After the introduction of the Trust Disclosure rules in March 2022, in November 2023 Inland Revenue released a high-level summary (in the form of a 40-page report) of insights from the first year of reporting. While tax advisors and clients alike may have begrudgingly completed the disclosures initially, the statistics may prove to be [...]

The Working for Families Tax Credit (WFFTC) is a notoriously complex scheme when it comes to determining eligibility and quantifying entitlement. This leads you to wonder how well the scheme is policed by Inland Revenue, and whether fraud is able to ‘fly under the radar’. Accordingly, it was heartening to see a case brought [...]

The concept of what is a “dividend” is very broad and starts with the default proposition that any transfer of value from a company to a shareholder is a dividend. That concept includes the simple scenario of an interest free loan to a shareholder or a person associated to a shareholder; which can also [...]

Sitting back at your desk after a month of busy family time or relaxing beach days, business owners and executive teams should start to think about not only the year ahead, but the long-term viability of their businesses. With rapid changes and multiple existential threats impacting different businesses in different ways, it might be [...]

For 99.9% of the time, New Zealand companies are incorporated to operate a business and derive income. On establishment, the focus tends to be on items such as: whether a company is the appropriate vehicle, e.g. does limited liability protection warrant it; who should own the shares, e.g. in personal names or in a [...]

As increasing interest rates have bitten and with industry sectors such as retail and construction not performing as strongly, some businesses are struggling. As the end of the financial year approaches, now is a good time to assess whether any of your accounts receivable need to be written off as ‘bad’. This is because, [...]

Important update: Trustee tax rate increase. We regret to inform you that the new Government has reinstated the bill which will increase the trust tax rate from 33% to 39% on 1/4/2024. After much delay and speculation, this new tax threshold is now a certainty. Clearly the Government finances are in terrible shape, and we presume they had no [...]

When the top personal tax rate for individuals increased to 39% from 1 April 2021, it was not surprising to see an increase in the number and quantum of dividends declared by companies (owned by individuals) in the lead up to the change. With the anticipated increase in the Trust tax rate from 33% [...]

Given the necessity of providing fast relief, the wage subsidy scheme provided during COVID in NZ was largely based on trust. Today, MSD operates a Wage Subsidy Integrity and Fraud Programme aimed at ensuring the integrity of the payments and who received them. So far, 38 people have been brought before the courts in [...]

Given the outcome of the general election, we expect to see legislation that will make the following tax changes. The ability to claim interest deductions on debt relating to some residential rental properties acquired before 27 March 2021 will be progressively phased out. National’s tax policy promises to retain a 50% allowable deduction in [...]