Partnering with clients to provide on-demand contract lawyers, giving in-house legal teams the confidence to be agile.
Our tax advisers, working closely with our energy and resources team, deliver commercial, integrated and comprehensive services for Australian and international clients. Our team advises on all aspects of energy and resource transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, farm-ins and long-term supply contracts.
MinterEllison provides the full spectrum of taxation services for energy and resource projects – company income tax, capital gains tax, stamp duty, goods and services tax, mining royalties, petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT), customs and excise and native title. We also assist with emerging issues arising from identified tax reforms including the Minerals Resource Rent Tax for coal and iron ore projects, the extension of the PRRT to onshore gas projects and the potential introduction of a carbon tax. Our national capability also gives us a depth of experience in state-based taxation such as stamp duty and mining royalties.
We act for global businesses as well as new entrants and junior miners. Our extensive experience working directly with energy and resources companies gives us a deep understanding of the business and other commercial drivers and the related tax issues which are critical for participants in this sector. We have direct insight into the consequences of a carbon tax, and of doing business in a carbon constrained economy.
We have longstanding relationships with key industry bodies including the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA), the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, the Australian Mining and Petroleum Law Association and the Australian Coal Association.
The immediate deduction for the cost of acquiring mining rights and mining information first used for exploration was removed for M&A acquisitions after 14 May 2013 by the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No.3) Act 2014 (2014 amendments). The 2014 amendments limited the availability of immediate deductions to those taxpayers carrying out mining exploration themselves, and otherwise provided that the costs of acquiring these rights would be depreciable over the shorter of its effective life or 15 years, assuming the 'first use' test was met. This had the anomalous and unintended effect of producing taxation consequences for farm-in farm-out (farm-out arrangements) and interest realignment arrangements which were previously tax neutral. On 16 September 2015, the Government effectively reinstated the tax neutral status of these arrangements with the enactment of the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Measures No. 2) Act 2015 (No. 130 of 2015) ('the new law').
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.
On 1 November 2011, the State Council of the People's Republic of China's Decision on amending the Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Resource Tax (Decision) will take effect. The Decision increases taxes on the sales of certain resources and extends certain existing resources tax nationwide.