Year: 2017

New Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Rules

Posted by Luming Wang on

From 1 July 2017, new rules for Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding (“FRCGW”) will apply to vendors selling of an Australian property (including both real property and other properties). This article will only discuss how the regime applies to the real property transactions.

There are two changes main changes from the 2016-17 policy:

  1. the threshold is reduced from $2,000,000.00 to $750,000; and
  2. the FRCGW withholding tax rate will be increased from 10% to 12.5%.

The change is a part of the Federal budget plan to impose “stronger rules for foreign investors owning Australian housing”. Continue reading “New Foreign Resident Capital Gains Withholding Rules” →

New Unfair Contract Term Regime – More Protection for Small Businesses

Posted by Luming Wang on

In this post we will talk about the new Unfair Contract Regime (Regime), which came into effect in November 2016 in accordance with the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Act 2015. The purpose of the Regime was to protect small businesses from being exploited by their mega counterparty, which previously is only afforded to individual consumers.

Unfair Contract Void

Under the new regime, a consumer contract or small business contract (including contract for financial services) is void if:

  • The term is unfair; and
  • The contract is a standard form contract.

What is a small business contract?

A contract is a small business contract if:

  • The contract is for a supply of goods or services, or a sale or grant of an interest in land; and
  • At the time the contract is entered into, at least one party to the contract is a business that employs fewer than 20 persons; and
  • Either of the following applies:
  • The upfront price payable under the contract does not exceed $300,000;
  • The contract has a duration of more than 12 months and the upfront price payable under the contract does not exceed $1,000,000.00.

Continue reading “New Unfair Contract Term Regime – More Protection for Small Businesses” →