Pine Gap is a satellite surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately 18km (11mi) south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in the center of Australia. As a U.S. citizen or resident alien, do I have to pay income tax to the United States or Australia on JDFPG employment income? [7] Central Australia was chosen because it was too remote for spy ships passing in international waters to intercept the signal. The intent of the agreement was to ensure that the income earned by these individuals would be taxed only in the United States, rather than in both jurisdictions. [3] This makes it the second largest town in the Northern Territory. "These employees have the benefit of an enterprise agreement, and Raytheon has to comply with this enterprise agreement," he said. Pine Gap is the commonly used name for a satellite tracking station approximately 18 kilometres (11 mi) south-west of the town of Alice Springs in the centre of Australia which is operated by both Australia and the United States.Since 1988 it has been officially called the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap; previously, it was known as Joint Defence Space Research Facility. No. The IRS and the Australian Taxation Office cooperated to develop these FAQs. foreign instrumentation signals intelligence, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, "Premiere dates set for 'Pine Gap' and 'Fighting Season', "Mat King to direct 'Pine Gap' for the ABC and Netflix", "Pine Gap - Episodes Guide and Summaries", "Pine Gap review lots of yakkety yak and occasional scenes of bonking", Vietnam orders Netflix to remove Australian spy show Pine Gap over South China Sea map, Vietnam orders Netflix to remove Australian spy show over South China Sea map, "Netflix ordered to remove 'Pine Gap' episodes on China's nine-dash line DFA", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pine_Gap_(TV_series)&oldid=1135865167, English-language Netflix original programming, Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming, Television shows set in the Northern Territory, Use Australian English from November 2021, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, The A-Crew intelligence team at the Pine Gap joint defence facility detects a missile launch in Myanmar that brings down a small passenger plane. The IRS and ATO developed procedures in the 1980s to address the complexities caused by dual U.S. and Australian requirements for U.S. citizen and resident alien employees at JDFPG and their employers due to the Pine Gap Agreement. I am a U.S. citizen or resident alien employee of a U.S. federal government contractor working outside the United Statesbut not at JDFPG. [13], Pine Gap was removed from Netflix in Vietnam, following an order from the country's Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, as a map with the nine-dash line was shown in two episodes of the series, albeit in a context in which characters criticised China's claim over the waters in on-screen dialogue. By Helen Razer | October 11, 2018 |. Q4. Q5. If your employer does not have proof that you entered into the closing agreement, your employer must withhold Australian taxes on your JDFPG employment income, which would then require you to apply for any applicable refund in Australia. In 1982 the Australian band Midnight Oil released "Power and the Passion", which contains a reference to Pine Gap. Critical new transmission infrastructure including a new power line will be constructed, creating up to 30 new local jobs over 12 months. The show was set around the political scene between 2 different governments, Australia and America, and also with a joint defense intellect facility at Pine Gap. Q8. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Australia is a wretched sunbed maintained by debt and founded in unspeakable acts of racist brutality. You and the employee also will sign a Declaration that is to be provided to the ATO to inform it that your employee has not and will not claim the foreign earned income exclusion for JDFPG employment income, and thus the exemption from Australian tax for this income is appropriate.Added: 05-22-2019 Source: ATO/IRS, A4. The job of the satellites controlled from Pine Gap was to eavesdrop on Soviet missile tests. These FAQs do not apply to U.S. citizen and resident alien employees of U.S. federal government contractors at locations other than JDFPG because the Pine Gap Agreement does not apply to them. Q1. As stated in FAQ Q3, the IRS and ATO developed voluntary procedures allowing you to enter into a closing agreement with the IRS in which you agree that you will not claim the foreign earned income exclusion for JDFPG employment income earned during the taxable period(s) listed in the closing agreement. Pine Gap is an international political thriller which is set around the Australian and American joint defence intelligence facility at Pine Gap, south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Australia. ITS considered one of the countrys most secretive and strategically important sites. You might be entitled to exclude your JDFPG income from U.S. taxable income (and therefore exempt it from U.S. income tax) under the foreign earned income exclusion (section 911 of the Internal Revenue Code). For example, although you are deemed to be not a tax resident of Australia, your JDFPG income is taxable in Australia as Australian-source income if it is exempt from tax in the United States due to the foreign earned income exclusion. If you were ordinarily resident in Australia before working at JDFPG, then your JDFPG employment income is not eligible for an exemption from Australian tax under the Pine Gap Agreement.Added: 05-22-2019 Source: ATO/IRS, A12. Set in the intensely secretive world of intelligence and the enigmatic US/Australia joint defence facility in central Australia, the spy-thriller Pine Gap delves into the famously strong alliance between the two countries. Pine Gap employs around 1000 people. "It is disappointing that a company this well-resourced is still trying to dodge their responsibilities and pay the redundancies entitled to these workers.". The work of the jointly run US and . We probably would have got in some serious trouble if this wasn't a simulator.. Joint Defence Facility - Pine Gap, Alice Springs . By entering into a closing agreement with the IRS, the employee agrees that he or she will not claim the foreign earned income exclusion for the employees JDFPG employment income earned during those periods. Generally, when countries enter into successive international agreements addressing the same subject matter, and an agreement indicates that its provisions are subject to the provisions of an earlier or later international agreement, the provisions of the earlier or later international agreement prevail. The West is making a big miscalculation when it comes to a conflict with China and it could be a very costly mistake. While police raid Eloise, Gus decides to remain at Pine Gap after his father believes that he helped save the President's life by making the decision to execute the drone strike. No. In other words, signing a closing agreement affects both your Australian income tax liability and your employers withholding tax liabilities in the United States and Australia. "While we may not know the exact minutia of what they do on a day-to-day basis, the arguments we are putting forward about a worker being entitled to redundancy when their job is lost, is the same arguments we would be having, regardless of the secret nature of their work," he said. Can the dogs of Chernobyl teach us new tricks when it comes to our own survival? Except Uluru is open to tourism and Pine Gap only to a select 1000 or so workers. You are not obligated under U.S. or Australian taxation law to enter into a closing agreement; the IRS and ATO expect only that you properly report and pay U.S. and Australian taxes consistent with whether you entered into a closing agreement for the taxable period. Q12. According to Prof Tanter, a researcher with the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, the floor space of the sites computer room, or operations building, has grown massively since the 1970s and now takes up a room the size of the entire playing field of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. After ruling Moses out as a suspect, the Australia and US investigators question the Arrenrte law student Immy, who claims someone used her phone to send leaked footage of A-team ordering the Bangladesh drone strike. Mr Blundell-Thornton said that in the past the workforce at the base had been "largely" Australian. The Treaty was signed in 1982. A union has claimed Pine Gap has been increasing the preferencing of US workers to help run the base Six former employees of Raytheon said that when the company lost its contract to complete specialised IT work at the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap near Alice Springs they were offered jobs with the organisation well below their level of expertise. Mr Rosenberg described the incursion by the four as "the most serious security breach in Pine Gap's history". [13] Operations started in 1970 when about 400 American families moved to Central Australia. The work of the jointly run US and Australian base known as Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap is vital after Russian President Vladimir Putin puthis country's nuclear deterrent forces on "high alert". His remarks also seemed to suggest that Australia is much more powerful than what all of us think. While groups such as the Independent and Peaceful Australia Network argue Pine Gap and its value to the US makes us a target, the Australian Government maintains its presence here is crucial. Security and intelligence expertJohn Blaxland said Pine Gap's work was vital. Alice Springs author and journalist Kieran Finnane will be launching her latest book this morning exploring local dissent against military operations at Pine Gap facilities. The refund is considered an erroneous refund and must be paid back to the IRS. But unless you work at Pine Gap, or have spent decades researching what really goes on here, your knowledge about it is probably fairly limited. An employer will, however, be liable for FBT if it has withholding obligations and provides taxable fringe benefits. Pine Gap is a satellite surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately 18 km (11 mi) south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Northern Territory in the center of Australia. Your income also may be subject to tax in the country where you work, depending on that countrys law.Added: 05-22-2019 Source: IRS, A1. Suggestions will appear below the field as you type, Listed more than thirty two thousand twenty three days ago, subClassification: Teaching - Early Childhood. They are broken by a further, larger granite cleft - Heavitree Gap, or "the Gap." Alice Springs is spread out on the other side of the ranges like a baseball diamond, its bottom tip cradled in the Gap. Route 982 in Mount Pleasant Township from Tall Pine Drive to Route 130 due to downed trees and wires. The spy base has been operating in Australia for more than 50 years, yet little is known about its activities. Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code states that tax returns and return information must be kept confidential by the IRS except as otherwise authorized by the Code. "All those Russian tanks, those armoured cars, those aircraft they have to communicate one way or another," he said. Pine Gap: Created by Greg Haddrick, Felicity Packard. With Parker Sawyers, Jacqueline McKenzie, Steve Toussaint, Tess Haubrich. Those radomes you see (the big white balls) arent for decoration, they protect the satellite dish inside.