The Commissioner of Taxation (Commissioner) has
released his long-awaited draft ruling on Limited Recourse
Borrowing Arrangements (LRBAs), SMSFR 2011/D1.
LRBAs are borrowing arrangements that may be entered into by the
trustees of superannuation funds without breaching the general
prohibition against borrowing set out in section 67 of the
Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993
(SIS Act).
The draft ruling deals with three aspects of LRBAs:
- the nature of an asset or single acquirable asset
- the distinction between maintaining or repairing an asset and
improving an asset
- when an asset becomes a different, or a replacement,
asset.
The draft ruling does not deal with other important issues
relating to LRBAs, including the application of the in-house asset
rules to the 'holding trust' once the borrowing has been
repaid.