Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Amendment Act 2020 (115 of 2020)

Schedule 1   Amendments

Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Act 2015

7   Part 2

Repeal the Part, substitute:

Part 2 - Imposition and amounts of fees

5 Imposition of fees

A fee payable under:

(a) Part 6 (fees in relation to actions); or

(b) Part 6A (vacancy fees for foreign acquisitions of residential land);

of the Foreign Acquisitions Act is imposed as a tax by this section.

6 Amounts of fees

(1) The amount of a fee imposed by section 5 is the amount worked out in accordance with regulations made for the purposes of this subsection.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the regulations may do one or more of the following:

(a) specify an amount or a method for determining an amount;

(b) specify different amounts or methods for:

(i) different kinds of fees; or

(ii) different kinds of persons liable to pay a kind of fee; or

(iii) different kinds of circumstances giving rise to the liability to pay a kind of fee;

(c) specify a nil amount, or a method resulting in a nil amount;

(d) specify a method for a kind of fee when such a fee is one of 2 or more fees payable in relation to a single agreement;

(e) specify a method for a kind of fee payable in relation to an action if that action is covered by more than one provision of the Foreign Acquisitions Act or Foreign Acquisitions Regulation (because the action is an action of more than one kind);

(f) specify a method for a kind of fee that:

(i) initially determines an amount; and

(ii) later determines a lower replacement amount (including a nil amount) if specified circumstances arise after the fee becomes payable.

Paragraphs (c) to (f) do not limit paragraph (b).

Note: A method for determining an amount could, for example, include:

(a) indexation; or

(b) providing for a lower amount if certain circumstances exist; or

(c) reducing the amount to nil if another person who is jointly and severally liable for the fee pays the fee.

Cap on the amount of a fee

(3) The amount of a fee imposed by section 5 must not exceed $1 million.

7 Indexation of fee cap

(1) The amount referred to in subsection 6(3) is to be indexed on the first day of each financial year starting on or after 1 July 2021. The amount is indexed by multiplying it by its indexation factor.

(2) If after indexation the amount is not a multiple of $100, round down the indexed amount to the nearest multiple of $100.

(3) If the indexed amount worked out under subsection (1) for a financial year (the current year ) (after any rounding under subsection (2)) is less than the indexed amount for the previous financial year, the indexed amount for the current year is the indexed amount for the previous financial year.

8 Indexation factor

(1) The indexation factor is:

(2) Work out the indexation factor to 3 decimal places (rounding up if the fourth decimal place is 5 or more).

Example: If the factor is 1.102795, it would be rounded up to 1.103.

9 Index number

The index number for a quarter is the All Groups Consumer Price Index number (being the weighted average of the 8 capital cities) first published by the Australian Statistician for the quarter.