The IRD has recently published an interpretation statement (IS 23/08) to provide guidance on how GST applies to different transactions between a unit title body corporate, its members, and third-party suppliers. A UTBC is a separate legal entity to its members. It can decide whether to register for GST. UTBCs are generally considered only making taxable supplies to their members in the form of members’ levies. The value of supplies… Read more
If you own a rental property, it is important to understand what expenses are deductible to help lower your tax burden. Deductible expenses Generally, for an expense to be deductible, it needs to be incurred in generating the rental income while the property is either rented out or has been made available for rent. These expenses include ongoing and holding costs: Rates Insurance Cleaning Accounting fees Property management fees Travel… Read more
Northern New Zealand has seen an absolute deluge recently which has caused terrible damage to roads, houses and even caused deaths. While people begin the clean up, those who use their property to earn a rental income might be wondering, “are the repairs to my flood damaged property tax deductible?” As is often the case with tax law, the answer is “it depends”. Generally, if you replace an item like… Read more
A change to the rules around how GST applies to services in the platform economy, such as Airbnb and Uber, will likely come into effect on 1 April 2024 as part of the Taxation Annual Rates for 2022-23 Platform Economy and Remedial Matters) Bill (No 2). The proposal The Bill proposes that GST is to be levied on all platform economy supplies. For the individual suppliers who are not registered… Read more
The Bright Line Test is not a new rule , it was introduced by the John Key led National party and took effect from 1 October 2015. The purpose of the test is to ensure that tax is paid on profits where properties are bought and sold within a short amount of time. Some of these transactions would have been taxable anyway under the various rules that already existed to… Read more
Sometimes it is hard to answer a seemingly simple question. It is important to know the answer though as most New Zealand tax residents need to pay tax in NZ on income they have from any country in the world (their “worldwide income”) but non residents only need to pay tax on income that has a New Zealand source (source itself can be hard to determine in some situations but… Read more
UPDATE June 2023: See below for interest limitation rules Are you one of the many thousands of New Zealanders who are generating income through short term rental accommodation platforms like Airbnb, bookabach and holidayhouses.co.nz? Whether you are renting a guest room in your home as a side-hustle, or you rent out your family bach when it’s not in use, or you have a fully-fledged holiday home rental business, you should… Read more
Repairs and maintenance can be a major cash outlay for an owner of a business or a rental property and hence the ability to claim an instant tax deduction can have a significant impact on the year end tax bill. What are the rules? Broadly speaking, expenditure on repairs and maintenance is an allowable tax deduction in the period it’s incurred. Capital expenditure is not deductible, but it is subject… Read more
Aiming to curb soaring house prices, the government has introduced new rules phasing out the ability to deduct loan interest from rental income. For anyone who owns residential rental property, we suggest taking a look at how this change will affect you. Applicable properties The interest limitation rules apply to residential property in New Zealand. Any property with a dwelling on it (such as a house or apartment) is subject… Read more