The Federal Government is boosting its compliance activity following the recent reforms to the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth) (the FATA).
Specifically, the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) (which administers FIRB's functions in relation to residential land in particular) are actively seeking to identify acquisitions of Australian residential property by foreign persons who have failed to obtain prior FIRB approval as required under the FATA. While this has always been high on FIRB's and the ATO's priority list, a greater focus has recently been placed on acquisitions of land by discretionary trusts. This has been a well known, but often overlooked, issue in the past. It is now an issue that is well and truly on the Federal Government's radar.
