The amount of withholding would depend on various circumstances, including the contents of the employees U.S. Forms W-4 and Form 673, and whether the employee has an Australian tax file number (TFN). A national gathering of peace makers and anti war activists during the 50 Year Anniversary of Pine Gap.A series of independently organised events and artful non violent protest actions in and around Alice Springs. In one of the letters, John Kerr describes his alleged CIA connections as 'Nonsense of course', and assured the Queen of his continued loyalty.[22]. As a U.S. citizen or resident alien, you are required to file a U.S. income tax return reporting and paying taxes on your worldwide income. As the US and China enter into diplomatic mediation, Simon strikes a deal with Kath to get back his job as an analyst in return for identifying the spy. In addition, an employer that provides fringe benefits will not be liable for Australian fringe benefits tax (FBT) if it has no withholding obligations. "All those Russian tanks, those armoured cars, those aircraft they have to communicate one way or another," he said. [6], On 11 July 2013, documents revealed through former NSA analyst Edward Snowden showed that Pine Gap, amongst three other locations in Australia and one in New Zealand, contributed to the NSA's global interception and collection of internet and telephone communications, which involves systems like XKEYSCORE. Ball described the facility as the ground control and processing station for geosynchronous satellites engaged in signals intelligence collection, outlining four categories of signals collected: Ball described the operational area as containing three sections: Satellite Station Keeping Section, Signals Processing Station and the Signals Analysis Section, from which Australians were barred until 1980. In 2005 there were 26,486 people living in Alice Springs. Starring: Parker Sawyers, Jacqueline McKenzie, Steve Toussaint. Q1. How is my tax information protected from disclosure by the IRS, and how may it be shared with Australia? Pine Gap, Australia is the largest CIA NRO facility outside of the USA. Alice Springs NT $32 - $60 an hour Full-time + 3 Weekend availability + 4 Hiring multiple candidates NDIS compliant: All services are NDIS coded, and mobility works with self, plan and agency managed participants of the NDIS. Pine Gap employs around 1000 people. The position is 3 million job seekers receive fresh jobs from Jora daily! Originally code-named MERINO, it is the ground station for a satellite network that intercepts telephone, radio, data links, and other communications around the world. I am a U.S. citizen or resident alien employee of a U.S. federal government contractor working at JDFPG, and I was living in Australia and ordinarily resident there for tax purposes at the time I was hired. [19], According to documents published in August 2017, Pine Gap is used as a ground station for spy satellites on two secret missions:[6], Gough Whitlam, Prime Minister of Australia (between 1972 and 1975), considered closing the base which some have claimed led to the downfall of the Prime Minister, who was already in a politically precarious situation. It is 200 km south of the centre of mainland Australia. Officially, Pine Gap is a collaboration between the Australian Department of Defence and the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. When they all refused to take on the new, less-skilled positions, Raytheon refused to pay out their redundancy entitlements, saying the employees had been offered other positions, which they had then declined. Your family situation (for example, if your spouse is a resident of Australia or earns income in Australia from employment outside the JDFPG) also affects your Australian tax reporting and payment obligations. A4. "Once their positions were made redundant they were retrenched, they were entitled to redundancy payment.". Cast []. This process was developed to alleviate the burden of dual withholding and reporting of U.S. residents income from employment at JDFPG, and it is completely voluntary for the employee. No, you may not revoke a closing agreement that has been signed by you and the IRS. Pine Gap is featured in the 2018 Australian television series of the same name. Then, you would file individual income tax returns with the IRS and ATO annually to pay additional taxes due or claim a refund, depending on your tax situation, including whether you claim the foreign earned income exclusion for your JDFPG employment income. Even so, sometimes the old girl does us proud. Alice Springs News co-founder Kieran Finnane (pictured) appeared in the program. The IRS and I executed a closing agreement in which I agreed that I would not claim the foreign earned income exclusion for my JDFPG employment income. While returning from an all-night hunting trip, [1] at around 4:30 am in the early hours of 22 nd December 1989, three men would be witness to a surreal encounter. 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. Article 19 does not apply to income earned by employees of U.S. federal government contractors. 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. How long does the closing agreement apply? It provides intelligence on priorities such as terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and foreign military capability and weapons developments, he said. It is taxable in the United States because, as a U.S. citizen or resident alien, the employee is taxable on worldwide income. These FAQs address common questions regarding how these employees and their employers meet their U.S. and Australian tax obligations in light of the Pine Gap Agreement, including the effect of a closing agreement that an employee might enter into with the IRS regarding the taxation of JDFPG employment income. It was only in the 1970s they gained even mid level positions. It collects a wide range of signals intelligence as well as providing information on early warning of ballistic missile launches. #ClosePineGap 2016 - Alice Springs Peace Convergence (Australia) 19th Sep - 3rd Oct 2016. In The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost, President Richard Nixon claims that Pine Gap is actually the site of an underground facility constructed by extraterrestrials. Address: 15 WILKINSON ST ALICE SPRINGS, NORTHERN TERRITORY, 0870 Australia Phone: Employees (this site): Modelled Employees (all sites): Modelled Revenue: Modelled Year Started: Incorporated: ESG ranking: ESG industry average: What is D&B's ESG Ranking? if you do not receive a closing agreement signed by the employee and the IRS, or any other evidence that the employee has entered into a closing agreement with the IRS, you should assume that the employee has not entered into a closing agreement with the IRS and withhold and remit U.S. and Australian taxes accordingly. 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 West is making a big miscalculation when it comes to a conflict with China and it could be a very costly mistake. [9]:p xxi The facility has become a key part of the local economy. Naval Security Group Detachment, Alice Spring was established in October, 1998. "Where now they seem to be going to getting more American contractors, so it is a pattern that we're starting to see," he said. At top-secret U.S.-Australian joint defense facility Pine Gap, fissures appear in the critical alliance as spies work with, and against, each other. We couldn't find the job you were looking for. The amount of withholding would depend on various circumstances, including the contents of the employees U.S. Forms W-4 and 673, and whether the employee has an Australian tax file number (TFN). [9]:p 4546[10], The location is strategically significant because it controls United States spy satellites as they pass over one-third of the globe, including China, the Asian parts of Russia, and the Middle East. "It is starting to become more prevalent out there.". Pine Gap spy base contractor Raytheon locked in redundancy payout dispute. [17][18] This was confirmed by an NSA document from 2013, which says that Pine Gap plays a key role in providing geolocation data for intelligence purposes, as well as for military operations, including air strikes. Critical new transmission infrastructure including a new power line will be constructed, creating up to 30 new local jobs over 12 months. And forget taking a tour to learn more about it because youre not even getting close to seeing inside. Overview []. Pine Gaps secrets are slowly starting to emerge. 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. Following a confrontation with Kath, Ethan manages to defuse the South China Sea standoff by convincing President Kerr that the Chinese would deploy nuclear weapons if the US were to use armed forces to rescue their downed pilot. The closing agreement applies for the U.S. taxable year(s) listed in the closing agreement as the taxable period(s) covered by the closing agreement. 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. The IRS has recently revised the pro forma closing agreement and consent to disclose document for employees of U.S. federal government contractors who wish to enter into closing agreements with respect to their employment income earned at the JDFPG. 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. About Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Pine Gap Facility. The IRS and ATO expect only that the employees income from employment at JDFPG is properly withheld, reported, and paid, as appropriate, in the United States and Australia. "It is disappointing that a company this well-resourced is still trying to dodge their responsibilities and pay the redundancies entitled to these workers.". [2][3][4][5] The classified NRO name of the Pine Gap base is Australian Mission Ground Station (AMGS), while the unclassified cover term for the NSA function of the facility is RAINFALL. What if I do not enter into a closing agreement with the IRS? According to Nautilus report released this year, Australians are "completely enmeshed into the management structure at the station". I am a U.S. citizen or resident alien and an Australian citizen employed by a U.S. federal government contractor working at JDFPG. I entered into a closing agreement with the IRS in which I agreed that I would not claim the foreign earned income exclusion for my JDFPG employment income, but I filed a U.S. tax return claiming the exclusion for a period covered by the closing agreement. Government and military spokespeople in the US and allied countries tell the public that drones are an ethical weapon that drones stop civilians from being killed and limit the destructive effects of war, she said. If you enter into a closing agreement with the IRS, your employer has no obligation to withhold Australian taxes on your income from employment at JDFPG for the taxable period(s) covered by the closing agreement, and you are not required to file an Australian tax return for that income. It was set in the titular Pine Gap, a joint defense intelligence facility near the town of Alice Springs in Australia. The ABC's Pine Gap is a stinker. That income would be taxable in Australia if you claimed the foreign earned income exclusion to exclude that income from U.S. tax. Professor Tanter said Putin's threat of nuclear weapons hadcatapulted world politics back to the Cold War. Q11. [6], The facilities at the base consist of a massive computer complex with 38 radomes protecting radio dishes[7] and has over 800 employees. "One of the questions for Alice Springs citizens is always:'Whatis Pine Gap doing and how do I feel about it?' Storms threaten north-east United States after tearing through the south, leaving 10 dead, Cabinet documents reveal Pine Gap expansion deal and concerns about 'weaponising space', Pine Gap protesters spared jail to avoid creating 'martyr', Pine Gap activists found guilty over entering top-secret US-Australian facility, Aerospace and Defence Equipment Manufacturing, Canberra coach Ricky Stuart slams NRL, RLPA following further concussion controversy, 'How dare they': Possum Magic author hits out at 'ridiculous' Roald Dahl edits, 'Dastardly and heinous crime': Philippines governor killed at home by unknown gunmen, Vanuatu hit by two cyclones and twin earthquakes in two days, Emily was studying law when she had to go to court. 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. The idea of closing the drone warfare program will be one of the ideas discussed at the Alice Springs conference. Groups such as IPAN, which is holding its annual conference next weekend, claim the facility has a darker side. In 1982 the Australian band Midnight Oil released "Power and the Passion", which contains a reference to Pine Gap. R-00102475Description Job Description: Job DescriptionThis position is a 24/7 crew positionThe Integrated Solutions Division at Leidos has an opening for an Intelligence Analyst. If you are an Australian citizen, 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, A13. He also viewed the show's release on Netflix as a sign of what he regarded as the deteriorating quality of the streaming company's content. The base is staffed by both Americans and Australians, who monitor satellite and communication transmissions in the area for potential threats to either country. In the Pine Gap Agreement, Australia agreed that the income of U.S. employees of U.S. federal government contractors at the JDFPG who are in Australia solely to work at the JDFPG would be exempt from income tax in Australia provided that income is taxed in the United States. If your JDFPG employment income is taxed in Australia, that income is considered foreign-source income for U.S. tax purposes and may be eligible for a foreign tax credit on your U.S. tax return, subject to any applicable limitations, including the restrictions on claiming foreign tax credits if you choose to exclude foreign earned income from your U.S. income. That's a really important question," he said. 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.. By Helen Razer | October 11, 2018 |. The facility, which marks its 50th anniversary this year and has conjured up its share of supporters and critics, maintains as big a presence in Central Australia as Uluru. A highly secretive defence intelligence facility, on the outskirts of Alice Springs, is likely gathering information about the escalating situation in Ukraine. Secrecy held until the mid-1970s, when the World War II signals intelligence operation known as Enigma was finally revealed, and the role of the US Central Intelligence Agency in running Pine Gap . 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.