Australia Releases Draft Foreign Dividend Exemption Rules for Public Comment

On May 8th, the Australian Treasury released draft legislation for public comment relating to changes to Australia's exemption rules for foreign non-portfolio dividends. The legislation provides for the following changes:

• The wording of the exemption application is changed from when an Australian company holds a 10% "voting interest" of a foreign company to a 10% "participating interest", and from dividends made in respect of a "voting interest" to made in respect of an "equity interest" - t…