Here we are again approaching another Christmas, saying didn't this year go fast. Reminding ourselves to take time out and smell the roses, as we race through our busy lives. For me, that involves game fishing in the far North of New Zealand, and I will soon be on my boat enjoying the incredible far north fishery and environment. ... More 

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 ... More 

For our property investors the issue of claiming repairs and maintenance as a deductible expense is of major importance because this type of activity is generally the largest cost after interest expenditure when owning a rental property.   Capital improvements are of no immediate or future tax benefit to you as the tax payer because they get "capitalised" and ... More 

A tax amendment for close companies that provide motor vehicles to shareholder-employees has been proposed for the 2018 financial year onwards.OverviewCompanies with five or less shareholders (close companies) that provide their shareholder-employees with a motor vehicle for private use are required to register and pay fringe benefit tax (FBT) for that benefit, subject to certain exemptions. Sole traders and ... More 

As you may be aware, there is a new law that requires all tenanted homes to be insulated by 1 July 2019. Anyone who owns rental property must ensure their properties are insulated to the required standard by this date. At GRA we’ve been getting a lot of questions about whether the cost of insulating a rental property is ... More 

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 ... More 

We've lived for a while now with the quiet rumblings of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) wishing to introduce a new macro prudential policy of debt-to-income ratio (DTI) on the premise this is needed to ensure stability in our financial system. Much has been written about this and indeed I canvassed the subject myself when I presented ... More 

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 more down to banks themselves pulling back in ... More 

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 ... More