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Associate Minister of Tourism Todd McClay today announced the opening of an $8 million, four year funding round to enhance and maintain the Great Rides of Nga Haerenga, the New Zealand Cycle Trail.

“This Government is investing in improving our tourism infrastructure to make sure high-value visitors have a great experience and New Zealand remains a top tourist destination,” Mr McClay says.

Associate Minister of Tourism Todd McClay has welcomed the announcement that the world's biggest mountain bike event, Crankworx, is coming to Rotorua and said this will be celebrated by the New Zealand tourism sector.

Born in Whistler, British Columbia, Crankworx is a multi-disciplinary mountain bike festival celebrating endurance, supreme flow, monster air and vertical-dropping riding.

More than 750 international riders and competitors will participate in this event in Rotorua over five days in March 2015.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has welcomed the announcement today of the remaining members of the Taxpayer’s Simplification Panel.

The Taxpayer’s Simplification Panel membership is:

Associate Minister of Tourism Todd McClay emphasised the importance of the Government’s Tourism Growth Partnership as he helped launch Skyline’s Rotorua Mountain Bike Gravity Park today.

The Government’s Tourism Growth Partnership co-invested $225,000 alongside the $225,000 invested by Skyline Gravity Park to upgrade the park to international race standards.

“The Park offers an outstanding experience to the New Zealand mountain biking scene and will also grab interest from international mountain biking events and visitors,” Mr McClay says.

Record numbers of people are filing their tax returns online as Kiwis take advantage of new services provided by Inland Revenue, says Revenue Minister Todd McClay.

From April to July, 20,000 more New Zealander’s used Inland Revenue’s online service to file their tax returns than the same period last year, taking the total to more than 150,000 and growing.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has said that the IR4U Save Time Campaign recently run in the Hawke’s Bay has been a success and that similar ‘listening’ campaigns will be rolled out to other parts of the country as IRD focuses on simplifying the tax system.

The IR4U pilot, targeted small business owners and asked customers what Inland Revenue could do to save them time,” Mr McClay says.

Between 8 May and 19 June nearly 1400 people contributed to the campaign.

Thank you for inviting me here today. I’m especially pleased that you’ve asked me to talk about the challenges for the NZ tax system and creating certainty.

These are very topical issues and two things I am deeply interested in.

Taxation is a necessary part of society as long as government is required to provide services such as health, education, police, social welfare and rebuilding Christchurch.

Yet today, it seems to me that our tax system and in fact tax systems around the world, are at a cross roads.

New Zealand will host a meeting of Australian Tourism Ministers early next year to explore areas where the two countries can drive greater innovation and productivity in the tourism sector, Associate Minister of Tourism Todd McClay has said.

Mr McClay, who recently attended the Tourism Ministers Meeting in Australia, said that the meeting had not previously been held in New Zealand and he therefore decided to extend an invitation to his Australian counterparts to hold it here next year.

Racing Minister Nathan Guy and Revenue Minister Todd McClay have confirmed that Inland Revenue officials will work with the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association on a number of tax issues raised by the industry.

The issues cover questions the NZTBA has over the application of tax rules for the industry and are expected to be dealt with as part of the normal consultative process between the private sector and tax officials.

Associate Tourism Minister Todd McClay has congratulated Tourism New Zealand on winning the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (PATA) marketing Grand Award for the 100% Middle-Earth, 100% Pure New Zealand campaign.

“The hard-work and innovation of Tourism New Zealand’s marketing teams has been rewarded through winning this award, it is a great achievement that everyone at Tourism New Zealand should be very proud of,” Mr McClay says.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has said that flood affected farmers in Northland will be offered assistance through Inland Revenue’s income equalisation discretion following the declaration of a medium scale adverse event by Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy this morning.

Streamlined visa arrangements will assist Australia and New Zealand to capitalise on the tourism opportunities that will flow from co-hosting the 11th ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015, ministers have said.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has signalled changes to tax pooling rules will mean that taxpayers can use tax pooling arrangements to pay any interest owed as a result of a tax dispute or an amended tax assessment.

Tax pooling assists businesses by making it easier for them to plan for changes in tax obligations. The current rules allow taxpayers to withdraw funds from a tax pool to cover the tax owed but not any interest that might be due. This can result in further interest accruing on the remaining amount which was not the original intention of the legislation.

An international solution to base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) moved a step closer at OECD discussions involving IRD officials last week, says Revenue Minister Todd McClay.

The Committee of Fiscal Affairs approved the final recommendations for the first set of actions that are due to be presented to Finance Ministers at a meeting of the G20 in September.

The BEPS Action Plan has seven deliverables due in 2014 and is on track to meet these targets. The deliverables relate to the following action points:

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has announced Board Dynamics founder, Henri Eliot, as the Chair of the new Taxpayer’s Simplification Panel.

The Panel will give New Zealanders a voice in simplifying, modernising and transforming the way we all pay tax.

Mr Eliot brings with him a wealth of knowledge as an experienced small-to-medium business owner and independent director of numerous SME boards in New Zealand.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has announced that the deemed rate of return for taxing foreign investment fund (FIF) interests has been set at 7.99% for the 2013–14 income year, up from 6.91% for the previous income year.

The deemed rate is set annually and is one of the methods that can be used to calculate income from FIF interests.

The rate is based on an average of the five-year Government bond interest rate at the end of each quarter, plus a 4% margin.

The rate was set by Order in Council earlier this week.

Senior New Zealand tax officials are this week working with the OECD in Paris to prepare for delivery of the first parts of the OECD’s action plan to counter base erosion and profit shifting, says Revenue Minister Todd McClay.

A 15 point action plan was developed by the OECD late last year as a response to base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) measures used by some multinational companies to avoid taxation.

“Now that we are nearing completion of the first parts of the plan our officials are at the OECD supporting their delivery,” Mr McClay says.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay welcomed the passage of the Taxation (Annual Rates, Employee Allowances, and Remedial Matters) Bill through Parliament today, saying it would “help support business growth and innovation”.

“As part of the Government’s work to ensure that tax law remains fit for purpose, the new legislation introduces a range of practical measures to clarify the tax rules for businesses, remove distortions in the existing rules and make sure everyone pays their fair share of tax,” Mr McClay says.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay and United States Chargé d’Affaires a.i., Marie Damour, today signed an intergovernmental-agreement (IGA) which will minimise compliance costs to financial institutions in New Zealand while assist in the prevention of tax evasion.

The IGA is in response to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) information-reporting regime enacted by the United States which will take effect from 1 July 2014. It requires non-US financial institutions to provide certain information about their US customers to the United States. 

Thank you for inviting me to be with you today.

Firstly, I’d like to welcome Professor Chris Evans, Professor of Taxation at the Australian School of Business, James Alm, Chair of the Department of Economics at Tulane University and Michael Keen, Deputy Director at the Fiscal Affairs Department, at the IMF.

The strength of the New Zealand tax system is its highly cooperative nature so it’s great to have such world leading speakers here with us. I'm sure tax policy and IRD's Business Transformation programme can only benefit from your expertise.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has announced that the Rewrite Advisory Panel is likely to have completed its work and will therefore be disestablished by the end of 2014.

Mr McClay says the Panel has achieved what it set out to do and would complete its work after considering final submissions.

“Over the years the Rewrite Advisory Panel has done a fantastic job to ensure our tax legislation remains consistent with the intention of drafting tax law that is clear enough for taxpayers to understand it,” Mr McClay says.

Minister of Revenue Todd McClay has announced his intention to clarify through legislation that bodies corporate will not be required to register for GST and file returns, thereby aligning them with the rules for other residential property owners.

The proposed law change is in response to legal analysis that suggested bodies corporate may have to register for GST.

“This clarification is a question of pragmatism, fairness and eliminating compliance costs,” Mr McClay says.

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.

Firstly I just want to acknowledge TIA Chairman Grant Lilly, Terry Ngan and Stephen Hamilton from Horwath HTL, and Garth Simmons from Accor.

I was pleased to accept the role as Associate Minister of Tourism when the Prime Minister gave it to me earlier this year. As MP for Rotorua, I have long been aware of the major role that tourism plays in the New Zealand economy. It is this Government’s ambition that tourism can make an even stronger contribution to New Zealand’s economic performance.

Revenue Minister Todd McClay has congratulated Inland Revenue on being named Department of the Year in TransTasman’s Annual Departmental Briefing Report.

“This is great recognition for the dedication and hard work of Inland Revenue’s staff,” Mr McClay says.

“It is particularly pleasing for the Department to be recognised for its high degree of professionalism and efficiency; two qualities that New Zealanders expect from their public sector.”