What is an interest in a FIF?

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This information may not apply to the current year. Check the content carefully to ensure it is applicable to your circumstances.

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Foreign companies

An interest in a foreign company that is a FIF includes:

• a share other than an eligible finance share in the company
   
  A share includes any interest in the capital of the company in the nature of a share or stock. Examples include ordinary, preference, bonus and redeemable preference shares, as well as shares with deferred rights.
  
• a legal document that confers an entitlement to acquire such a share including an entitlement arising from an option or convertible note. [subsection 483(1)]

Even if your name does not appear on a share certificate or share register of the foreign company as the legal owner of those shares, you are still held to have an interest in the FIF if you have a beneficial interest in that FIF (without the legal title to it). [section 488]

Eligible finance share

A share in a company is an eligible finance share if:

• the shareholder is an Australian financial institution (AFI) or AFI subsidiary
• the share was issued to the shareholder by the company in the ordinary course of business carried on by the shareholder
• the shareholder is not an associate of the company, and
• payments of dividends on the share may reasonably be regarded as equivalent to the payment of interest on a loan. [section 327]

Foreign trusts

An interest in a FIF that is a foreign trust is:

• an interest in the capital or income of the trust - including a unit in a unit trust, or
• a legal document that confers an entitlement to acquire such an interest including an entitlement arising from an option or convertible note. [subsection 483(2)]