Tax Commentary

Owens Tax Advisors regularly present and provide public comment on topical tax matters.

Our principal, Jeff Owens is also an accomplished and popular public speaker on tax matters. If you would like to arrange for Jeff to comment on or prepare and present a lively discussion on topical tax matters, please contact us.

Death, taxes and COVID 19

 

In 1789 Benjamin Franklin wrote “….in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes”.  Since early 2020 the Covid 19 pandemic has turned our world upside down – creating uncertainty at a level most of us have never seen and providing a sobering reminder of just how accurate Franklin was all those years ago.

Since New Zealand’s first (and to date only) national lockdown was mandated in March 2020 we have had many enquiries from prospective clients wanting to return to or immigrate to New Zealand, physically in New Zealand and unable or unwilling to return to their home country, and on rare occasions wanting to leave New Zealand.

Such arrivals and departures often have implications for tax residence, and Covid 19 modifications to residence rules applying sometimes introduces additional complexities.

In the following article we discuss some of the interesting situations on which we have advised.

Read on “Death, taxes and COVID 19”

Ready fire aim – IRD bombarding our clients with duplicated and incorrect information

 “do we really believe the Commissioner isn’t doing this on purpose”

I am sure we are all pleased about the automation of many tax matters. A number of boring aspects of a tax agent’s job have disappeared. Many tasks of yesteryear added little value for clients.

However since the advent of IRD’s new $1.7 billion computer system “START”, IRD has been promulgating a myth that tax is automatic and that instead of engaging an agent or tax expert, taxpayers are better to deal directly with IRD.

Where income is all from paye or NZ interest and dividends, tax can be automated. Those taxpayers don’t have and don’t need a tax agent or other expert.  However other taxpayers’ affairs are more complex and they do need expert assistance. Suggesting everything is automatic is disingenuous and naïve.

Read on “Ready fire aim – IRD bombarding our clients with duplicated and incorrect information”

Critical errors on IRD MyIR website

IRD continues to encourage clients of tax agents to contact IRD direct and in particular to view their MYIR website.  The content is often misleading or incorrect.

We have alerted IRD to three critical fixes required:

  1. In respect of Covid-19 and impact on tax obligations, IRD must tell taxpayers to contact their agent in the first instance, and only if that is not available (Eg they don’t have an agent) to contact IRD
  2. Remove the obviously incorrect statement that 2020 returns are due and must be filed NOW. [2 April update:  IRD appear to have removed this]
  3. Fix the longstanding issue of stating that tax is payable when it actually relates to a future obligation

Read on “Critical errors on IRD MyIR website”

Business operation during COVID-19 lock down

Owens Tax Advisors Limited operates from a small office away from the CBD, we practice strict health procedures to avoid COVID-19 and largely work online.

While all staff are working from home offices, there are very few changes to processes and no business interruption.

Bottom line: we are open for business!

I’m sure we won’t be your first port of call for COVID-19 information, however here are some useful links

Take care out there!

Client Information Reports – For members of accounting and legal professional bodies

Are you taking on a new client?
Has IRD announced a risk review or audit/investigation on your client?
Do you have a client with unknown related entity and/or land transactions?

At an early stage of providing tax advice, our standard practice is to run a detailed search of New Zealand based entity structures, land and other public information and collate it into clear and logical reports on structure and land transactions.

We frequently identify information of which our legal and accounting colleagues were unaware.

From time to time we find missing information such as land transactions, incorrect shareholding etc that is critical to clients’ tax position.

We have found land held in a different entity to what professional records show, clients who hold assets using variants on their name (swapping first and last names, splitting or joining up multi syllable names, changing letters – g for q, ij for y etc.).  Our search processes identify these and you can be sure so do IRD’s.

We are pleased to offer these Reports to fellow professionals as a standalone service. All reports will generally identify related party structures or land transactions such as individual to company or trust etc.  For examples and pricing see https://owenstax.com/what-we-do/partner-support/

Ceasing NZ residence for tax purposes

If a NZ tax resident wants to cease NZ tax residence, they must satisfy two tests:

  • They must be physically outside of NZ for more than 325 days in a 12-month period, whereupon they may cease NZ tax residence from the first of those days. Note that the days of absence do not need to be consecutive, but even an hour in NZ on any day is counted as a day in NZ
  • They must cease to have a ‘permanent place of abode’ in NZ. This does not mean bricks and mortar as such although availability of residential property (whether or not owned) is an important factor.

People who should know better sometimes try to distill these down to simple concepts but there can be subtle issues in interpretation.

Read on “Ceasing NZ residence for tax purposes”

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