DOCSLIB.ORG

Doing Business in Australia Doing Business in Australia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Doing Business in Australia Doing Business in Australia Doing Business in Australia Doing Business in Australia Contents 1. Australia – An overview ....................................................................................2 Our Government ............................................................................................................. 2 Economy and industries ................................................................................................ 2 The Federal and State systems ................................................................................... 3 Division of Powers .......................................................................................................... 3 State Government .......................................................................................................... 5 Local Government ........................................................................................................... 5 The legal system ............................................................................................................. 5 2. Foreign Investment – Regulations and Government Policy .................. 8 Overview ...........................................................................................................................8 Who is a foreign person? ..............................................................................................8 Who is a foreign government investor? ...................................................................9 Notifiable and significant actions ............................................................................ 10 Threshold tests ..............................................................................................................13 Agribusiness.................................................................................................................... 16 Australian land ................................................................................................................17 Wind and solar farms ...................................................................................................20 Mining and oil and gas .................................................................................................21 Sensitive businesses .....................................................................................................21 Critical infrastructure ...................................................................................................22 Financing transactions.................................................................................................23 State regulation of foreign investment .................................................................24 Exemption certificates ................................................................................................24 FIRB approval process ..................................................................................................25 Penalties ..........................................................................................................................28 3. Forms of Business Organisation................................................................... 30 Introduction ....................................................................................................................30 Companies .......................................................................................................................30 Choice of branch or subsidiary ..................................................................................30 Public company or proprietary company ................................................................31 Joint ventures ................................................................................................................ 33 Unincorporated joint ventures .................................................................................. 33 Incorporated joint venture ......................................................................................... 33 Partnerships .................................................................................................................... 33 Trading trusts .................................................................................................................34 Discretionary trusts ......................................................................................................34 Unit trusts ....................................................................................................................... 35 Sole trader ....................................................................................................................... 35 Comparative business advantages .......................................................................... 35 4. Companies and securities regulation ......................................................... 38 The national scheme ....................................................................................................38 Registration requirements .........................................................................................38 Compliance and reporting requirements ............................................................... 41 Annual statement filing ..............................................................................................43 Continuous disclosure by disclosing entities ........................................................43 Ongoing filing requirements .....................................................................................43 Company directors: duties and liabilities ...............................................................44 Offerings of securities .................................................................................................49 ASX listings of securities of foreign companies ...................................................50 Trading in securities and takeovers ..........................................................................51 Employee share and options plan .............................................................................51 Return of capital ...........................................................................................................52 Buy-Backs ........................................................................................................................53 Corporate insolvency ...................................................................................................53 5. Mergers and Acquisitions ..............................................................................60 Overview ........................................................................................................................ 60 Private companies ....................................................................................................... 60 Public companies ......................................................................................................... 66 6. Taxation................................................................................................................72 General ............................................................................................................................. 72 Income tax ...................................................................................................................... 72 Foreign debt funding and interest withholding tax...........................................78 Thin capitalisation ........................................................................................................78 Corporation reconstruction ........................................................................................79 Royalties ..........................................................................................................................79 Management and service fees ..................................................................................79 Foreign exchange gains and losses ..........................................................................79 Taxation of financial arrangements ........................................................................ 80 Transfer pricing ............................................................................................................. 80 Capital gains tax ............................................................................................................ 81 Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding ........................................................82 Taxation of foreign source income ..........................................................................83 Fringe benefits tax .......................................................................................................83 Goods and services tax ...............................................................................................83 Customs duty ................................................................................................................ 84 Stamp duty .................................................................................................................... 84 Land Tax ...........................................................................................................................85 Australian business number ...................................................................................... 86 Payment of tax ............................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Pol.9100.0001.0616 0001
    POL.9100.0001.0616_0001 Dear Commissioner, WHEREAS Australia has one of the strongest and most stable banking, superannuation and financial services industries in the world, which performs critical roles in pinning under the Australian economy, yielding profit for the Money Power, shareholders and their acolytes and burdening the citizens of Australia who have little choice but to use this industry. A banking industry serving the prophesied "Banana Republic" with its demolished productive sector AND a superannuation industry from which said acolytes may siphon AND a financial services industry boasting speculation which dwarfs that of the "Pokie Nation", non-banking speculative sector. AND Australia's banking system is systemically strong and applies this strength in concealing its speculative activities and squashing what is left of the productive sector under internationally recognised and world's best prudential regulation and oversight on behalf of the Money Power. AND most Australians are consumers of banking, superannuation and other financial services. The superannuation system alone has created more than a $2 trillion retirement savings pool. AND this superannuation continues to grow rapidly and compels all working Australians to defer income today for their retirement, which most may never see because of siphoning mentioned earlier. AND to fulfil the prophesied end of "the age of entitlement" all banking entities are being protected by Too-Big-To-Fail status, able to be propped up at all cost regardless of detriment to individual citizens (through 100% bail-in of 100% of financial instruments by APRA) and the collective Australian public (through bailout by the Australian Government) so that further the prophesy may be fulfilled that "the poorest people either don't have cars or actually don't drive very far in many cases".
    [Show full text]
  • WELLBEING, RESILIENCE and PROSPERITY for AUSTRALIA FINANCIAL SYSTEM INQUIRY March 2014
    WELLBEING, RESILIENCE AND PROSPERITY FOR AUSTRALIA FINANCIAL SYSTEM INQUIRY March 2014 CBA0416 FSI Doc_Final.indd 1 31/03/14 5:46 PM COMMONWEALTH BANK’S SUBMISSION IS FOCUSED ON IMPROVING THE LONG-TERM WELLBEING OF AUSTRALIANS, CONSISTENT WITH OUR VISION TO SECURE AND ENHANCE THE FINANCIAL WELLBEING OF PEOPLE, BUSINESSES AND COMMUNITIES. COMMBANK CAN. CBA0416 FSI Doc_Final.indd 2 31/03/14 5:46 PM TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6 SECTION IV: SAFEGUARDING SECTION I: AUSTRALIA’S RETIREMENT BUILDING ON SOLID WITH A SUSTAINABLE FINANCIAL SYSTEM SUPERANNUATION FOUNDATIONS 9 SYSTEM 72 CHAPTER 1: HOW THE FINANCIAL CHAPTER 10: IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY SYSTEM HAS SUPPORTED OF THE SUPERANNUATION SYSTEM 72 ECONOMIC STABILITY 9 CHAPTER 11: FUND AUSTRALIA’S CHAPTER 2: A FREE MARKET RETIREMENT 79 PHILOSOPHY FOR AUSTRALIA’S FINANCIAL SYSTEM 24 SECTION V: CHAPTER 3: POSITIONING AUSTRALIA ENHANCING REGULATORY FOR A PROSPEROUS FUTURE 27 EFFICIENCY 87 SECTION II: CHAPTER 12: IMPROVE EFFICIENCY SUPPORTING A STRONG AND ADAPTABILITY OF THE REGULATORY SYSTEM 87 BANKING SYSTEM 33 CHAPTER 4: ENSURE SUSTAINABLE SECTION VI: FUNDING FOR AUSTRALIAN BANKS 34 ADDRESSING OTHER CHAPTER 5: ENABLE COMPARABILITY IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR OF AUSTRALIAN BANK CAPITAL CUSTOMERS 96 RATIOS TO INTERNATIONAL PEERS 42 CHAPTER 6: EMBED A SUPPORTIVE CHAPTER 13: IMPROVE FINANCIAL OPERATING FRAMEWORK FOR LITERACY 96 AUSTRALIAN BANKS 47 CHAPTER 14: FUND INFRASTRUCTURE CHAPTER 7: ENSURE AN APPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENT 102 FRAMEWORK FOR THE SHADOW CHAPTER 15: IMPROVE ACCESS BANKING SECTOR 52 TO
    [Show full text]
  • Adt-NU20050104.16174502Whole
    Banking on the Customer ‘BANKING ON THE CUSTOMER’ Customer Relations, Employment Relations, and Worker Identity in the Australian Retail Banking Industry Leanne Cutcher Work and Organisational Studies School of Business Faculty of Economics and Business The University of Sydney Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2004 Banking on the Customer In memory of My mother, Joan Lyddiard. Banking on the Customer Declaration I declare the work contained in this thesis is the result of original research and has not been submitted for a higher degree at any other university. Banking on the Customer ABSTRACT Previously consigned to the anonymity of ‘the product market’ by researchers in traditional fields such as labour economics and industrial relations, the customer has recently attracted the attention of scholars from a diverse range of disciplines, including organisational behaviour, work psychology, labour process studies, gender studies, and critical management studies. In large part, this emerging interest in the customer is a result of the increasing dominance of service industries in developed economies and the recognition that service work entails a complex, three-way interaction between customers, management and workers. The literature identifies a range of competing and, at times, contradictory images of the customer. Rather than seeking to reconcile these competing representations, this thesis explores the multi- faceted nature of the customer presence and the implications for managers and workers in the retail banking industry in Australia. The thesis highlights how structural change and shifting discourses of the ‘customer’ have influenced customer relations, employment relations, and worker identity in three areas of the retail banking industry: traditional retail banks, the credit union movement, and community banks.
    [Show full text]
  • AUSTRALIA Executive Summary
    Underwritten by CASH AND TREASURY MANAGEMENT COUNTRY REPORT AUSTRALIA Executive Summary Banking Australia’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), is an independent body with sole responsibility for monetary policy, as well as other central bank functions such as banker to the state, lender of last resort and issuer of notes and coin. The RBA is also charged with maintaining the stability of the financial system, but financial sector supervision is undertaken by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) collects information on balance of payments statistics using monthly, quarterly and annual surveys, and administrative data. All resident companies engaging in transactions with non-residents are surveyed annually, apart from approximately 1,000 resident companies engaging in the largest amount of transactions with non-resident companies which submit international investment surveys every quarter. Approximately 1,600 resident companies submit International Trade in Services (SITS) monthly surveys. Unprompted reporting is not required and companies are contacted individually. Resident entities are permitted to hold convertible domestic and foreign currency bank accounts within and outside Australia. Non-resident entities are permitted to hold convertible domestic and foreign currency bank accounts within Australia. The banking system is dominated by National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, ANZ Bank and Westpac, and also includes another 27 domestic commercial banks, seven foreign bank subsidiaries, 45 branches of foreign banks, 15 representative offices of foreign banks, 4 building societies and 46 credit unions. Payments Australia’s national payment system includes the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS), the High-Value Clearing System (HVCS), the Australian Paper Clearing System (APCS), the Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) and the Issuers and Acquirers Community (IAC).
    [Show full text]
  • IPA REVIEW ESTABLISHED in 1947 by CHARLES KEMP, FOUNDING DIRECTOR of the INSTITUTE of PUBLIC AFFAIRS Vol
    IPA REVIEW ESTABLISHED IN 1947 BY CHARLES KEMP, FOUNDING DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS Vol. 45 No. 4,1992 Business Must Defend Itself 6 Australia, Vanuatu and the British Connection 48 Richard Craig Mark Uhlmann The current campaign against foreign-owned The view that Australia has been the pawn of British companies in Australia is misguided. foreign policy in the South Pacific is false. Bounties or Tariffs, Someone Pays 12 Millennium: Getting Tribal Rites Wrong 51 Bert Kelly Ron Brunton The cost of protection — whatever its form — must A lavish production, with a vacuous message. be borne by somebody. Menzies and the Middle Class 53 The New Constitutionalism 13 C.D. Kemp Kenneth Minogue Menzies embodied the best and the worst of his Changing constitutions is a fashionable, but `forgotten people. unreliable way of achieving political objectives. Catholicisms Condition 56 The Constitution and its Confused Critics 15 T.C. de Lacey S.E.K Hulme All is not well in the Catholic Church, but Paul Calls to update The Constitution are ill-informed. Collinss `remedies would only make things worse. Blowing the Police Whistle 20 Eric Home Whistleblowers need legislative protection. Genesis Revisited 26 From the Editor Brian J. OBrien Revolution and restraint in capitalism. In the beginning the earth was formless — then there were forms in triplicate. Moore Economics 4 Des Moore Reforming Public Sector Enterprises 30 How Victoria found itself in such a mess. Bill Scales Why its urgent and how to approach it. IPA Indicators 8 Social class figures hardly at all in Australians Delivery Postponed ^" J 34 definition of themselves.
    [Show full text]
  • Framing the Global Economic Downturn Crisis Rhetoric and the Politics of Recessions
    Framing the global economic downturn Crisis rhetoric and the politics of recessions Framing the global economic downturn Crisis rhetoric and the politics of recessions Edited by Paul ’t Hart and Karen Tindall Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/global_economy_citation. html National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Title: Framing the global economic downturn : crisis rhetoric and the politics of recessions / editor, Paul ‘t Hart, Karen Tindall. ISBN: 9781921666049 (pbk.) 9781921666056 (pdf) Series: Australia New Zealand School of Government monograph Subjects: Financial crises. Globalization--Economic aspects. Bankruptcy--International cooperation. Crisis management--Political aspects. Political leadership. Decision-making in public administration. Other Authors/Contributors: Hart, Paul ‘t Tindall, Karen. Dewey Number: 352.3 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design by John Butcher Cover images sourced from AAP Printed by University Printing Services, ANU Funding for this monograph series has been provided by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government Research Program. This edition © 2009 ANU E Press John Wanna, Series Editor Professor John Wanna is the Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration at the Research School of Social Sciences at The Australian National University and is the director of research for the Australian and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). He is also a joint appointment with the Department of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University and a principal researcher with two research centres: the Governance and Public Policy Research Centre and the nationally-funded Key Centre in Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance at Griffith University.
    [Show full text]
  • Enertrade Submission on the Discussion Draft Review Of
    ENERTRADE SUBMISSION ON THE DISCUSSION DRAFT REVIEW OF NATIONAL COMPETITION POLICY REFORMS Introduction The Commission’s draft recommendation that the Ministerial Council on Energy should review the extent of electricity generator market power, and assess whether special industry-specific rules should be introduced in the industry (beyond the general anti- merger provisions in section 50 of the Trade Practices Act) fails to recognised a core feature of the National Electricity Market (NEM) – market processes determine investment and resource allocation. Proponents for further disaggregation fail to provide evidence of any significant generator market power and neglect to acknowledge recent market developments. Any fair assessment of the national electricity market should note that participants are well informed, and despite the tightening supply/demand balance, wholesale energy prices have generally fallen or remained steady since the advent of the market. Furthermore, there are significant investment opportunities in generation for new entrants. New special anti-merger rules in the electricity industry may discourage new investment by preventing participants from forming the most efficient contractual or organisational structures to reduce price and volume risk in the wholesale market. The Development of the National Electricity Market There is wide agreement that structural and legislative reforms in the electricity industry, initiated by the Council of Australian Governments (CoAG), have increased productivity and performance of the industry, resulting in substantial benefits for consumers, industry and the economy. These reforms included separating the competitive generation and retail segments of the electricity and gas supply industry from the natural monopoly transmission and distribution segments. In the electricity industry, this has resulted in a NEM which is generally regarded as among the more efficient in the world.
    [Show full text]
  • Competition in the Australian Financial System
    Productivity Commission Inquiry into Competition in the Australian Financial System Australian Competition and Consumer Commission submission September 2017 0 Executive Summary The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) welcomes the opportunity to make a submission to the Productivity Commission’s (PC) Inquiry into Competition in the Australian Financial System. We note that the inquiry’s terms of reference centre on the banking sector. We have focussed this submission on promoting competition in the banking sector to enhance the welfare of all Australians. This submission provides our observations on the issues we consider may warrant consideration by the PC in the course of its deliberations. State of competition in retail banking markets A number of market structure and behaviour indicators, taken together, suggest that the current oligopoly structure of retail banking in Australia is not vigorously competitive, and has not been for some time. It is not clear that sustained high profits of the large banks (compared internationally) can be traced to exceptional performance. To the contrary, there appears to be an element that reflects the degree to which the competitors of the large banks are handicapped in their ability to effectively contest the market. We consider that there may be several factors impeding effective challenge by new entrants and smaller rivals, including but not limited to: government regulation and policies in the banking sector barriers arising from large banks’ expansion into other financial services markets, and barriers to customer switching. We recognise that there is an important role for government to safeguard the stability of the banking system. However, competition policy should not be viewed as a threat to this objective.
    [Show full text]
  • Competition in Financial Services
    COMPETITION IN FINANCIAL SERVICES Research Report August 2015 This research was supported by the Centre for International Finance and Regulation which is funded by the Commonwealth and NSW Governments and supported by CIFR’s Consortium partners (see www.cifr.edu.au). This work is copyright. All rights reserved. This publication is distributed for the purposes of comment and discussion only. This publication, and any part of it, may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the relevant copyright holder. Published in 2015 by the Centre for International Finance and Regulation Level 7, 1 O’Connell Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia +61 2 9931 9342 www.cifr.edu.au For copyright information please contact the publisher. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER The contents of this publication reflect the views of the respective authors and do not represent the official views or policies of the Centre for International Finance and Regulation, any of its Consortium partners or any members of the Steering Committee. The information contained in this publication is of a general nature only, is not necessarily complete, comprehensive, accurate or up to date and should not be relied upon without seeking prior professional advice. The Centre for International Finance and Regulation and its Consortium partners, and the authors of the papers, exclude any and all liability arising directly or indirectly from use or reliance on the contents of this publication. www.cifr.edu.au PAGE D RESEARCH REPORT Competition in Financial Services FOREWORD August 2015 The Centre for International Finance and Regulation and UNSW Australia jointly funded this research under CIFR Project T20.
    [Show full text]
  • Australia's Experience with Economic Reform
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Berger-Thomson, Laura; Breusch, John; Lilley, Louise Working Paper Australia's experience with economic reform Treasury Working Paper Provided in Cooperation with: The Treasury, The Australian Government Suggested Citation: Berger-Thomson, Laura; Breusch, John; Lilley, Louise (2018) : Australia's experience with economic reform, Treasury Working Paper, The Australian Government, The Treasury, Canberra This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/210401 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/legalcode www.econstor.eu AUSTRALIA’S EXPERIENCE WITH ECONOMIC REFORM Laura Berger-Thomson, John Breusch and Louise Lilley1 Treasury Working Paper October 2018 This paper has been prepared to inform an officials level workshop at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bali, Indonesia in October 2018.
    [Show full text]
  • Things That Need to Be Done – Securing a Better Future
    Things that need to be done – securing a better future Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce Melbourne, Australia 10 October 2007 Dr David Morgan Chief Executive Officer Westpac Banking Corporation Things that need to be done – securing a better future 10 October 2007 Things that need to be done – securing a better future Today I want to recommend to you that we change the way we do things in the corporate world. It is a message I’ve given before and I make no apology for giving it again – and again until it is fully heard. I do so, not merely because I think we can do things better, but because I think we must. What we are doing now will fail us badly in the future. Everywhere we look the landscape is changing, the ground is shifting: what brought success yesterday, we know, will not bring it tomorrow. To Australia’s prosperity and within it our corporate prosperity, we have to chart a new way. So I want to talk about some shadows looming in the corporate halls. We can ignore them of course. We can look away, or persuade ourselves that they are the shadows of things leaving rather than arriving. But they will still be there in the morning and we’ll have to make another excuse. Responding is optional, but only for now. Forgive me if I talk about just a few of them, but please don’t think there are not more storm clouds we need to vanish to ensure our ongoing prosperity. Nor do I want to pretend that our problems are simple ones and have simple solutions – that we can go back this afternoon and fix them.
    [Show full text]
  • Balancing Competition and Stability in Australian Retail Banking
    www.cifr.edu Nicholls and Healey: Balancing Competition and Stability in Australian Retail Banking Balancing Competition and Stability in Australian Retail Banking Rob Nicholls1 and Deborah Healey2 Abstract The Australian Government initiated two major reviews in 2014: the Financial System Inquiry and the Competition Policy Review. These have highlighted policy trade-off between competition and financial stability. Since the global financial crisis, policymakers and economic researchers internationally have highlighted the need for prudential regulation while sidelining the importance of competition. The working paper argues that competition is still essential to consumer welfare and that the evidence does not support the position that ‘competition prejudices stability’ in financial services. Instead, there is division in the academic literature and the issues are far more complex than are often assumed. This working paper uses the rich and publicly available research to consider the balance between competition and stability in the Australian context. It concludes that the evidence is that competition supports stability and that a failure to prioritise competition increases the systemic importance of large financial firms. Acknowledgements The authors acknowledge the support provided for this research by the Centre for International Finance and Regulation under Grant T020: Competition in Financial Services, and UNSW Australia. The authors also thank an anonymous reviewer of a draft of this working paper. This working paper is published
    [Show full text]