Property Accountants

This week the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) announced their proposal to introduce debt-to-income (DTI) restrictions (also known as debt serviceability restrictions or DSRs) on home lending. Being in practice as chartered accounts specialising in property, GRA are in a good position to read sentiment around the proposed rules based on feedback and observation from clients. At first glance, ... Continue reading 

Over the last few years, landlords have faced a number of challenges that impact their ability to properly maintain their rental properties and meet their financial obligations. Like any other business owner, as a property investor it’s important that you adapt to market changes and keep a close eye on your outgoings versus your income.  In this blog, I ... 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 

Ever have a property settlement about to go through and at the last minute your professional trustee has held up the game by asking pesky questions like “Why are you buying this?” or “Is this the right entity to be buying it in?”  What about those times when you’re arranging a simple re-finance and just when everything seems to ... 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 

At GRA we have seen an increasing number of clients come to us after being advised to wind up their trust, or after being discouraged from setting one up at all, having been told that trusts don’t really provide any significant advantages.The reasoning is often straightforward: trusts generally don't provide the tax advantages they once did, and the ongoing ... Continue reading 

A Guide to the Revenue Account Method (RAM)If you're a new migrant to New Zealand, a Kiwi returning home after a long time away, or someone who pays tax in two countries, you've likely encountered New Zealand's complex Foreign Investment Fund (FIF) rules. These rules are designed to tax New Zealand residents on their offshore equity / share investments ... Continue reading 

It is a common misconception that you have to live with someone for three years or more, and they have to make a direct contribution to the assets acquired during the relationship, before they're entitled to bring a relationship property claim. Possibly this mistaken belief occurs because the legislation itself is misunderstood.  Under current law, assuming a contracting out ... 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