The Government of Australia has delayed the start date (1 October) for the reforms to the offshore banking unit (OBU) regime.

In the 2013 budget, the Australian government reported the proposition to change some OBU provisions to address existing integrity issues and guarantee that the tax is applied to “genuine mobile banking business” (97 ITM, 5/16/13). The Australian Treasury subsequently discharged on 28 June a discussion paper for public comment concerning tax reforms to the OBU regime. The discussion paper included suggestions to secure the respectability of the corporate tax system.

The delay implementation of the reforms was therefore necessary in order to give business the certainty that it needs to comply with the tax laws.