Hopefully the “post-Covid” reference in the title is not tempting fate, but at the time of writing New Zealand appears to be in an enviable position in terms of control of the public health side of the Covid pandemic. However, battling through the economic fallout is going to be just as challenging.
All readers will be aware of the government taking multiple actions across multiple different platforms to assist the public and employers as they work through the financial fallout. So I thought it would be useful to summarise some of the key tax measures that have been instituted in the past three months.
While the above concessions are all welcomed, in our view the IRD could have gone further. We would like to have seen them defer the implementation of the ring-fencing rules until the current income year has finished. Consideration should also have been given to an exemption from the application of the bright-line rule where one is forced to sell a property due to financial difficulties caused by Covid. That said, given the government’s antipathy to property investors we can’t say we are surprised that such measures were not taken. An additional measure that would be welcomed by tourism affected people, would be tax concessions to spread redundancy payments across multi-tax years. There have been murmurings of this in the wind, but nothing yet.
If you need help with anything mentioned in this article, please contact GRA on +64 9 522 7955, info@gra.co.nz or by filling out our online form.
Thank you so much for your help! I would like to make special mention of how impressed I am with the level of service GRA provided, start to finish. You are all highly professional and helpful and you communicate instructions in a clear and concise manner which made it simple and stress free. I also greatly appreciate that you were able to assist us within the limited time frame.
- Jennie, December 2021
Gilligan Rowe and Associates is a chartered accounting firm specialising in property, asset planning, legal structures, taxation and compliance.
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