The Australian Government has passed legislation to enact significant reforms for the Australian Shipping Industry. The reforms are intended to stimulate the industry and create an internationally competitive industry. The Bills are essentially unchanged from those circulated to industry for comment earlier this year and have been the subject of previous "Shipping Matters!"
The Bills passed both Houses of Parliament on 18 June 2012. The Bills have effect from 1 July 2012.
The Bills allow an income tax exemption for shipping activities, accelerated depreciation and rollover relief for ships and a seafarers tax offset. A new licensing regime has been introduced for "coastal trade" with some relaxed crewing requirements for ships on the "International Register".
Set out below is the list of Moore Stephens Shipping Matters which explains the law and its implications in details:
General Explanation of the Changes: See our "Shipping Matters!" of 1 June 2012.
Explanation of the changes to the original draft proposals. See our "Shipping Matters!"of 23 March 2012. In substance the Bills are the same as those introduced in March and almost identical to the Draft Bills that were provided to industry in February.
The Bills ignore most of the Industry comments and the matters we raised in our submission. See our "Shipping Matters!" of 5 March 2012.
Explanation of the draft legislation provided to Industry. See our "Shipping Matters!" of 22 February 2012.
Companies wishing to take advantage of these concessions should contact Moore Stephens as there are strict compliance requirements.
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