Monthly Archives July 2010

Isle of Man – NZ Tax Agreement Now in Force

July 31, 2010 International Taxation, New Zealand Taxation

New Zealand and the Isle of Man are set to usher in a new level of tax transparency, cooperation and compliance, after two separate tax agreements between the countries came into force.

The High Commission in London has confirmed that the Governments of New Zealand and the Isle of Man have appropriately completed their legal ratification processes regarding the Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) and Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) signed by the countries. With the stipulated one year waiting period over, as outlined in the agreements, the DTA and TIEA came into force on July 27th.

Under the new TIEA, the Governments of both countries will be able to request taxation and bank information on taxpayers in cases of suspected tax evasion or investigations...

Read More

Reserve Bank Raises OCR Again

July 29, 2010 New Zealand Finance

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has deemed the country’s economic growth strong enough to instate another increase to the national Official Cash Rate.

New Zealand has continued down a path of a relatively healthy economic recovery in recent months, despite a small slowdown in selected growth figures. On July 29th Allan Bollard, Governor of the Reserve Bank, revealed that the current conditions are adequate to warrant a slight withdrawal of stimulus policy and a 25 basis point increase the Official Cash Rate (OCR). The rate will now be 3.0 percent.

New Zealand’s near and medium-term forecasts for GDP growth remain strong, riding the confidence of the manufacturing industry and the forestry sector’s resilient growth...

Read More

Feedback Sought on Tax System

July 26, 2010 New Zealand Taxation

In an effort to create a “world-class” tax system, the Government is seeking public feedback on concerns taxpayers currently have with older legislations.

The New Zealand Rewrite Advisory Panel (RAP) requires public comment legislations surrounding the taxation of beneficiary income of trusts and the issue of Available Subscribed Capital on corporate reorganizations. The request was raised by Peter Dunne, Revenue Minister of New Zealand, late last week.

The two issues are the initial cases that will be investigated by the RAP its new role as a consulting independent body to the Government on remedial tax issues. The RAP was originally created to investigate unintended changes arising during the rewrite of the Income Tax Act 1994...

Read More

Thousands of Businesses Cannot Pay Their Taxes

July 23, 2010 New Zealand Taxation

Nearly 30 000 New Zealand companies have had to make arrangements with the Inland Revenue Department, claiming that the recession has affected their ability to meet their tax obligations.

Throughout the previous financial year, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and 29 520 New Zealand businesses have made installment-payment agreements for NZD 546 million worth of unpaid taxes. A similar negative effect on tax payments is expected to continue throughout the current fiscal year, according to the IRD’s latest annual Compliance Focus report, released on July 23rd.

Bob Russell, Commissioner for Inland Revenue, stated that the IRD anticipated the current number of businesses requiring tax payment arrangements, due to the economic downturn...

Read More