Trusts are a popular way of protecting property and managing assets in New Zealand. The number of trusts we have in New Zealand is unknown, but estimates put the figure between 300,000 and 500,000. The legislation governing NZ trusts has remained unchanged for decades as it has been predominantly governed by the Trustee Act 1956. […]
As we come to the close of 2016, the last 10 months have seen many businesses across New Zealand face a variety of, sometimes overwhelming, but always unique challenges. Through this, the ability to engage and retain valuable employee’s remains a critical risk for all, not only for the financial impact; but also as it
Attracting & Retaining your Top Talent Read More »
The Labour party has recently released an overview of its new housing policy designed to tackle New Zealand’s housing “crisis”. Labour are of the view that property “speculators” are driving house prices out of reach of first home buyers and have proposed new measures to resolve the issue. There is currently a lack of detail
Labour’s housing policy Read More »
Recently, there has been an increased level of sophistication on the part of Inland Revenue (IRD) when reviewing company windups. Important points to bear in mind when winding up a company are outlined below. Before applying to the Companies Office for removal from the companies register, a company should have discharged its liabilities to all
Winding up a Company Read More »
Review of New Zealand foreign trusts The Mossack Fonseca document leak and the major media backlash that followed has been well publicised. However, it remains unclear what role New Zealand plays in the international tax avoidance scandal and how the Government might legislate to tighten up the current rules. An independent enquiry of our foreign
Snippets…May – July 2016 Read More »
A self-proclaimed tax agent has been found by the Taxation Review Authority (TRA) to have taken an unacceptable tax position and demonstrated a high level of disregard for the consequences of claiming GST refunds over a two and a half year period. The taxpayer claimed a GST refund for five consecutive six month periods from
Slammed for gross carelessness Read More »
According to the Inland Revenue (IRD), commercial building owners should be denied a deduction for expenditure incurred in determining whether their buildings meet new earthquake protection standards. IRD’s draft Questions We’ve Been Asked pub00223, (QWBA) publication asserts that expenditure incurred on detailed seismic assessments (DSA’s) is capital in nature and therefore non-deductible because it relates
No relief for earthquake strengthening expenditure Read More »
As seen through the media recently, errors within holiday pay calculations are more common than we’d like to think and not just limited to Government organisations. Due to the complexity of the calculations required to monitor and record holiday pay, errors or deviations from the Holidays Act 2003 (the Act) requirements can occur. This can
Holiday Pay Mishaps Read More »
Further cuts to ACC levies ACC must collect sufficient funds to cover the costs of all current and past claims. In 1999 the Government realised funding was insufficient to cover on-going costs of pre-1999 claims and therefore, introduced a ‘residual levy’ to build up adequate funds. The residual levy has been incorporated into the work
Snippets…Nov 2015 – Jan 2016 Read More »
In the past, an IRD audit could be commenced for no other reason than the business had not been audited in recent years. Audits would start with the stereotypical interview comprising a series of broad questions that may or may not apply to the business, before the investigator would commence trawling through invoices looking to
Inland Revenue Scrutiny Read More »
