64 Jolimont Street, East Melbourne VIC 3002

Accounting News

Capital Gains and Renounceable Rights

In a small win, the taxation of renounceable rights offers (in some cases) will be concessionally treated following a recent Australian Taxation Office ruling.

 

 

The taxation of rights and premiums paid to retail shareholders has improved where those shares are held on capital account.

If the shareholder is an Australian resident then there is no assessable income on the timing of the grant of the entitlement and any retail premium received, can be treated us the realisation of a CGT asset.  Most years at least one large public company structure an equity deal to provide this opportunity to its shareholders – in 2016 it included Origin, in 2017 it included Boral, JB Hi-Fi, and Vocus Communications.

The right to be issued shares is a CGT asset, which if no action is taken and the resultant is sale by the company and subsequent premium is paid to the shareholder, capital gain will result.  What is more significant is that the shareholder is considered to have required the rights when it acquired the original shares.  There is a discount capital gain (i.e. 50%) if the shares were held for twelve months or longer.

 

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W Marshall & Associates 64 Jolimont Street, East Melbourne VIC 3002

Important: This is not advice. Clients should not act solely on the basis of the material contained in this Commentary. Items herein are general comments only and do not constitute or convey advice per se. Also changes in legislation may occur quickly. We therefore recommend that our formal advice be sought before taking any action. The Commentary is issued as a helpful guide to clients and for their private information. Therefore it should be regarded as confidential and not be made available to any person without our prior approval.