Firms re-arranging their business structure to fit within a specific tax provision, to reduce their tax
liabilities, has always been an issue for the IRD. For example, when the Labour Government raised the top personal tax rate to 39% on income over $60,000 from 1 April 2000, it created an incentive for people trading through companies or trusts to set their salaries at $60,000.
Read the full Article »
News/Articles
IRD – One step forward, two steps back
GST refunds
The IRD screens GST returns filed by taxpayers to determine if a review or investigation of that return is warranted. This is likely to occur where a taxpayer claims a GST refund that is higher than normal based on that taxpayer’s GST return filing history or where a first GST return is filed claiming a GST refund.
Read the full Article »
Preparing your business for sale: There’s no time like the present!
It has been widely publicised that a significant number of businesses may swamp the market in the coming years as baby-boomers look to sell their businesses. This increased supply is likely to make selling your business more difficult than it may have been in the past.
Read the full Article »
Renting out your holiday home
The income tax treatment of a holiday home that is used both privately and rented to third parties can be difficult to determine because of its mixed use. The difficulty arises because expenses of a private nature cannot be claimed, but expenses incurred to derive income can be claimed. The issue then becomes how to apportion expenses between the private and taxable use of the home.
Read the full Article »
Snippets
Making the most of the changes
The Government’s relief package for small to medium sized businesses includes a new provision which provides beneficial treatment for legal expenses. Under the general deductibility provisions of the Income Tax Act, if an expense is of a capital nature it is non-deductible.
Read the full Article »