in-specie distribution to be a dividend, page-2

Hi Dicky,

Thanks for the post. There are a lot of things to consider in these transactions. Some of them not easy to work through - ok, I'm having trouble with the lot.

I am not a tax person so please don't take me as an authority.

I am just not sure that the case you are making is correct.

If you read CR 2008/52 on the ATO website (about Legend Mining and Apex), it seems to me that calling it a dividend doesn't matter and that the transaction could be regarded as a return of capital.

http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?docid=CLR/CR200852/NAT/ATO/00001

In either case, it looks like the transaction becomes as tax event so at least part of the difference in apparent transaction price between PRH and SLR will go to the tax man whether you sell your acquired SLR shares or not.