Chalmers’ plan for backdated CGT on green assets ‘sets a very bad precedent’
Foreign investors could be forced to pay capital gains tax on sales of an expanded scope of assets including solar, wind and battery developments stretching back to 2006.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ plan to force foreign investors to pay capital gains taxes on sales of an expanded scope of assets including solar, wind and battery developments stretching back to 2006 risks setting a dangerous precedent, critics warn.
The federal government has been consulting on legislation to clarify which assets tied to land holdings sold off by foreign investors should be subject to capital gains tax, since the 2024 budget.
But plans to backdate the amendments to the implementation of the foreign resident CGT regime in December 2006 were only revealed in draft legislation released for a two-week consultation period on Friday.
“These proposals would represent one of the most significant retrospective tax measures Australia has seen in decades,” Corrs Chambers Westgarth tax partner Luke Imbriano told Capital Brief, “and arguably the most far-reaching retrospective expansion of the income tax base affecting ordinary inbound commercial investment.”
