Not all Australian shares treated equally

Under proposed new tax laws investments in listed Australian shares are meant to be treated on the same basis as New Zealand investments. But that doesn’t appear to be true.

Friday, February 23rd 2007, 6:54AM
ABN Amro Craigs believes there is currently a misconception in the marketplace regarding the status of Australian listed companies under the pending Fair Dividend Rate (FDR) regime to be applied to portfolio investments in global shares.

The commonly held view is that they will all be treated in the same way as investments in New Zealand assets.

“Our interpretation of the new rules is that the only Australian listed companies that are exempt from the FDR rules are those that are included in an ASX approved index,” ABN Amro Craigs research manager Cameron Watson says.

“We understand there are only four such approved indices at this time – the ASX 50, ASX 200, ASX 200 Property and ASX All Ordinaries."

"All of the constituent stocks of the first three indices are included in the All Ordinaries, while the All Ordinaries Index currently encompasses 477 stocks (including around 50 trusts and 10 foreign companies that we believe could be classified as non-exempt shares). Therefore, we believe that the remaining 1329 stocks listed on the Australian Stock Exchange that are not members of the All Ordinaries will be deemed to be global shares under the FDR regime."

Watson says that investors should be aware that their investments in Australian listed companies that are not included in the All Ordinaries could, subject to de minimis requirements, be deemed a global share and taxed under the FDR regime.

« Tax changes push money to active managementSovereign takes regulation bull by the horns »

Special Offers

Commenting is closed

www.GoodReturns.co.nz

© Copyright 1997-2024 Tarawera Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved