Today, intangibles lurk below the surface of the basic financial statements of a business but often hold the real value. The tax treatment for owners, buyers and sellers can vary widely. You may think you’re selling “goodwill”, which will be completely free of tax because of the CGT concessions. What if the valuable asset is in fact copyright, which is not in the CGT regime? So it pays to explore and identify the true legal nature of intangibles and their commercial value, particularly in related party transactions or internal restructures.This paper covers:
- distinguishing intellectual property from other intangibles
- which intangibles hold the real value?
- intangibles covered by the CGT regime
- intangibles covered by the Div 40 UCA regime
- commercialising or selling: what should the contracts say?