7 Jun, 2019 | The Week in Tax
Top news stories this week
- New Zealand’s Government proposes a digital services tax
- 450,000 taxpayers receive a surprise – they had not applied the correct prescribed investor rate to their PIE accounts
- Inland Revenue is feeling the strain
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31 May, 2019 | The Week in Tax
Terry was part of the Budget lockup in Wellington yesterday and he gives us his insights and observations into the 2019 “Wellbeing” budget in The Week in Tax podcast.
The differences in approach to planning
- The budget looks beyond GDP to the 4 “capitals” of wellbeing in the Living Standards Framework
- The “whole of Government” approach to solving these challenges
24 May, 2019 | The Week in Tax
Terry’s guest on the podcast today is Deborah Russell, MP with whom he co-authored Tax and Fairness book. They dig into how the government and parliament legislate tax policy.
- Deborah is on the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee – what do they discuss?
- The Loss Ringfencing Bill going through parliament also focuses on getting GST from online sales
- Most tax legislation goes through unopposed – who knew?
- The working day of a parliamentarian – a 40 hour week done in 3 days
- The Inland Revenue IT upgrade – tax agents felt less-involved than they could
- Next week’s budget – MPs get prior announcements an hour beforehand
- The living standards framework – based on Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum’s work
- And a prize draw….
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17 May, 2019 | The Week in Tax
This week Terry discusses environmental taxes and policy with Marjan van den Belt, environmental economist and member of the Tax Working Group.
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10 May, 2019 | The Week in Tax
- How not to end up in court defending a $4m tax evasion charge
– Investigators from Inland Revenue should not be under-estimated as they are highly skilled, motivated and are looking for pattens e.g. gross profit ratios for similar businesses.
- Welfare Expert Advisory Group Report released
– Up to $5.2 Billion pa needed to overhaul New Zealand’s social welfare system to incentivise people back into work among other changes
– Tax implications for clients claiming Working for Families Tax Credits. Major changes proposed around amounts paid and abatement rates.
- Problems with overseas mortgages and investments
– These are part of the FIF regime – a topic so complex there’s no Inland Revenue guide to it! Due to changes in currency exchange rates income has arisen so the £ mortgage value hasn’t changed but the equivalent in NZ$ has created a change in relative valuation. There’s hope on the horizon.
- Inland Revenue business transformation release 3 has gone live – the team apparently consumed a significant volume of pizza and chocolate!
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3 May, 2019 | The Week in Tax
The Week in Tax – back to normal after the Government’s decision on TWG report?
International tax pressure is building to create a Digital Services Tax because OECD’s BEPS initiative is growing consensus.
Why you shouldn’t be spending any refund from Inland Revenue that turns up unexpectedly. Unexplained credit balances sometimes are paid to prevent interest payments to Inland Revenue and these are getting refunded!
Expect the report from Welfare Expert Advisory Group soon. They consider the interaction between tax and social assistance.
Next week’s guest is Marjan van den Belt
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