10. Section 13R of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor:
“Exemption of income of company incorporated and resident in Singapore arising from funds managed by fund manager in Singapore
13R.
—(1) There shall be exempt from tax such income as the Minister may by regulations prescribe of a company incorporated and resident in Singapore and approved by the Minister or such person as he may appoint (referred to in this section as an approved company) arising from funds managed —
(a)
in Singapore by such fund manager as may be prescribed; or
(b)
by such person as may be approved by the Minister or by a person appointed by him, subject to such conditions as the Minister may impose.
(2) No approval shall be granted under subsection (1) after 16th February 2011.
(3) Where —
(a)
income of any approved company has been exempt from tax under subsection (1) in any year of assessment; and
(b)
a person (referred to in this section as the relevant owner), either alone or together with his associates, beneficially owns on the relevant day issued securities of the approved company the value of which is more than the prescribed percentage of the total value of all issued securities of the approved company on the relevant day,
then the relevant owner shall be liable to pay to the Comptroller, in such manner and within such reasonable time as may be determined by the Comptroller, a penalty to be computed in accordance with the following formula:
A x B x C |
where A | is the percentage which the value of the issued securities of the approved company beneficially owned on the relevant day by the relevant owner bears to the total value of all issued securities of the approved company on the relevant day; |
B | is the amount of income of the approved company as reflected in the audited account of the approved company for the basis period relating to that year of assessment; and |
C | is the tax rate specified in section 43(1) (a) applicable to that year of assessment. |
(4) Subsection (3) shall not apply to a relevant owner if —
(a)
the Comptroller permits the relevant owner to take steps to reduce the ownership of the issued securities by him or his associates within such period as the Comptroller may specify, being a period of no more than one month from the relevant day; and
(b)
by the end of the specified period, the value of the issued securities beneficially owned by the relevant owner together with his associates is no more than the prescribed percentage of the total value of all issued securities of the approved company on the relevant day.
(5) In a case where subsection (3) applies but the relevant owner is a non-bona fide entity, then he shall not be liable to pay the penalty referred to in that subsection; but a person who —
(a)
beneficially owns on the relevant day equity interests of the relevant owner where the percentage which the value of those equity interests bears to the total value of all equity interests of the relevant owner on the relevant day is at least 25%; and
(b)
is not himself a non-bona fide entity,
shall be liable to pay to the Comptroller, in such manner and within such reasonable time as may be determined by the Comptroller, a penalty to be computed in accordance with the following formula:
A x B |
where A | is the percentage referred to in paragraph (a); and |
B | is the amount of penalty which the relevant owner would (but for this subsection) have been liable to pay under subsection (3). |
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), if —
(a)
a person beneficially owns (including by virtue of one or more applications of this subsection) equity interests of a person (referred to in this subsection as a first level entity); and
(b)
the first level entity beneficially owns equity interests of another person (referred to in this subsection as a second level entity),
then the first-mentioned person is taken to beneficially own equity interests of the second level entity; and the percentage which the value of those equity interests bears to the total value of all equity interests of the second level entity shall be computed in accordance with the following formula:
A x B |
where A | is the percentage which the value of equity interests of the first level entity beneficially owned by the first-mentioned person bears to the total value of all equity interests of the first level entity; and |
B | is the percentage which the value of equity interests of the second level entity beneficially owned by the first level entity bears to the total value of all equity interests of the second level entity. |
(7) Regulations made under this section may ––
(a)
provide for the determination of the amount of income of any approved company to be exempt from tax;
(b)
provide for the circumstances under which a person would be considered to be an associate for the purposes of this section;
(c)
exempt any person or class of persons from subsection (3) or (5); and
(d)
make provision generally for giving full effect to or for carrying out the purposes of this section.
(8) In this section ––
“equity interest” means —
(a)
in relation to a company, any issued security of that company; or
(b)
in relation to a person other than a company, such right or interest as may be prescribed;
“non-bona fide entity” means a person not resident in Singapore (excluding a permanent establishment in Singapore) who —
(a)
is set up solely for the purpose of avoiding or reducing payment of tax or penalty under this Act; or
(b)
does not carry out any substantial business activity for a genuine commercial reason;
“relevant day” means the last day of the basis period of the approved company relating to the year of assessment referred to in subsection (3);
“securities”, in relation to a company, means —
(a)
debentures of, or shares or stocks in, the company;
(b)
any right, option or derivative in respect of such debentures, shares or stocks; or
(c)
such other securities of the company as may be prescribed;
“value”, in relation to issued securities of a company, means the value of those securities at the time of their issue by the company.
(9) The Minister may by regulations make such transitional and savings provisions as he may consider necessary or expedient in relation to the repeal of section 13R in force immediately before 1st September 2007.”.