The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has indicated that, following the Full Federal Court's decision in McDermott Industries (Aust) P/L v FC of T[2005] FCAFC 67, affected taxpayers may request for refunds of royalty withholding tax.
By way of background, in the McDermott case, a Singaporean resident leased barges to an Australian resident for use in Australian waters. The Full Federal Court decided, in favour of the taxpayer, that the Singaporean resid…