New Zealand: Tax Bill reported back

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

New Zealand: Tax Bill reported back

neill.jpg

Greg Neill

The Finance and Expenditure Committee recently reported back to New Zealand's Parliament on the Taxation (Annual Rates, Employee Allowances and Remedial Matters) Bill. Among other matters, the Bill proposes amendments to strengthen New Zealand's thin capitalisation rules and to facilitate the implementation of foreign account information-sharing agreements entered into between New Zealand and other jurisdictions.

Thin capitalisation rules

New Zealand's thin capitalisation rules protect the tax base by effectively limiting deductions for interest where the debt levels of a New Zealand corporate group exceed prescribed thresholds. The Bill includes two primary amendments that are intended to address certain perceived deficiencies in the rules.

First, the scope of the rules has been expanded to apply to a scenario where a number of non-residents may be acting together in relation to their New Zealand investment. At present, in the case of a New Zealand company, the rules apply to that company if a non-resident has an interest in the company of 50% or more or otherwise has control of the company.

The changes proposed in the Bill mean that the rules will now also apply to such a company where a group of non-residents acting together holds such a controlling interest in aggregate where, if each non-resident was considered individually, the relevant ownership threshold would not be met. For these purposes the Bill introduces the concept of a non-resident owning body which would include, for example, non-residents holding debt interests in a New Zealand company in proportion to their equity interests (a funding structure commonly used in relation to private equity investment).

The definition of non-resident owning body has been the subject of significant amendment following the recommendations of officials. The changes are intended to increase certainty as to when a non-resident owning body will be formed.

Secondly, the Bill proposes a change to the test that requires taxpayers to compare the level of debt for a New Zealand group with that of the worldwide group of which the New Zealand group forms part. This test is designed to ensure that New Zealand debt levels are proportionate to the amount of genuine external debt of the worldwide group.

For the purposes of this test, taxpayers will now be required to exclude shareholder-linked debt from the calculation of worldwide debt to give a more accurate reflection of genuine external debt. Shareholder-linked debt will include debt guaranteed by shareholders in certain cases.

Foreign account information-sharing agreements

The provisions in the Bill relating to foreign account information-sharing agreements have been included to facilitate the implementation of FATCA under New Zealand law. New Zealand is currently negotiating an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the US and it is anticipated that the IGA will be signed in the coming weeks.

The Bill contains amendments that are required to bring the IGA into domestic law and to allow New Zealand financial institutions to comply with its terms. For example, in the absence of specific law change, many financial institutions were concerned that the provision of information under the terms of an IGA may breach privacy laws.

The proposed amendments are drafted in a broad manner to accommodate the possibility of New Zealand entering into similar agreements with other jurisdictions in the future.

Greg Neill (greg.neill@russellmcveagh.com)

Russell McVeagh

Tel: +64 9 367 8879

Fax: +64 9 336 5010

Mobile: +64 21 0260 5417

Website: www.russellmcveagh.com

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The partnership model was looking antiquated even before the UK chancellor’s expected tax raid on LLPs was revealed. An additional tax burden may finally kill it off
The US’s GILTI regime will not be forced upon American multinationals in foreign jurisdictions, Bloomberg has reported; in other news, Ropes & Gray hired two tax partners from Linklaters
APAs should provide a pragmatic means to agree to an arm's-length outcome for an Australian entity and for the ATO, the tax authority said
Overall revenues and average profit per partner also increased in the UK, the ‘big four’ firm revealed
Increasingly complex reporting requirements contributed towards the firm’s growth in tax, it said
Sector-specific business taxes, private equity tax treatment reform and changes to the taxation of non-residents are all on the cards for the UK, authors from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer predict
The UK’s Labour government has an unpopular prime minister, an unpopular chancellor and not a lot of good options as it prepares to deliver its autumn Budget
Awards
The firms picked up five major awards between them at a gala ceremony held at New York’s prestigious Metropolitan Club
The streaming company’s operating income was $400m below expectations following the dispute; in other news, the OECD has released updates for 25 TP country profiles
Software company Oracle has won the right to have its A$250m dispute with the ATO stayed, paving the way for a mutual agreement procedure
Gift this article