As of 1 January 2025, New Zealand began implementing the OECD's GloBE (Global Anti-Base Erosion) Rules, a key part of Pillar Two global minimum tax, a game-changer for internationally active SMEs and holding companies. If your business has cross-border operations, you might now face minimum effective tax rate scrutiny that could significantly impact your tax strategy and compliance obligations.

On 24 February 2025, Inland Revenue released an Officials’ Issues Paper titled Taxation and the not-for-profit sector. The paper sought feedback on several potential areas including the taxation of charity-run businesses, the treatment of donor-controlled charities and long-standing exemptions that may no longer be fit for purpose. It marked the beginning of what could have been significant changes to how charities are taxed in New Zealand.

A Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE) is a type of investment vehicle that is able to pay tax on behalf of its investors, and depending on the ‘prescribed investor rate’ chosen, the tax liability on the income is able to be capped at 28%. This can be a material benefit to investing in a PIE - depending on the circumstances of a specific investor.

On 22 May 2025, as part of the 2025 Budget, the Government introduced a new tax incentive called the ‘Investment Boost’, aimed at encouraging capital investment. It allows an immediate upfront deduction for 20% of the cost of an eligible asset. The new legislation applies from 22 May 2025.

The Government’s 2025 Budget has introduced a significant new tax incentive called the Investment Boost, designed to encourage businesses to invest in new productive assets. This initiative allows for an immediate 20% tax deduction on eligible capital investments, helping to reduce your tax bill while supporting long-term growth.

The Government has labelled Budget 2025 the “Growth Budget”. For Moore Markhams clients, particularly business owners and whānau-led enterprises across Aotearoa, the announcement brings a mix of targeted incentives, modest cost-of-living support and long-term structural shifts. These touch on key areas such as business investment, retirement savings and infrastructure.

With the New Zealand Budget set to be released on 22 May 2025, it is worth looking over the ditch and seeing whether the grass in Australia is greener as a result of their Budget that was released on 25 March 2025.

With a very narrow lens, accountants and tax professionals focus on helping clients understand how their business is performing and to assist them in meeting their tax compliance obligations.

Flu vaccinations are exempt from fringe benefit tax (FBT) if they are provided to employees either through a clinic set up on work premises, or where a voucher is given to the employee to use at their doctor or another clinic.

The schedular tax regime falls under the PAYE rules and typically applies to require tax to be withheld from self-employed individuals if they perform certain types of work, such as modelling or shearing.

The New Zealand Government has recently proposed a significant overhaul of the taxation rules affecting charities and not-for-profits (NFPs), which could have far-reaching implications for businesses and organisations across the country. 

Tax compliance can be complex, between income tax, GST, PAYE there is often a lot to manage and get right. It is therefore inevitable that from time-to-time mistakes will happen. When these moments occur the question then becomes “what do we do?”.

New Zealand's updated Active Investor Plus visa aims to attract foreign investors by introducing more flexible investment options and lowering entry barriers, such as removing English language requirements. While these changes may boost economic activity and diversify investments, their long-term impact depends on investor confidence, sectoral alignment, and global competitiveness.

As businesses expand, a common decision is whether to create new companies to accommodate new ventures, risks, products and/or acquisitions. A well-designed group structure enables a ‘parent’ company to create distinct entities that operate independently.

What was a temporary tax concession relating to donated trading stock has now become a permanent one thanks to the enactment of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Act 2024 on 1 April 2024.

BAU is a phrase that is used to describe “business as usual”. It is a good barometer of whether anything strange or unusual has occurred or whether things have been BAU.

After a relatively quiet few years through the Covid pandemic, Inland Revenue’s (IR) audit activity has slowly started to increase over the past few years.

With the new Government now firmly settled in, legislation has been passed which reverses the interest deductibility limitation rules that were introduced by the previous government in 2021.

A recent law change has been passed by Parliament impacting charity deregistration tax rules.

When a charity is removed from the Charities Register, they may need to pay de-registration tax.

The Government has chosen to delay the phasing out of the interest limitation rule for residential property investors, as outlined in the coalition agreement between National and Act parties.

The Hon Nicola Willis, Minister of Finance, has recently unveiled proposed amendments to tax legislation aimed at rectifying the over-taxation of low-earning trusts.

A standard data policing check completed by Inland Revenue is to review taxpayer GST filing patterns to identify taxpayers that are GST registered, but perhaps shouldn’t be.

The Budget 2023 announced a key change increasing the trustee tax rate from 33% to 39% from the 2024/2025 (generally 1 April 2024). This change is aimed at improving the integrity of the tax system by aligning the trustee tax rate in line with the top personal bracket of 39% which was introduced from 1 April 2021.
 

On 31 March 2023, Inland Revenue released a draft interpretation statement (PUB00417) addressing the deductibility of land holding costs - namely, interest, rates and insurance - and the relevance of whether the land is taxed on disposal. How will this affect you?