Overseas-based Kiwis with student loans have collectively repaid more than $200 million in additional repayments towards their outstanding balances through the overseas-based borrowers initiative, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce and Revenue Minister Todd McClay announced today.

The number of KiwiSaver enrolments continues to rise in the over-18 year old target population, with an additional 11,656 members in the month of June, Finance Minister Bill English and Revenue Minister Todd McClay say.

“Removing the taxpayer-funded kick-start incentive in Budget 2015 was not expected to affect the number of working-age people joining a KiwiSaver scheme,” Mr English says.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has welcomed a new double tax agreement between New Zealand and Canada, which is now in force. 

Mr McClay says the new agreement, which lowers withholding taxes on dividends, interest and royalties between the two countries will be welcome news for businesses and investors in both countries.

Tax provisions to ensure community housing providers can continue to offer housing support to New Zealanders will give the sector the certainty it needs to keep growing, Ministers Paula Bennett and Todd McClay say.

“Some community housing providers risk losing their charitable status by supporting people into home ownership,” Social Housing Minister Paula Bennett says.

“We are of the view these providers give invaluable service and as such we want to ensure they are not worse off financially,” Mrs Bennett says.

A tax bill to be introduced today will help prepare the ground for simplification of the tax administration system, says Revenue Minister Todd McClay. 

Mr McClay says changes proposed in the Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Bill will remove some of the legislative obstacles to making the tax administration system simpler and more certain for New Zealand.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay says taxpayers affected by the flooding event in the lower North Island earlier this month will have help from Inland Revenue.

The Government has mobilised a range of responses and today an Order in Council was made which will allow the Commissioner of Inland Revenue flexibility to remit use-of-money interest payable on late tax payments.

The Commissioner of Inland Revenue has authority to remit the late filing and late payment penalties, and to deal with taxpayers who cannot pay on time because of financial hardship.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay today welcomed the release of detailed design proposals for the new “bright-line” test, which will require income tax to be paid on gains from the sale of residential property bought and sold within two years.

“The Government clearly signalled in Budget 2015 that it would consult with the public on the final shape of the bright-line test before it becomes law later this year,” says Mr McClay. 

A bill which will help Inland Revenue enforce the tax rules around property has passed its first reading in Parliament today.

Minister of Revenue Todd McClay and Minister for Land Information Louise Upston say the Taxation (Land Information and Offshore Persons Information) Bill contains two property tax proposals announced as part of Budget 2015.

“This package of measures will ensure that people buying and selling residential property for profit pay their fair share of tax,” says Mr McClay.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay and Land Information Minister Louise Upston have welcomed the introduction of a new bill which will help Inland Revenue enforce the tax rules around property.

The Taxation (Land Information and Offshore Persons Information) Bill containing proposed amendments to the Land Transfer Act and the Tax Administration Act was introduced into Parliament yesterday by Ms Upston. The bill contains two of the property tax proposals announced as part of Budget 2015:

Revenue Minister Todd McClay says 15,000 hours of phone time are now being saved each year, with 1.4 million IRD customers signed up to voice ID.

“This cements New Zealand’s position as the country with the highest level of voice biometric enrolments per capita in the world, and is a big win in the battle to reduce red tape and compliance for New Zealanders,” says Mr McClay.

Voice ID went live in January 2012, and 60-70 per cent of people who call IRD on any given day are now enrolled with it.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay today welcomed the announcement of Fast Enterprises as Inland Revenue’s preferred software partner to support a modernised, simplified tax system for New Zealand.

Mr McClay said that a modernised tax administration system, enabled by the new software, would significantly boost the Government’s ability to support flourishing businesses in New Zealand and make tax compliance less costly and time consuming for all New Zealanders.

Minister of Revenue and Associate Trade Minister, Todd McClay has concluded a European lobbying mission by signing a tax agreement in Paris to focus on tax avoidance by multinationals.

Tax Agreement

The OECD's Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement brings New Zealand closer to participating in the global standard for an automatic exchange of information between tax authorities.

Budget 2015 continues the Government’s investment in ensuring fairness in the tax system by pursuing those attempting to avoid paying tax, Revenue Minister Todd McClay says.

Budget details announced yesterday include a further Budget allocation of $74 million over five years for Inland Revenue’s investigations activity. 

“As announced earlier this week, $29 million of that extra funding will be used to increase property speculation,” says Mr McClay.

Budget 2015 includes changes to tackle child support debt and to encourage parents to pay what they owe for children for whom they are responsible, Revenue Minister Todd McClay says.

Over the next four years, the Government will forgive around $1.7 billion of penalties owed by parents to encourage more support to reach children.

“Child Support debt is currently $3.2 billion and rising, and only around $700 million is actual child support,” Mr McClay says.

The Government is taking extra steps to bolster the tax rules on property transactions – including those by overseas buyers - and to help Inland Revenue enforce them, Finance Minister Bill English and Revenue Minister Todd McClay say.

The tax measures are also expected to take some of the heat out of Auckland’s housing market and sit alongside the Reserve Bank’s latest moves to address associated financial stability issues, Mr English says.

Minister of Revenue, Todd McClay today welcomed the release of an officials’ issues paper that seeks feedback on suggestions for helping to ensure that non-resident investors pay an appropriate amount of tax. 

The focus of the issues paper is the current non-resident withholding tax rules on interest earned in New Zealand by non-residents.

“The issues paper raises questions around potential weaknesses in the tax treatment of interest earned by non-residents,” Mr McClay says. “The issues paper tests what changes are appropriate.”

Social Development Minister Anne Tolley and Revenue Minister Todd McClay say that taxpayers will soon be saving millions of dollars each year as a result of more efficient use of data from information sharing.

Improved automation of Ministry of Social Development systems from late 2015, away from a manual service, will allow it to identify overpayments of benefits much more quickly, so that they can be corrected sooner.

It is estimated that this more effective way of working will lead to Crown savings of around $100 million a year by 2018.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay says Inland Revenue’s new mobile app is simplifying GST filing for small businesses and, already, 7,270 people have downloaded it.

Inland Revenue’s myIR mobile app was developed in collaboration with the winners of Inland Revenue’s crowd-sourcing challenge called APP4IR, a competition to find a way to make it easier for small businesses to interact with Inland Revenue.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has welcomed the release this week of an Inland Revenue officials’ issues paper that seeks feedback on options to simplify the way tax is collected from employees participating in employee share schemes. 

“The options presented in the paper represent a small but important step in Inland Revenue’s longer term Business transformation programme to modernise the way the tax system is administered and make it easier for New Zealanders to get their tax right,” Mr McClay says.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay today released the first two in a series of public consultations designed to modernise and simplify the tax system.

“Taxes are an important part of a well-functioning modern economy, but it’s important that the costs imposed by taxation are kept to a minimum. The way we run the tax system must keep pace with the needs of taxpayers,” says Mr McClay.

“We need to make tax simpler. That’s why today I am launching public consultation to consider ideas for a tax administration for the future.”

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has thanked the New Zealand ICT sector for their collaboration with Inland Revenue on the modernisation and simplification of New Zealand’s tax system.

“Tomorrow we will launch two discussion documents that will outline the overall direction of the modernisation and ask for feedback. I would like to acknowledge the hard work already put in by the ICT sector,” says Mr McClay.

Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith and Revenue Minister Todd McClay today welcomed Parliament’s passage of the Taxation (KiwiSaver HomeStart and Remedial Matters) Bill, which will allow eligible KiwiSaver members to access more of their KiwiSaver funds to purchase their first home.

“These changes to KiwiSaver and the new HomeStart grant will open the door for 90,000 young New Zealanders over the next five years to own their own home,” Dr Smith says.

Revenue, SOE and Associate Trade and Foreign Affairs Minister, Todd McClay will travel to Singapore and Australia from16-21 March to help foster ties and grow New Zealand’s technology sector.

In Singapore, Mr McClay will open the New Zealand Technology Showcase, a programme designed to introduce New Zealand’s high-growth technology companies to international investors.