Business Real Property The Ruling

The ATO has finalised the Business Real Property ruling.  Apart from the 370 paragraphs and 107 footnotes which comprise the Ruling, the Ruling is a good read.

Some but not all key points of the ruling are:

• company title units – do not qualify as business real property – the ATO will disregard the legal form – which is a share in a company the ownership of which entitles the shareholder to occupy specified office suites within the building; and
• use of the real property is critical – the real property must be used wholly and exclusively by one or more business but a “trifling non-business use of the property” will not preclude the satisfaction of the “whole and exclusive” requirement.