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MinterEllison's financial services tax experts advise on the tax and duty treatment of all forms of debt instruments and financial arrangements – including Australian withholding tax exemptions and other tax issues for syndicated global lending arrangements (e.g. 144A bond issues), duty and tax issues for refinancing and debt restructures, securitisation arrangements, lease financing and the tax treatment of other financial arrangements such as hybrid securities, derivatives, options, swaps and foreign exchange transactions.
Our team also advises on income tax issues for financial transactions and arrangements such as the application of the debt and equity regime, limited recourse debt, thin capitalisation rules and debt deductions, accruals assessability (Division 16E), taxation of financial arrangements regime, deemed loan treatment for certain financial benefits (Division 250 & Division 16D), the commercial debt forgiveness rules, bad debt deductions and tax issues arising in relation to insolvencies, voluntary administrations and liquidations.
We also have significant experience in advising on GST issues applicable to the financial services sector.
The final tranche of the Investment Manager Regime (IMR) concessions have at last been released for comment. These rules have been greatly anticipated and will provide much needed certainty for foreign funds and their investors once implemented.
The Australian Taxation Office has issued its annual compliance program, 'Compliance in focus 2013-14', setting out the areas it will focus on in its investigations and reviews throughout the coming year. The compliance program can help you determine the likelihood of being subject to scrutiny by the Australian Taxation Office.
In this Budget brief, we have discussed the government's Budget proposals as they impact on relevant industry sectors, and have included details of the Opposition's views (if any) on each proposal.
In this Budget brief, we have discussed the government's Budget proposals as they impact on the mining, energy & resources industry and investors in that industry, and have included details of the Coalition's views (if any) on each proposal.
A further tranche of tax legislation to exempt eligible foreign funds from Australian income tax has been released for public comment. This legislation (once enacted) will extend the Investment Manager Regime (IMR) exemption, to apply from 1 July 2011 (for the 2011- 2012 and later income years).
In this Australian Tax Brief we summarise the key aspects of the FIN48 and IMR exemptions, and analyse some of the core requirements – including what is an IMR foreign fund and what IMR income is not subject to Australian tax.
The Australian Government announced in the 2010-11 Budget that it would phase down the rate of interest withholding tax (IWT) for financial institutions from 2013-14. This measure has now been deferred by one year to 2014-15 (saving the Budget A$70 million in each of 2013-14 and 2014-15).