Property Accountants

On 22 September GRA held a webinar where I interviewed David Seymour about Act’s proposed policies ahead of the upcoming election. We discussed Act’s tax proposals, particularly in relation to property investors, as well as broader discussions on the Resource Management Act, MDRS and social policy. You can review the recording of this webinar below. There are six webinars ... Continue reading 

We were recently involved with assisting a new client to resolve a dispute between shareholders. This was a prime example of a business succession planning scenario going wrong.  On the face of it, the client had everything you should have, such as a constitution and a shareholders’ agreement, but the relationship got such that it was completely dysfunctional and ... Continue reading 

While some people are still concerned about the property market and are cautious about investing, it is my opinion that now is a great time to invest in Auckland. Why do I say that? For a number of reasons, which I outline below.  1. Low interest rates Interest rates are at record lows, and chances are they will stay ... Continue reading 

Almost a year to the day since the Government announced rules to eliminate tax deductions on interest for property investors, the legislation has all but reached its final destination. In the last two weeks the Select Committee report on the first draft of the legislation has been released and amendments have been made to the first draft reflecting these ... Continue reading 

You will likely have recently been sent a bunch of forms to fill in from your bank or other financial institution asking you to define yourself or your entities by choosing between various unintelligible categories. Once you’ve chosen a category by throwing a dart at the form you’re then asked to advise whether or not you are tax resident ... Continue reading 

It is a requirement in New Zealand for parties to provide their IRD numbers when buying or selling real estate (whether as an individual or through another entity such as a company or trust). Normally this does not pose any sort of problem. However, there will be significant issues if you are selling a property that has been generating ... Continue reading 

It’s that time of year when businesses look to reward their staff and clients by hosting Christmas parties, giving gifts, and paying bonuses.Some of these costs may be fully deductible, some may be 50% tax deductible, and others subject to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) or PAYE deductions. To help your business stay on the right side of the Christmas ... Continue reading 

As property tax and structuring specialists, one of the most common questions we encounter at GRA is whether to set up a look-through company (LTC) to hold investment property. The answer, more often than not, has shifted over the years to no. LTCs, once considered a go-to option for property investors, have seen their appeal diminish significantly in recent years. ... Continue reading 

Recently I’ve seen several interesting client problems which would undoubtedly have resulted in lots of money being lost and lots of legal fees being incurred if these clients hadn’t had GRA’s Professional Trustee on board. Having now experienced three property cycles in my adult lifetime, I know these sorts of issues (and others) commonly arise when an economy and a ... Continue reading 

It’s been an interesting start to 2017 with a much tighter credit market than what we have seen for most of the last decade. While the majority of the media have been concentrating on the fact that the market seems to have slowed since the 40% deposit rule introduction, I put it more down to banks themselves pulling back ... Continue reading 

At Property Ventures we are increasing our focus on new builds as investments because we see tremendous advantages from a financing perspective. Not only do investors get pristine new and low maintenance properties in better areas, they get the benefit of 80% LVRs and tax advantages from higher chattel depreciation.   These smart tax and finance benefits make investing ... Continue reading