Jennifer Harris

Laura O’Neill will continue to focus on corporate real estate, infrastructure and the emerging markets of Africa and India at competitor Greenberg Traurig.

Laura O’Neill will continue to focus on corporate real estate, infrastructure and the emerging markets of Africa and India at competitor Greenberg Traurig.

Two US economists have released a thought piece making the case for repealing FIRPTA, citing potential benefits to the commercial real estate market, productivity gains for commercial real estate-related businesses and increased funding for the US current-account deficit.

Draft legislation, which would require all private equity, private equity real estate and hedge fund managers with more than $150m in assets to register with the SEC, must now face a test in the Senate.

If carried interest is taxed as ordinary income in the US, American GPs will face much higher tax rates than some of their European peers.

A bill sent today to the US Senate would impose a 30% withholding tax on US income for foreign fund managers who fail to agree to new transparency requirements.

US House Ways and Means Committee chairman Charles Rangel has introduced the Tax Extenders Act of 2009, which would tax carried interest as ordinary income rather than capital gains. Similar tax plans have come up short in the Senate.

If carried interest is taxed as ordinary income in the US, as is proposed by a new bill in Congress, GPs will have to make Medicare contributions of 2.9 percent out of their carry.

CDC and Norfund are among a group of LPs that want to ensure ‘the next generation of emerging market private equity funds are raised on terms that reflect the principles’.

At an alternatives conference in New York today, four major LPs said the real estate asset class was a top priority.