How is GST handled in fee comparisons?

Disclosed fees are normalised to a single GST-inclusive basis, net of any reduced input tax credit, so two funds can be compared on the same footing.

Australian funds disclose fees inconsistently: some quote them gross of GST, some net, and some net of the reduced input tax credit that managed investment schemes can claim. Comparing the raw disclosed numbers can make a difference of several basis points look like a real cost difference when it is only a disclosure difference.

Where a fund's basis is not stated clearly enough to normalise, the profile says so rather than guessing.