All of the latest New Zealand Tax news:
Man convicted after representing himself on tax charges.
Treasury has recommended cutting the top tax bracket.
Nelson Man jailed for tax Fraud
Pauanui Developer in fight with IRD
Bookmark to:
Ben Nevis & Ors v Inland Revenue
“A majority of the Supreme Court, Tipping, McGrath and Gault JJ, has decided that, although the claimed deductions complied with the ordinary specific provisions in income tax legislation under which they were claimed, the Trinity scheme involved tax avoidance arrangements which were void under the legislation”
“The Court has also upheld penalties imposed on the appellants under the Tax Administration Act 1994 for taking an abusive tax position in claiming the deductions”
This is an appeal from the trinity cases that hit the headlines here over the last few years.
Tourism operator wins seven-year fight with IRD A tourism operator has won a case against Inland Revenue to have $6.28 million in goods and service tax paid back after a seven-year fight over a cheque that bounced.
“At the time Inland Revenue said it would investigate the case but during the investigation an automatic computer-generated statement and cheque was sent out to the company accidentally paying out the amount owed. The IRD then put a stop on the cheque, causing it to bounce”
The IRD then retrospectively changed the law and claimed that the taxpayer wasn’t entitled to the refund. However the court has said that the taxpayer was entitled to the refund.
Glenharrow Holdings Ltd v Inland Revenue
Previously The Court of Appeal had dismissed Glenharrow’s appeal and reduced Glenharrows refund.
The Supreme Court has confirmed that ruling, agreeing that the Commissioner was entitled to invoke s 76 of the GST Act 1985 and to treat the arrangement as a tax avoidance. The Court has found that the arrangement entered into to defeat the intent and application of the Act: the price was not paid in economic terms, even though as between the parties a debt was discharged. The structure adopted by the parties achieved no economic effect and nothing significant in commercial terms.
Bookmark to:
I’m going to trial giving some brief tax stories. Let me know your feedback on whether you like it.
Some members of the community are calling for the carbon tax to be re-introduced.
The ATO is in heated negotiations regarding whether their IT supplier can offshore the production of their system. This may result in a loss of privacy of Australians tax data.
The IRD has brought up an expensive system to manage the new Kiwisaver retirement package, before the legislation has even been passed by parliament.
More calls for tax cuts in NZ.
The IRD have closed a pub in Gisbone called Sootys.
Lastly, Te Puke 29-year-old man, Balwinder Singh has been jailed for tax evasion. From reading the article it seems as though there is still some tax evasion mastermind at large. The judge commented that there was no way that Mr. Singh had the requisite knowledge of the NZ tax system to come up with the scheme.
And for those of you asking where GPG’s website setup for their shareholders on the new investment tax is. It is www.gpg.co.nz
Bookmark to:
Fletcher Building may move to Australia
The Herald has this interesting story on Fletcher Building New Zealands third largest company mooting moving to Australia. The Herald article suggests that if this was the case:
“its departure could deprive the Treasury of tax revenue worth $167 million for the whole company last year, and local shareholders may see tax credits they enjoy handed to Australian shareholders.”
That’s a lot of tax revenue for the government to lose from one company. Would also be interesting to see how accurate that figure is.
Bookmark to:
Confusion over compliance costs
National and Labour are at odds over whether the latest round of compliance reform will increase or decrease the compliance costs of businesses.
US: Tax return preparers make mistakes
Yahoo has an article from Reuters about US Tax preparers makins significant mistakes in tax returns. The US Government Accountability Office presented return preparers with a simple tax scenario and the results were that:
“Most of the returns ended up wrong — sometimes inflating the refund for the taxpayer by as much as $2,000 and sometimes costing the taxpayer up to $1,500 in overpayment.
More than half did not report cash business income, the study said. Several ignored rules for child eligibility for a low-income tax credit. They ignored tax benefits for education, and did not claim eligible deductions.”
The article also says that more than 50% of US taxpayers used a “paid preparer”.
It would be interesting to see the results of a similar study conducted in NZ.
US: Is your tax return informaiton for sale?
Article on privacy new privacy laws the IRS is considering to stop the sale of tax return information.
Bookmark to:
A determination issued today will allow financial institutions that adopt International Financial Reporting Standards to continue to use the same methods of calculating income and expenditure for most financial arrangements as under the previous rules. Fees, however, will follow the IFRS treatment. The determination will apply to debt securities, finance leases and hire purchase agreements of financial institutions that are in the business of lending money or providing finance under hire purchases or finance leases. The determination is intended to be a temporary measure to provide greater certainty while a legislative solution is being developed.
Determination G30 (PDF 125KB)
Business tax changes from 1 April 2006
Important changes to the fringe benefit tax rules will apply from 1 April, as will the new exemption on overseas income for new migrants and returning New Zealanders. For information on these and other changes ushered in by the passage of the Taxation (Depreciation, Payment Dates Alignment, FBT, and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill.
Media statement from the Minister of Finance.
Economy needs carbon tax, says ex-minister
The NZ Herald carries a story on Simon Upton promoting his belief that a carbon tax is required to move “towards energy prices that tell the environmental truth�.
Bookmark to:
Stuff.co.nz reports A disabled London lady has sent her collection of garden gnomes into hiding to avoid them being seized by local officials.
The officials had threatened to take the gnomes from widow Gwynneth Lester in Fareham after she refused to pay up.
Lester, 57, refuses to pay the tax which finances local services because, she says, she gets nothing for it.
Her rebellion has landed her in court with a demand to pay up some 670 pounds – in cash or in kind – or face prison.
“Well, they won’t be taking the garden gnomes now because I have given them away,� she told Reuters on Monday.
“In fact they won’t be getting anything that I have collected over the years because I have given it all away to keep it from them.�
Bookmark to:
You are currently browsing the archives for the Tax News Brief category.
RSS Feed: http://www.taxblog.co.nz/?feed=rss2