Since 1 July 2023, the FATA has required foreign persons who:
- acquire certain types of interests in Australian land, exploration tenements and water interests (in each case irrespective of whether FIRB approval is required for such acquisitions); or
- acquire interests in Australian entities and businesses where FIRB approval is required for such acquisitions,
to notify the Registrar (being the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)) of the Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets (the Register) of such acquisitions, within 30 calendar days of each such acquisition.
Subsequent changes – including disposals of relevant assets, changes in the nature of the relevant land in which a foreign person has an interest and changes of five percentage points or more of a foreign person's interest in a relevant entity or business – also need to be notified to the Registrar, in each case within 30 calendar days of the relevant change.
In addition, a person who becomes a foreign person is required to notify the Registrar of certain types of existing interests in Australian land, exploration tenements and water interests, as though the person acquired those interests on the day it became a foreign person. Also, a person who becomes a foreign person is required to notify the Registrar of existing interests in an entity or business where that person would have needed FIRB approval to acquire that interest if they had acquired the interest on the day they became a foreign person.
Acquisitions which are wholly exempt from the FATA are not subject to the Register notification requirements.
Persons needing to report under the Register regime must do so via an online portal on the ATO website. A significant volume of information is required.
Where a person fails to provide the requisite notification within the relevant 30 day period, the person could be subject to a civil penalty in the form of a fine.
There are exemptions from the notification requirements in respect of the enforcement of a security held solely for the purposes of a moneylending agreement.