On 8 December 2016, the Minister of Revenue, the Hon Michael Woodhouse, released the discussion document, “Making tax simpler — proposals for modernising the Tax Administration Act”. The document contains detailed proposals developed following the first round of consultation in November 2015.
In November 2015, the Government released the discussion document, “Making Tax Simpler: Towards a new Tax Administration Act” which emphasised the importance of the tax system in supporting the Government’s better public services objectives. It focused on the five core dimensions of the Act — the roles of the Commissioner, taxpayers and tax intermediaries, information collection, and confidentiality. Two common themes emerged from the submissions:
- the need for the Commissioner to have greater flexibility in applying the law, but not at the expense of transparency in her decision-making, and
- the need for greater information sharing within government was recognised but this should not be detrimental to taxpayer confidentiality.
The Government has considered the submissions received and developed further detailed proposals in the discussion document released on 8 December 2016.
The proposals will require changes to the legislation.
If the proposals are passed by Parliament, Inland Revenue will communicate the changes well in advance of them coming into effect and we at Hughson & Associates will certainly advise all our clients of the changes.
