Taxation of Real Estate Investment Trusts
An overview of the REIT regimes in Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada

Introduction
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.

The most recent addition is the Philippines, who introduced a REIT regime broadly similar to those of other Asian countries, towards the end of 2009. The rules of the new REIT regime for the Philippines will be included in the next update of this document; please contact Emmanuel Bonoan of KPMG in the Philippines if you would like to discuss any aspect of the new rules (for contact details please see the final page).

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 aims to set 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 March 2010.

We hope you will find the information here of value.

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PDF format, 28Pages.

KPMG International
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT - FINANCIAL SERVICES

CONTENTS
Introduction 1
REITs - Europe 2
Tax at shareholders level - Europe 8
REITs - Asia Pacific 12
Tax at shareholders level - Asia Pacific 17
REITs - USA & Canada 21
Tax at shareholders level - USA & Canada 23

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