The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has informally announced that a new Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets (Register) will be introduced on 1 July 2023.
From that date, individual or corporate foreign persons will have 30 days to give the ATO notice of acquisition of an interest in Australian land regardless of value, if they become a foreign person while holding relevant Australian interests, or if certain circumstances change after an event has been registered.
The legislation governing the new register is Part 7A of the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act (FATA).
Draft regulations clarifying the scope of the register were released for consultation on 2 March 2023.
Richard Lustig, Partner, Melbourne, Baker Mckenzie, said in a briefing note on 7 March: "We will be carefully monitoring this area, and foreign persons with current or proposed investments in Australia should do the same, as well as continuing to comply with their current registration obligations in relation to interests in Australian water, agricultural or residential land and certain other assets.
"The proposed 1 July 2023 commencement date will be confirmed by a formal proclamation, and the regulations recently released in draft will be finalised sometime after the consultation period ends on 31 March 2023.
"In the meantime, foreign persons with current or proposed investments in Australia, and Australian entities that could become
"foreign" due to ownership changes, should begin to consider whether their internal processes may require any updates to ensure that relevant investment activities or changes in ownership will be noted for possible registration purposes once the new Register commences."
