In an unexpected positive development for the Australian funds management industry, the Government released Exposure Draft (ED) legislation to implement the third element of the IMR earlier this month. This follows on from the Government announcement on the eve of the Christmas-New Year break of its intention to introduce this legislation into Parliament in the first half of the 2013 calendar year.
Given the short period for consultation (submissions were due on Friday), our submission only contains broad comments.
In summary, while Moore Stephens commends the Federal Government on their initiative to improve the international competitiveness of the Australian funds management industry, our competitors in other global financial centres operate similar regimes that have long been established and also reformed to improve the competitiveness of their own tax rules.
We believe that further refinements to the ED are required to ensure that Australia reduces the current competitive disadvantage we have in attracting foreign mobile capital.
Our submission reflects serious concerns from foreign fund managers with a presence in Australia that the IMR in its current form may potentially result in the cessation of their Australian operations – an outcome which would be the exact opposite of the objective of this reform.
Access our submission here.
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