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Taxation Law FAQ - Can I Quarantine My Intellectual Property?

Date: July 14, 2011

Q.  I was referred to an international taxation specialist to advise me to quarantine my intellectual property by placing it in a vehicle so that the income here and overseas could be channelled through it including other companies and trusts located in tax havens as an effective way to escape all CGT and other tax consequences.  How effective is this likely to be?

A.  Any arrangement of this type is likely to be put under a microscope by the ATO should it be subsequently discovered by routine enquiry, investigation or audit.  Where a number of exotic structures are relied upon, either to diminish or to evade your overall taxation liability they almost have to be  perfection for this to be achieved.  In the ordinary course this just does not happen, as very few taxpayers can afford to do this as the costs are substantial and require constant revisiting to ensure that they continue to operate legitimately.  Unfortunately for lesser mortals all that has really been done has been to put a number of structures between you and the Tax Office hoping that they will never be able to unravel what the situation is and when they do you will bear the full consequences of this.

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