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Taxation of Real Estate Investment Trusts
A high level summary of the REIT regimes in Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have been a longstanding feature of the landscape in the USA, and similar vehicles have also been popular for many years in other countries such as Australia and the Netherlands.
In recent years, new regimes have been set up in many other parts of the world to meet the growing demand for tax efficient, liquid and transparent vehicles for investing in real estate. Typically a REIT regime will offer exempt tax status to investment companies or other vehicles which meet certain criteria as to ownership and investment portfolio, on the basis that the vehicle then distributes all or most of its profits to shareholders. In many but not all cases, the vehicle must also be listed.
This summary sets out the key regulatory, tax and legal rules for the establishment and operation of REITs or their local equivalent in all the major jurisdictions of the world which have introduced such a regime.
The information is intended to be a guide only, and should not be relied on for investment decisions as the rules are liable to regular amendment and local interpretation. It is intended to be an overview of the position in each country, enabling a quick understanding to be gained of the type of regime in operation and how it compares to other regimes in the region or more widely. The information contained in this report was current at 31 December 2006.
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