Property Accountants

Labour's recently announced capital gains tax (CGT) policy has been positioned as a fairer way to tax wealth in New Zealand. After internal debate between a wealth tax and CGT, the caucus voted almost unanimously for the latter. Under this proposed policy, from July 2027 investment property (including commercial and residential but excluding family homes and farms) will be taxed ... Continue reading 

With a cyclone potentially bearing down on the North Island of New Zealand, now is not the time to be wondering whether your insurance cover is enough. It's time to know.Most of us dutifully pay our insurance premiums each year, renew without a second glance, and assume we're covered. But here's the uncomfortable truth: thousands of New Zealand homeowners, ... Continue reading 

Prior to the inception of the bright-line rule, it was relatively common practice to restructure the ownership of residential property to get better asset protection, estate planning and tax outcomes, or when circumstances changed. For example, you might convert an existing home to being a rental, or own a holiday home personally that you want to be protected in ... Continue reading 

In November 2023 I wrote a blog about the new GST rules being applied for Airbnb properties listed through online marketplaces. You can find this here.There has since been an update to this that will make life marginally simpler for those owners who are not GST registered. In my blog I described the “flat-rate credit”, which is the 8.5% ... Continue reading 

No matter what type of business you run (retail, hospitality, commercial rental, professional services, or product manufacturing), it is important to manage your cashflow. Many businessowners focus on the profit made for the last financial year and use this as an indicator of whether or not their business is succeeding. However, profit is only one part of the successful business ... 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 

30 July 2019 was an important milestone in the land of trusts. That was the date the Trust Act 2019 became law in New Zealand.  One of the objectives of this new law is to provide for greater transparency and accountability by trustees to beneficiaries. This objective is underpinned by trustee duties now being codified. Whilst it may seem an ... Continue reading 

If you're a New Zealand resident looking to invest in residential property, now may be the perfect time to do so. Several key factors are converging to create a favourable environment for property investment, including dropping inflation rates, mortgage interest rates looking to have peaked, predicted reductions in the Official Cash Rate potentially coming later this year, and loan-to-value ... Continue reading 

I recently held a webinar which explains how to integrate life insurance with your financial goals – something that should be of interest to property investors, businessowners, salaried people, and the self-employed. You may now be thinking: How can life insurance assist with financial goals? In this presentation I demonstrate how the two can work together in a way ... Continue reading