Property Accountants

The Tax Update Webinar with GRA’s head of tax, Anthony Lipscombe, was the third presentation in our Market Update Series and was held on 15 August. Anthony and I looked at the tax changes introduced by the Labour Government, with a particular focus on the bright-line, loss ring-fencing and interest non-deduction rules, and their impact on property investors. We ... 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 

Banks have recently tightened their criteria and changed their serviceability rules so much, that it has become much harder for investors to get finance. And for large investors, it is almost impossible. The RBNZ has told banks that they must adopt ‘sensible lending’ practices, which means they need to stress test their clients’ ability to make their loan repayments. ... 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 

The IRD have introduced new regulations that allow the Commissioner to disclose information about a taxpayer’s tax debts to approved credit reporting agencies if certain preconditions are met. (These new regulations are found in section 85N of the Tax Administration Act.) One of these preconditions is that the amount of the taxpayer’s reportable unpaid tax must be greater than ... 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 

If you are migrating to New Zealand, one item you should add to the top of your ‘to do’ list is understanding the potential tax implications your migration may cause, not only in New Zealand but also in the country you are emigrating from. Your tax obligations will be different depending on whether or not you are deemed to be ... Continue reading 

Many New Zealanders still retain memories of Black Tuesday – the day the share market collapsed in 1987. The crash began in Hong Kong, spread to Europe, moved into the United States and then headed Australia and New Zealand's way.  By the end of Tuesday 20 October 1987, the stock market had shed a vast amount of value and ... 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