones. What you get in return is genuine quality of life: excellent private hospitals in KL and Penang, widely spoken English, and food worth relocating for, and that’s not hyperbole. KL is around eight hours from the Australian east coast.

3. Fiji: Bula to Beaches, Goodbye to the ATO’s New Maths

Can you retire in Fiji from Australia? For the proximity-obsessed, and any Aussie wanting Nan to visit without a 14-hour ordeal, Fiji is the obvious winner. It’s barely four hours from Sydney or Brisbane, which makes “popping home for a footy grand final” an actual weekend plan rather than an expedition.

Fiji doesn’t market itself as hard as the Southeast Asian players, but the pathways exist. The Residence on Assured Income permit suits those aged 45+ who can show a stable income and deposit F$100,000 (about USD 43,400) into a local bank account, with a possible route to citizenship after five years. For bigger players, the Investor Permit requires a minimum FJD 500,000 investment (roughly USD 220,000) in a Fijian business and grants multi-year residency. There’s no dedicated digital nomad visa yet, but the generous 4-month tourist entry, extendable to 6, makes long stays workable. A comfortable retirement runs USD 2,000–3,500 a month, with Savusavu offering the best value and an established expat community. The trade-off is healthcare: routine care is fine, but complex specialist treatment means flying out.

4. Indonesia (Bali): Paradise With Paperwork

Bali rounds out the close-to-home picks because it remains the lifestyle benchmark. world-class surf, a thriving expat scene, world-famous food, and a flight time around six hours from the east coast. The most-used route for remote workers is the Second Home Visa, which requires a deposit of around USD 130,000 rather than a monthly income threshold. Many also operate on the B211A visa: 60 days on entry, extendable to 180, with remote work for foreign clients tolerated. A dedicated digital nomad visa has been announced, but rolled out inconsistently, so verify current status before banking on it.

Our Top Pick: Mauritius, With Zero CGT and Worth the Extra Hours in the Air

The best capital gains tax free country is Mauritius. A quick honesty check before we start: Mauritius breaks the 10-hour rule. It’s a 12-hour-plus haul from the east coast, usually with a stop. But for the right person, the tax arithmetic makes those extra hours look like a rounding error, because this is the one destination on the list where the very thing Albo is taxing simply doesn’t exist. Mauritius imposes no capital gains tax, no wealth tax, no inheritance tax and no estate duty, with personal income tax running on a gentle 0–20% scale. For an investor sitting on a portfolio of appreciated shares, “no CGT” isn’t a discount, it’s the absence of the entire problem.

The visa pathways are refreshingly grown-up. The Premium Visa, aimed at remote workers and retirees, has an extremely low bar: no investment required, just a remote work contract with a foreign company and proof of monthly income or savings above USD 1,500, with approval possible in as little as 7 days and a renewable 1-year validity. Retirees have an even cleaner route. Those aged 50 or above can secure a 10-year renewable permit by transferring at least USD 2,000 a month (USD 24,000 a year) into Mauritius, with no minimum stay requirement and the funds free to spend on living costs. Property investors can go the Golden Visa route via a minimum USD 375,000 real estate purchase, and there’s an Investor Permit from USD 50,000 in a local business. After three years, retirees and qualifying investors can upgrade to a 20-year Permanent Residence Permit.

What you get is an Indian Ocean island with turquoise lagoons, a stable multicultural society, excellent private healthcare and a Creole-French-Indian food scene that punches well above its size. The only real downside is the one we opened with — you won’t be popping home for a long weekend. But if you’ve got the means and you’re optimising for tax rather than flight time, Mauritius is arguably the most ruthlessly efficient escape on this entire list.

Comparison table

A Sober Word Before You Sell the House

None of this is a recommendation to flee. Rather, it’s a survey of five options spanning a four-hour hop to a twelve-hour haul, and we’re not your tax advisers. The CGT changes don’t bite until July 2027, your pre-existing gains are grandfathered and Australian tax residency rules are sticky things you can’t shed by buying a sarong. The 183-day tax-residency trip-wire exists in nearly all of these countries too, so the difference between a clever relocation and an expensive mistake is professional advice obtained before you board.

Whether you prize Fiji’s four-hour proximity or Mauritius’ zero-CGT arithmetic, the principle is the same. But if Canberra’s idea of “fairness” is a 30% floor on your hard-won gains, it’s worth knowing the lagoon is warm, the laksa is cheap, and, for four of these five, the family is only a short flight away.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Australians avoid CGT by moving overseas? 

Not as simply as it sounds. When you cease being an Australian tax resident, CGT event I1 triggers a “deemed disposal” of your non-property assets — Australian and foreign shares, ETFs, managed funds and crypto — taxing you on the market-value gain as if you’d sold, even though nothing changed hands. You can elect to defer this by treating those assets as taxable Australian property instead, but that keeps them in the Australian net until you eventually sell. In short, leaving can change your future tax exposure, but it usually isn’t a clean escape from gains you’ve already built.

Which countries have no capital gains tax?

Among the destinations in this article, Mauritius and Fiji impose no CGT on individuals, and Malaysia generally doesn’t tax foreign-sourced income. More broadly, over 20 countries levy no CGT on individuals, including the UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong, Monaco and New Zealand. The catch is that a country having no CGT doesn’t automatically mean Australia stops taxing you — see the next question.

Does Australia still tax me after I leave?

Yes, on certain assets. “Taxable Australian property” — chiefly Australian real estate — stays within the Australian CGT net regardless of where you live, so an investment property back home remains taxable on a future sale even as a non-resident. Australia also uses four alternative residency tests and an aggressive enforcement posture, so genuinely severing tax residency takes methodical planning, not just a plane ticket.

Do I need a retirement visa or an investor visa?

It depends on your profile. Retirees over 45–50 are usually best served by dedicated retirement pathways like Malaysia’s MM2H, Fiji’s Assured Income permit, or Mauritius’s retirement permit. Remote workers and younger investors lean toward digital nomad visas (Thailand’s DTV, Malaysia’s DE Rantau) or investor permits (Fiji, Mauritius). Each section above covers the specifics.

This article is general information, not personal tax or financial advice. Australian residency and CGT rules are complex, consult a registered tax adviser before relocating. Invite us over for drinks when you do!