Former Westfield Group stapled security holders can use The Westfield Group - 2018 calculator to work out their tax outcomes from the takeover by Unibail-Rodamco SE on 7 June 2018. The instructions below will help you use the calculator.
Westfield Group 2018 calculatorUsing this calculator
Former Westfield Group stapled security holders can use the calculator to work out:
- capital gains, or capital losses, for the exchange of Westfield Group stapled securities in the 2018 income tax year
- new cost bases and acquisition date for their OneMarket shares
- new cost bases and acquisition dates for their Unibail-Rodamco CDIs.
The calculator also assists former Westfield Group stapled security holders, who sold their stapled securities between 11 August 2017 and 7 June 2018, by calculating the relevant cost base.
You can only use this Westfield Group - 2018 calculator if:
- you're an Australian resident for tax purposes
- you didn't acquire your Westfield Group stapled securities under an employee share scheme
- none of your Westfield Group stapled securities are pre-CGT interests
- you don’t choose to use an applicable functional currency under Subdivision 960-D of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
- you held your stapled securities as an investment asset.
Microsoft Excel requirements
You will need to open the excel file using a compatible version of Microsoft Excel (2007 or later) and permit access for files downloaded from the internet. The Westfield Group - 2018 calculator does not contain any macros or scripts.
Working out your cost base
The calculator works out your capital gain or loss as a result of the takeover, using the CGT cost base of your Westfield Group stapled securities just before that takeover.
The calculator will help you calculate the Westfield Group stapled securities CGT cost base just before the takeover by automating adjustments if:
- they were purchased between 16 July 2004 and 7 June 2018, or
- you were a Westfield investor prior to 16 July 2004 so long as you know what your cost base was on 16 July 2004 (this is what the Manual Input sheet in the calculator is for). See Other resources to determine your cost base.
Automatic calculations
The calculator will automatically perform the following calculations:
- allocate your initial purchase price across the different securities based on the purchase date and Net Tangible Assets per Westfield’s financials
- cost base adjustments for both
- Westfield Retail Trust 2010 Restructure
- Westfield / Scentre Group 2014 Restructure
- cost base adjustments for all relevant tax deferred distributions between 16 July 2004 and 7 June 2018.
Enter Westfield Group stapled security details for each parcel
In rows 3 to 7 of the Summary Sheet, enter the following information for each parcel of Westfield Group stapled securities:
- acquisition date
- number of stapled securities
- purchase price per stapled security (including transaction costs)
- whether you elect CGT roll-over for your WCL shares.
The calculator allows you to enter up to 10 parcels.
The calculator will show:
- your capital gains or capital losses from the exchange of Westfield Group stapled security for Unibail-Rodamco CDIs (representing Unibail Rodamco SE stapled securities) (rows 20 to 24 of the Summary Sheet)
- the cost base on 7 June 2018 of the Unibail-Rodamco CDIs you receive under the exchange (rows 28 to 38 of the Summary Sheet)
- the cost base on 7 June 2018 of the OneMarket shares you received (rows 28 to 32 of the Summary Sheet).
You should retain a copy of your inputs used in the calculator and new cost bases for your OneMarket shares and Unibail-Rodamco CDIs for future records.
Unibail-Rodamco CDIs are allocated at the investor level. If you had Westfield Group stapled securities under a different name or account, you will need to fill in a separate spreadsheet for each account.
Example
Liz acquired 7,000 Westfield Stapled Securities on 10 March 2010 for $85,511.71 plus brokerage of $20.
Liz does not know her purchase price per unit. Liz inputs the acquisition date as 10/03/2010, the number of securities as 7,000 and the purchase price per unit of $12.218816 ($85,531.71 / 7,000).
Liz ensures that her information is correct by checking the total purchase price in row 6 is equal to $85,531.71.
End of exampleElecting CGT roll-over for your WCL shares
CGT roll-over can only be chosen in respect of the WCL shares that form part of your Westfield Group stapled securities if you make a CGT gain on the WCL shares when they are exchanged for Unibail-Rodamco SE shares. It can't be applied if you made a CGT Loss on your WCL shares.
Working out your cost base using Manual Input
If you know the cost base of each of the share and units underlying your Westfield Group stapled securities for your parcels just after the 2004, 2010 or 2014 Westfield Group restructures, you are able to input these values on the sheet labelled Manual Input:
First – enter your acquisition date and number of Westfield Group stapled securities for each parcel in the sheet labelled Summary Sheet.
Second – input your cost base of each unit or share for each of your parcels in the sheet titled Manual Input.
This will then calculate your cost base just before the takeover, taking into account adjustments required as a result of restructures and other capital returns –it will override the cost base provided on the Summary Sheet for that parcel.
The word 'MANUAL' will be displayed for any parcels where you have elected to manually input cost base information.
The Manual Input sheet does not have the same degree of automatic error checking as the Summary Sheet as it is anticipated some investors who acquired shares prior to 2004 will have a wide range of cost bases. Please ensure you double check your entered information is correct.
You should retain a copy of your inputs used in the calculator and new cost bases for your Unibail-Rodamco CDIs for future records.
If you wish to go back to automatic calculation of the cost base of your Westfield Group stapled securities, either clear all cells on the Manual Input sheet or open a new copy of the calculator.
Example
Siena has kept up to date records and knows her cost base just after the Westfield 2014 Restructure. She can:
- enter the correct number of Westfield Group stapled securities on the Summary Sheet in respect of each parcel
- enter the acquisition date (this should be prior to 30 June 2014)
- then go to the tab labelled Manual Input and manually enter the cost base per unit for WCL, WAT and WFDT, at lines 26 to 28. The values in these cells will override the automatic cost base the calculator would have determined on 30 June 2014.
The calculator will then apply all necessary adjustments from 30 June 2014 to 7 June 2018.
End of exampleCost base of Westfield Group stapled securities between 11 August 2017 and 7 June 2018
If you sold your Westfield Group stapled securities before the 7 June 2018 restructure event, our calculator can help you calculate your capital gains and losses.
The calculator can help you work out the cost base for your Westfield Group stapled securities as at any day on 11 August 2017 to 7 June 2018. This is displayed on rows 17 and 18 of the Summary Sheet.
If you sold your Westfield Group stapled securities during that period – work out your capital gain or loss by subtracting the proceeds you received from your cost base as at the date of the sale.
If you have a nil cost base for any of your WFDT or WAT units just before the restructure, the calculator will tell you at row 19 of the Summary Sheet. This is not expected for most Westfield Group investors, however, if you do have a nil cost base just before restructure on 7 June 2018, you may have capital gains in respect of tax deferred distributions in the 2018 income tax year, which you will have to report separately.
Note: This assumes nothing else happened to affect your cost base other than distributions you received from Westfield.
Dividend reinvestment plans and minimum holders
Dividend reinvestment plans
If you received Westfield Group stapled securities as part of a dividend reinvestment plan, the calculator does not automatically assist you in respect of your stapled securities.
If you have your cost-base information for these stapled securities just after the 2010 restructure, you can use the Manual Input sheet to enter the cost base in respect of these Westfield securities just after the 2010 restructure. You may also wish to seek additional tax advice.
Minimum Holders
Westfield Group has advised that if you had 108 or less Westfield Group Stapled Securities at the time of the 2018 Westfield Restructure, you are a Minimum Holder and would have received cash instead of Unibail-Rodamco CDIs.
Your capital gain or loss will be worked out comparing the cost base of your Westfield Group Stapled Securities to the amount of cash you received.
Our commitment to you
All outcomes provided by this calculator are based on the information you provide at the time of calculation. You should use the outcomes for guidance purposes only.
We are committed to providing you with advice and information you can rely on.
We make every effort to ensure that our advice and information is correct. If you rely on the advice given from this calculator and it turns out to be incorrect, or it is misleading and you make a mistake as a result, we must still apply the law correctly. If that means you owe us money, we must ask you to pay it. If you make an honest mistake when you try to follow our advice and you owe us money as a result, we will ask you to pay the money.
If you acted reasonably and in good faith or made an honest mistake when you try to follow our advice, we will not charge you a penalty, but may charge you interest.
If correcting the mistake means we owe you money, we will pay it to you. We will also pay you any interest you are entitled to.
There may be a slight difference with the outcomes provided by this calculator and manual calculations, due to rounding, fractional entitlements and the application of rollover to different parcels. If you discover any substantial differences, send a short email, including your name and contact details with the word ‘Westfield’, to TaxAdvice@ato.gov.au.
Other resources
- Westfield Group – takeover by Unibail-Rodamco SE (2018)
- Westfield Group (Westfield 2004) capital restructure – tax consequences for Westfield Limited shareholders
- Westfield Group (Westfield 2004) capital restructure – tax consequences for Westfield America Trust unit holders
- Westfield Group (Westfield 2004) capital restructure – tax consequences for Westfield Trust unit holders
- Westfield Group restructure – capital distribution and dividend – creating a new stapled security (2010)