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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More

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 ... Read More