Category: New Zealand

Key says Government looking at unilateral consumption tax on online purchases from offshore sites; also looking at making online retailers register for GST

John Key has thrown his weight behind moves to catch more online purchases and even digital downloads in the GST net, and Labour says it would support changes to close the online revenue loophole. New Zealand is part of an OECD working group looking at the issue of consumption taxes… – Continue reading

Netflix won’t charge Australians GST

Sparks are flying after Netflix said it would not charge GST on the Australian version of its online television service which launches next Tuesday. United States-based Netflix, Quickflix, Foxtel Play, Presto and Stan, partly owned by Fairfax Media, are locked in a bidding battle to secure the best programs for… – Continue reading

It’s time to choose what kind of tax system we want

The Conversation Five years ago the Henry Review undertook a detailed examination of Australia’s tax and transfer system. Today, the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at ANU’s Crawford School has revisited the Henry Review, as the Australian government prepares to release its tax white paper. Tax reform should not be… – Continue reading

The Ignored Long Term Effects of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes

When an economist presents his opinion to the public on any subject he should be asked to swear, similar to what witnesses do in a court trial, that he will follow Henry Hazlitt’s Lesson (Economics in One Lesson – Henry Hazlitt – 1946 – Harper & Brothers): “The art of… – Continue reading

Offshore money in search of a good home

Investors seeking global diversification for their property portfolios are increasingly seeing New Zealand as an attractive investment option. Although our commercial and industrial property market is too small to attract the interest of giant global real estate investment trusts (REITs), our manageable size is regarded as an advantage by other… – Continue reading

Over 100,000 Kiwis caught up in HSBC tax scam

WELLINGTON: More than  100,000 Rich Kiwis have been caught with extra tax bills as the result of a huge file leak revealing the global super wealthy hid millions of dollars from tax authorities with the help of HSBC’s Swiss private bank. Inland Revenue investigated New Zealand links to the leaked… – Continue reading

FactCheck: is Australia’s corporate tax rate not competitive with the rest of the region?

“Well, Jon, the Government’s about to bring in a 1.5% corporate, or company, tax cut from the 1st of July. That’s something that obviously we support, because (the) corporate tax rate at 30% is not competitive with the rest of the region and we need to drive that down.” –… – Continue reading

We pay our fair share of tax and create jobs, say Google and Apple

Technology giants Apple and Google have said in their submissions to the federal inquiry into corporate tax avoidance that they support international changes to global tax rules to stop profit shifting, but have warned of the risk of Australia acting alone, saying it would cost heavily in local jobs and… – Continue reading

IRS Focus: Offshore Tax Evasion Tops Dirty Dozen List

The IRS issued two New Releases this week that restate its focus on offshore tax evasion.  The first was January 29, 2015 which followed the First International Criminal Tax Symposium. “The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) and Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) co-hosted a three-day International Criminal… – Continue reading

Facebook readers vent over ‘horrifically selfish’ tax avoidance

Ordinary New Zealanders are carrying the tax burden while the wealthy use every possible means to avoid paying tax, ONE News Facebook readers claim, in response to damning new IRD details released yesterday Yesterday ONE News revealed how some of New Zealand’s wealthiest people worth more than $50 million are… – Continue reading

Solomon Lew’s GST threat over Australia Post offshore plan

RETAIL billionaire Solomon Lew is threatening to ship Australian online orders from New Zealand to sidestep the GST in light of the Federal Government’s failure to axe the tax-free threshold for overseas purchases. The Premier Investments chairman has also slammed Australia Post for setting up a US mail forwarding service… – Continue reading

New Zealand – Inland Revenue’s timeline for BEPS consultations

December 1:  The Inland Revenue last week released its annual compliance guide for taxpayers and reports on progress with respect to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) work and time frames, for New Zealand consultation on possible domestic law changes to address BEPS concerns. The 2014/15 compliance guide… – Continue reading

Progress reports released on tax avoidance

Progress reports released on tax avoidance Revenue Minister Todd McClay today released two reports from officials relating to tax avoidance by large multinational companies. The reports provide an update on policy work being undertaken in line with the OECD Action Plan and also outline the expected timeline for related policy… – Continue reading

Base erosion and profit shifting – a South African perspective

The concept of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) has been debated at various international forums following discussions at the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting and the G20 Heads of State summit in Russia last year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) BEPS Action Plan… – Continue reading

New Zealand To Get Tough With International Tax Evaders: To Work With OECD To Enforce Transparency And Compliance

New Zealand is planning to crackdown on tax evaders and combat the menace of avoidance by international firms. As part of the exercise, New Zealand will work with an international action plan being spearheaded by the OECD.  This was stated by Finance Minister Mr. Bill English. He told media persons… – Continue reading

Tax evaders given years till compliance

The Government continues to move slowly on global tax evasion and no action is likely for four to five years, according to a statement by Revenue Minister Todd McClay. Companies like Facebook and Google have been under fire around the world for shifting revenue and profits to different jurisdictions to… – Continue reading

NZ to join global crackdown on tax evasion

Revenue Minister Todd McClay today announced New Zealand’s timetable for participation in a global automatic exchange of information aimed at cracking down on tax evasion. G20 leaders announced the initiative in September 2013 – and in May 2014, New Zealand, along with all OECD countries, joined in the general declaration… – Continue reading

New Zealand to wait 5 years before joining anti-tax evasion initiative

WELLINGTON, Oct. 29 — New Zealand is to join a global scheme to fight tax evasion by multi-national companies in 2019, Revenue Minister Todd McClay said Wednesday, prompting criticism that he was offering a five-year “tax holiday” for foreign firms. G20 leaders announced the initiative for an automatic exchange of… – Continue reading

Michael Potts: G20 NZ’s chance to make a real difference

Brisbane summit an opportunity for change and Australia welcomes its neighbour’s help, says Michael Potts. In a few weeks, Australia will welcome leaders of the world’s major economies to Brisbane for the G20 Summit. Australia invited New Zealand to take part in the G20 during our 2014 presidency. Over this… – Continue reading

Bernard Hickey: War on the high-tech dodgers

We pay our taxes. Why won’t they? It’s the topic every tax official and finance minister in the developed world is talking about and acting on, yet we hear little about it in New Zealand. Cracking down on tax avoidance by the world’s biggest technology companies – among them Google,… – Continue reading

Taxman targets multinational profit stripping

Inland Revenue has gone shopping for a database to help it fight erosion of the tax base and “profit stripping” by multinational corporations. The database will help the taxman to independently assess the level of profitability companies should be returning for tax purposes by benchmarking the prices multinationals charge their… – Continue reading

NZ banks baulking at global FATCA style initiative to combat tax evasion; Lobby group says the later we adopt it the better

All is likely to be revealed on whether New Zealand will be an early adopter of the multilateral follow up to the controversial United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in November, with late adoption something that would please the local banking sector. Either way it’s a question of… – Continue reading

Forget Zimbabwe, U.S. Tax System Ranks At Bottom, Just Better Than Portugal

Remember the study last year that ranked our tax code right below Zimbabwe? Now, a new study by the Tax Foundation still ranks us near last. Zimbabwe wasn’t a part of this contest, since the new study looked only at the 34 countries making up the OECD. Still, we have… – Continue reading

101 Countries Sign Up For FATCA Network

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has been in force for a month and still more countries are joining the tax network. So far, 101 countries and financial jurisdictions have either signed or agreed to join FATCA. FATCA is aimed at identifying US taxpayers with offshore bank accounts and investments. Overseas… – Continue reading

Fake reception prompts probe

A political candidate has sparked the Reserve Bank and the Financial Markets Authority to visit a foreign-owned company offering “secret” offshore accounts. Grace Haden, an independent standing for election in Epsom, raised concerns with the regulators about Breder Suasso, which is referred to on overseas websites as a New Zealand… – Continue reading

Russell-linked tax avoidance case in High Court

Companies with links to John George Russell are accused of entering into “tax avoidance” arrangements and are in a $3.5 million fight with the IRD. Russell – who developed a template that the Court of Appeal called a “blatant tax-avoidance scheme” – is a 79-year-old accountant being chased by the… – Continue reading

Aussie tax residence different

OPINION: In February and April I wrote about a decision of the Taxation Review Authority (TRA) that found a taxpayer was still a New Zealand tax resident despite living predominantly outside New Zealand for more than 10 years. In those articles I highlighted why I thought the authority’s decision was… – Continue reading

Calls to review taxation agreement

AN area for immediate consideration and co-operation is a review of the New Zealand-Fiji double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA). Speaking at the Fiji-New Zealand Business Council conference on Saturday, Ministry of Industry and Trade permanent secretary Shaheen Ali said it was woefully out-of-date and needed revision. He said this was… – Continue reading

New Zealand Joins OECD In Plan To Stop Multinational Profit Shifting

WELLINGTON, June 23 (Bernama) — New Zealand tax officials are helping the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of developed nations to deliver the first part of a plan to stop base erosion and profit shifting, Revenue Minister Todd McClay said Monday.The first seven “deliverables” of a 15-point… – Continue reading

New Zealand Concludes FATCA IGA

New Zealand has signed a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act intergovernmental agreement with the United States, which will minimize compliance costs for financial institutions in New Zealand. The agreement includes a waiver for certain account types that are deemed to be low risk. The IGA will facilitate information exchange under… – Continue reading

NZ signs FATCA agreement with the US

New Zealand financial institutions’ FATCA obligations are clarified with today’s signing of a NZ/US intergovernmental agreement (IGA).  The long-awaited agreement comes not a moment too soon, with the 1 July implementation date just over two weeks away. FATCA’s global reach FATCA (short for Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) is a… – Continue reading

Google Aust open to global tax laws

Google Australia and New Zealand managing director Maile Carnegie has urged governments across the world to address the inconsistencies of the global tax system rather than shaming individual companies for their profit-shifting activities, The Australian Financial Review reports. “I am actually incredibly empathetic to why people want to talk about this. I… – Continue reading

Intergovernmental FATCA agreement signed

Revenue Minister Todd McClay and United States Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Marie Damour, today signed an intergovernmental-agreement (IGA) which will minimise compliance costs to financial institutions in New Zealand while assist in the prevention of tax evasion. The IGA is in response to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) information-reporting… – Continue reading

NZ’s independence not for sale, says Internet Party

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, Five Eyes intelligence sharing and the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act have put New Zealand’s sovereignty and independence at risk and must be immediately reviewed, says the Internet Party. In its draft Independence policy released today, the Internet Party said New Zealand’s sovereignty was being… – Continue reading