NEWS

On 9 April 2015, the Assistant Treasurer released draft legislation for the new managed investment trust (MIT) tax regime.  The introduction of a separate MIT regime was first announced by the Federal government in 2010. In the announcement accompanying the draft legislation, the Assistant Treasurer has stated that the new standalone regime is intended to…

The demand for Australian investments has increased significantly over the last several years, as foreign investors continue to drive the strong growth across a broad range of Australian assets, including, commercial and residential real estate, infrastructure, government bonds and other financial assets. Since 2005, the total net investment into Australia has continued to increase with…

What is FATCA? Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a United States law that requires financial institutions, including managed funds, outside the United States to identify collect and report information about United States citizens and residents for tax purposes to the Internal Revenue Service. How does it apply in Australia? Under the Inter-Governmental Agreement…

The Government has announced that new draft legislation outlining the introduction of the third taxation regime for Managed Investment Trusts (MIT) will be released before Christmas 2014. The introduction of a separate MIT regime was first announced by the Federal government in 2010.  There have since been two ‘special’ MIT regimes enacted,  with the first…

Whilst the Managed Investment Trust (MIT) regime is still relatively new in the Australian tax landscape, it is important to ensure that all compliance requirements are maintained.  Despite the Governments intentions to create a simplified taxing regime, the MIT provisions can be complex.  Accordingly, it is important to ensure that an MIT governance framework is…

ASIC have released a new Consultation Paper,  “Consultation Paper 224: Facilitating electronic financial services disclosure”, requesting feedback on ASIC’s proposed introduction of electronic delivery of financial services disclosures. In conjunction with the Consultation, ASIC also released a draft of “Regulatory Guide 221: Facilitating electronic financial services disclosure,” which is currently opened for public comment. The…

Amendments to the NSW Duties Act have been introduced following the NSW Supreme Court decision in CTI Joint Venture Company Pty Ltd v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue [2013] NSWSC 20. This case concerned the imposition of duty on options and nominations on NSW land holdings.  Whilst ultimately unsuccessful in this case, the NSW Chief Commissioner had…

On 31 October 2014, the Government released a Discussion Paper outlining the proposed design for introducing a 10 per cent non-final withholding tax on the disposal by foreign residents of certain items of Taxable Australian Property (TAP).  The Discussion Paper follows the Government’s previous announcement in November 2013 and is based on the measures first…

Earlier this month, the High Court of Australia dismissed an appeal by Wellington Capital Limited (Wellington), affirming the Full Federal Court’s decision regarding the powers of a responsible entity. The Full Federal Court’s decision concerned the actions of Wellington, as a responsible entity of a Premium Income Fund (PIF) – specifically addressing whether Wellington could…

Proposed  legislation has been introduced into Parliament, intended to expand the existing category of foreign residents who are eligible to access the reduced withholding tax rates under the Managed Investment Trust (MIT) regime. Under Australia’s existing MIT regime, foreign residents are eligible to be taxed at a reduced withholding tax rate of 15 per cent…