Embark on a journey into the fundamentals of fund management as SW’s Director, Rick Hemphill and Polar 993 Founder, Adam Lindell share invaluable advice tailored for first-time fund managers. Uncover the key insights, strategies, and essential knowledge that lay the groundwork for a successful venture into the world of fund management.

In the second episode, SW’s Director, Rick Hemphill and Polar 993 Founder, Adam Lindell unravel the complexities of capital sourcing, focusing on the pivotal task of raising the initial $25 million. Discover proven strategies, actionable tips, and real-world experiences that illuminate the path for fund managers seeking to secure the crucial capital to kickstart their investment journey.

Join SW’s Director, Rick Hemphill and Polar 993 Founder, Adam Lindell in the final chapter of this enlightening series, where they explore the ever-evolving investment market trends. Delve into the realms of Build-to-Rent (B2R), Build-to-Sell (B2S), and Managed Investment Schemes (MIS). Gain a comprehensive understanding of these trends, empowering fund managers to navigate the dynamic landscape of investment opportunities.

The post Polar 993 Founder Adam Lindell talks fund management insights with SW’s Director Rick Hemphill appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

The CCIV regime provides a new type of corporate flow-through entity, which is an incorporated company but which, through a set of deeming principles, is effectively treated as a trust for all tax law purposes.

The purpose of the regime is to increase the competitiveness of Australia’s managed funds industry by creating a flow through corporatised entity which is more widely recognised internationally and draws on characteristics of similar regimes currently utilised in Singapore, UK, Hong Kong and elsewhere.  

A further objective of the CCIV tax framework is to align the tax treatment of CCIVs and their members with the existing tax treatment of general trusts and attribution managed investment trusts (AMITs). Where a CCIV sub-fund trust:

• meets the AMIT eligibility criteria, it will be taxed as an AMIT under the attribution flow-through tax regime
• fails to meet the AMIT eligibility criteria, the CCIV sub-fund trust will be taxed in accordance with general trust provisions, which is consistent with the current outcomes for AMITs 

Characteristics of a CCIV

A CCIV is a legal form company limited by shares, the income of which is distributed by way of legal form dividends. The company must be registered with ASIC under the new chapter 8B of the Corporations Act 2001.

The company has a sole corporate director which must be a public company that holds an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL). The company must have at least one sub-fund which has at least one member and it can either be a wholesale or retail sub-fund.  

The CCIV will effectively operate as an umbrella vehicle of separate sub funds, with each sub fund potentially providing a different investment offering, and each sub-fund potentially having different members. The sub-funds are not separate legal entities but operate as cells within the CCIV.

A CCIV is deemed to be the trustee of each sub-fund, each of which is a separate entity for income tax purposes. The sub-funds, subject to meeting relevant requirements, may be treated as AMITs.

The constitution of the CCIV will be its primary governing document and will contain different provisions depending on whether the CCIV is a retail or wholesale fund.

While a CCIV is not a MIS, there are separate requirements which build in similar protections for CCIV investors, similar to those available to MIS entities.

Advantages of a CCIV

International recognition

The CCIV regime draws on characteristics of similar regimes which operate in other jurisdictions. Given many international investors are not familiar with the unit trust structure widely adopted in Australia in relation to Funds, the CCIV increases international competitiveness in the funds management space by creating an entity which is more widely recognised internationally and may therefore be more attractive to international investors.

Segregation of assets and liabilities

Whilst each sub-fund is not a separate legal entity, the assets and liabilities are segregated from each other. The assets of each sub-fund can legally only be applied for purposes relating to that specific sub-fund.

Flow through taxation

The income earned by the CCIV sub-fund trusts will retain its character when received by investors, such that investors will effectively be taxed as if they hold assets of the trust directly (subject to the usual tests such as Division 6C). Whilst the CCIV pays legal form dividends, the income received by investors will not be taxed as dividends but rather taxed as distributions from a trust.

Fixed entitlement to income and capital

Investors will be deemed as having a vested and indefeasible interest in the income and capital of the sub fund-fund trusts. This is relevant for the utilisation of trust losses and application of franking credit provisions.

Concessional withholding rates

If a sub-fund qualifies as a MIT, distributions to investors who reside in countries that have an Exchange of Information Agreement with Australia may be subject to the lower concessional withholding rate of 15% on certain types of income (excluding interest, dividend and royalty income).

Capital account election

In addition to the above, if the sub-fund trust qualifies as a MIT it can make an election to treat certain assets as on capital account. This will mean that in most cases asset disposals will be treated as capital gains which may be a more favourable tax outcome for both resident and non-resident investors.

Disadvantages of a CCIV

Rollover relief

There are currently no specific rollovers or concessions which would allow existing fund structures to seamlessly convert to the CCIV regime without any income tax implications. Existing CGT roll-overs may apply in some cases and should be considered accordingly. This limitation may make it difficult to transfer existing “in the money” investments to the CCIV regime.

Tax losses

Currently, there are no specific provisions which allow the transfer of revenue or capital losses from an existing structure into a CCIV structure. This means an entity converting to a CCIV would currently not be able to retain any existing tax or capital losses.

Trust income

Under the CCIV regime, the definition of income in relation to the sub-fund trusts is broadly determined based on accounting profit of the trust. The limited flexibility in defining income could result in unintended and unfavourable income tax consequences with respect to income earned by the sub-fund trusts.

Duty & land tax

There is yet to be any guidance released by the various States in relation to the treatment of CCIV entities from a duty or land tax perspective.

How SW can assist

There will be cases where the CCIV regime will provide clear benefits to fund managers and to investors.  These will predominantly relate to where the fund is either attracting foreign investment, or where the fund is designed to invest in foreign assets (even if the investors are domestic). 

Given the challenges in converting from a traditional trust structure to a CCIV, the CCIV regime should be considered even if these international factors are not present at the inception of the fund but are recognised as possibilities in later years.

Reach out to our team to discuss whether the CCIV regime is appropriate for your fund.

Click here to find out more about how we work with fund managers and financial services business across the sector.

Contributors

Carmelin De Francesco, Senior Manager, Tax

The post Corporate Collective Investment Vehicle Regime (CCIV) appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

从2021年7月1日起，SIV合规基金的基金经理需要任命一名外部审计师，每年按照合规投资框架对基金进行审计，包括新兴公司部分和平衡投资部分。

基金经理和移民代理也将了解到，重大投资者类别和投资者类别签证的申请人必须按照合规投资框架进行资金投资。

根据《2015年移民（IMMI 15/100：合规投资）工具》的规定，内政部最近对相关要求做出了一些修改，其中包括对合规资产的修改，以及对合规投资框架中的新兴公司部分和平衡投资部分进行年度合规审计。

SIV申请人–您需要做什么？

所有在2021年7月1日之后获提名申请重大投资者签证或投资者签证的申请人都要在其签证申请中附上审计报告，以证明在截至2022年6月30日的一年中以及往后每一年，他们所投资的基金符合合规投资框架的规定。基金经理将提供这些文件。

在没有合规性审计报告的情况下，签证申请被批准的可能性非常小。

SIV基金经理和移民代理——您需要了解什么？

信永中和澳大利亚如何帮助您

在我们与整个行业的基金经理广泛合作的基础上，信永中和澳大利亚的专业审计团队完全了解签证申请人、移民代理和基金经理的适用审计要求，并拥有丰富的相关审计工作经验。

我们的SIV基金审计服务为SIV合规基金提供高效率且有实效的审计，以确保这些基金符合《2015年移民（IMMI 15/100：合规投资）工具》所规定的新兴公司和平衡投资部分。

请联系本事务所的SIV审计专家穆芮内和艾汝谧咨询。

基金管理领域的税务专家包括：

池澜滨、谭赛蒙、欧斯迪

The post 重大投资者签证基金 – 合规审计 appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

From 1 July 2021, fund managers of SIV compliant funds are required to appoint an external auditor to annually audit the fund with the Complying Investments Framework for the emerging companies’ component and the balancing investments component.

As fund managers and migration agents will know, visa applicants for the significant investor stream and the investor stream visas are required to invest their funds in accordance with the Complying Investments Framework.

The department of Home Affairs recently made several changes to the requirements, as stipulated in the Migration (IMMI 15/100: Complying Investments) Instrument 2015. These included changes to complying assets and for the emerging companies component and the balancing investments component of the complying investments framework to be audited annually for compliance.

SIV applicants – what do you need to do?

All applicants who were nominated to apply for a Significant Investor Visa or an Investor Visa after 1 July 2021 will be required to attach audit reports to their visa application to show that for the year ended 30 June 2022 and annually thereafter, the fund/(s) they have invested in comply with the complying investments framework. These will be obtained from their fund managers.

It is highly unlikely that a visa application will be approved without the compliance audit report.

SIV fund manager & migration agents – what do you need to know?

How SW can help

Building on our extensive work with fund managers across the sector, the SW specialist audit team fully understands the audit requirements as applicable to visa applicants, migration agents and fund managers, and has significant experience with these audits.

Our SIV fund audit service provides efficient and effective audits for SIV compliant funds to ensure these comply with the emerging companies and balancing investments components as required by the Migration (IMMI 15/100: Complying Investments) Instrument 2015.

Reach out to our SIV Audit experts, Rene Muller and Rami Eltchelebi, to start the conversation.

Fund management tax experts include:

Abi Chellapen, Simon Tucker, Stephen O’Flynn

The post Significant Investor Visa Funds – compliance audit appeared first on SW Accountants & Advisors.

The Australian property and construction sector’s growth has softened due to rising borrowing costs and supply chain disruptions. Commercial developments have been impacted through decreased demand for office spaces and the digitalisation of the retail market.

Infrastructure and construction sectors can be volatile, so you can rest easy knowing in some of the most important areas of your business, such as taxes, structuring, cash flow and funding, SW have the expertise to assist you to add value and drive your strategy.

Our property & infrastructure experts offer a full suite of back office support, advisory, structuring, modelling and compliance services to the property and infrastructure sector.   

Whether you’re a developer, builder, investor, financier or manager, we’ll help you navigate the challenges.

Our Property & infrastructure services

Spotlight | Property Forum #back2thefuture

Property and economics are often cyclical in nature. For this reason, experts often use the past to predict a future outlook. However, with global disruption, the level of uncertainty has increased drastically, with many experts uncertain if we can look back to predict our future.

For this reason, we brought renowned property industry experts together to take a deep dive into the changing landscape in Australia, the impact this has on the future for property and what people and businesses should be considering in order to prepare.

Emerging Developers series (EDS)

Taking the lead to support tomorrow’s leaders, our Emerging Property Developers series is now delivered virtually. This series has been tried and trusted by the industry for over 8 years and is designed to walk you through the property development process from start to finish.

An interactive four-part program facilitated by our property specialists is delivered to a limited group of emerging property professionals. Each session features guest industry experts who provide strategic insight into property development and key developer issues, from tax structuring to design and construction.

Industry Associations & Memberships

Our significant involvement in the property industry mandates an active involvement in current tax and accounting issues that impact your sector. We are also involved in consultative processes, making submissions to Treasury and/or the ATO. Other key involvement includes:

• Various Property Council of Australia and Victoria tax committees and forums
• The National Tax Liaison Group Trust Sub-Group, which until recently was the peak consulting
  body on which tax matters concerning trusts were discussed with senior officials at the ATO.

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