insto - Australian financial markets

This is the first item in what we hope will be a regular section, where we will be asking major advisory firms for short answers to readers’ questions on legal and regulatory topics.

Q: Corporate bonds that satisfy the public offer test are exempt from interest withholding tax. What about bonds issued by a public investment trust? Are interest payments for “corporate bond” style securities issued by a property trust (ie, an Aussie REIT) that are bought by an offshore investor, also exempt from IWT?

It took a G20 Summit and a global financial crisis to give the OECD the iron fist it needed to finally force unrepentant tax havens into line, says Bernard Kellerman.