Tax Changes Resources

Gilligan Rowe & Associates

On 23 March 2021, Labour announced surprise tax changes that left property investors reeling...

  • Extension of the bright-line rule to 10 years
  • Removal of interest deductibility for residential rental properties
  • Exemption from these rules for new builds 
Since then, we have had an election resulting in a change of government, which will likely see amendments to these rules.
Are you concerned about the changing tax rules and how they will affect you?

Knowledge is power, so GRA have created this page to provide insights and information to help you make good property investing decisions in the constantly changing tax environment.

Here you will find articles, webinars, and commentary, which we will update as new information comes to hand.


Latest Posts

Bright-line and Interest Deduction Update

 Matthew Gilligan  15 Mar 24

Matthew Gilligan One 14 March 2024, the government released draft legislation coming good on its promise to reduce the bright-line period to two years and repeal the interest limitation rules. The highlights are as follows:Bright-lineA two-year bright-line period will apply to all property where sale occurs on or after 1 July 2024.  The date that you enter into the agreement to ... More 

BRIGHT-LINE ANNOUNCEMENT

 Matthew Gilligan  20 Dec 23

Matthew Gilligan Today (20 December 2023) the coalition government announced that the bright-line test will be reduced to two years from 1 July 2024. This is what Nicola Willis had to say:"Today I am announcing our immediate decision to bring the brightline test for residential property back to two years, effective from 1 July 2024. Removing this effective capital gains tax means ... More 

Coalition Government Tax Changes

 Matthew Gilligan  24 Nov 23

Matthew Gilligan Today, New Zealand’s coalition government with National, Act and NZ First was finally announced. Some important decisions around tax and property investment have already been confirmed. Note that at time of writing we are still waiting on the detail around much of this, and we will further provide updates as they are announced. Reversal of interest non-deduction rulesThe thing that we ... More 

Tax Changes - Trust Tax Rate to 39%

 Matthew Gilligan  29 May 23

Matthew Gilligan In the May 2023 Budget, the Labour government announced that from 1 April 2024, the trust tax rate will increase from 33% to 39%. What does this mean for you and your trust?What, if anything, can you do to manage this?Should you still have a trust?These questions are answered in the webinar Anthony Lipscombe and I presented on 24 May ... More 

GST for all Airbnb properties from 1 April 2024

 Anthony Strevens  13 Nov 23

Anthony Strevens Anyone who provides lodging or ride-sharing services through an online marketplace in New Zealand, such as Airbnb or Uber, will be affected by new Goods and Services Tax (GST) changes starting from April 1, 2024. Note that earlier this year, the National Party expressed its intention to repeal this change. However, it is not part of the published “100 day ... More 

Tax Changes and the Upcoming Election

 Matthew Gilligan  06 Apr 23

Matthew Gilligan Lots of our clients are asking GRA what is on offer from the various parties for the 2023 election, so I thought it would be useful to recap the tax changes made by Labour in their past two terms, and then canvas the different offerings from political parties to reverse their changes. As a disclaimer, I’m not a fan ... More 

What is rollover relief?

 Anthony Lipscombe  04 Apr 23

Anthony Lipscombe 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 ... More 

Good News Re GST

 Anthony Lipscombe  16 Dec 22

Anthony Lipscombe I want to close the year by highlighting a couple of positive developments in the GST rules – one that came into effect earlier in 2022, and one that is proposed to come into effect from next year.Earlier this year a long-standing issue that prevented GST from being claimed on asset transfers within a group structure was resolved. To ... More 

Interest Limitation Law About to Pass (Finally)

 Anthony Lipscombe  23 Mar 22

Anthony Lipscombe 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 ... More 

Legislation Changes

 Matthew Gilligan  12 Nov 21

Matthew Gilligan The government have made changes to two areas of legislation that affect property investors: tax (interest deduction and bright-line), and the Resource Management Act.  Tax ChangesIn October the government finally introduced legislation into parliament setting out the proposed interest deduction rules. Here is a summary of the highlights.a) We still do not have finalised legislation. Even these draft rules are ... More 

Tax Changes Update - October 2021

 Matthew Gilligan  30 Sep 21

Matthew Gilligan The Government’s release of draft legislation this week was disappointing on a number of fronts. First, what was expected to be complex legislation has been successfully made nearly indecipherable. Second, it is of course disappointing that they are pressing ahead with the rules being effective from 1 October despite only this draft version being available to taxpayers at this ... More 

Tax Changes Update - September 2021

 Matthew Gilligan  09 Sep 21

Matthew Gilligan Most readers will be well acquainted with the fact that we are expecting the interest deductibility rules to kick in from 1 October 2021. You will also likely be aware that as at the time of writing (early September), these rules are yet to be revealed. This is an entirely unacceptable state of affairs, leaving investors to make purchase ... More 

Impact of new legislation on property investors and tenants

 Guest Contributor  21 Jul 21

Guest Contributor There have been many changes to legislation affecting property investors over the past 4½ years. We have had:•  Healthy Homes Standards•  Loan-to-value ratio (LVR) changes•  Requirement for heat pumps•  Loss of claiming interest as an expense How have property investors reacted and what has happened? Before I go on, there is one thing I want to get off my chest first. ... More 

Interest deductibility update - June 2021

 Matthew Gilligan  11 Jun 21

Matthew Gilligan On 10 June 2021, the Labour Government opened up a five-week consultation period on the new interest deductibility rules. They have released a Design of the interest limitation rule and additional bright-line rules discussion document which is lengthy and quite detailed, and reveals some interesting thinking, some of which I think is surprisingly taxpayer friendly. On first look through the document, ... More 

Where is the property market at currently?

 Salesh Chand  16 Apr 21

Salesh Chand The tax changes recently announced by the Labour Government have left many property investors feeling unsettled. So I thought it would be helpful to discuss the current property market, the impact of the rules, and what you should be doing to manage this new environment. The current property market•  The property market has been hot for the best part of ... More 

My opinion on the new tax changes

 Matthew Gilligan  13 Apr 21

Matthew Gilligan I'm seething about these tax changes. And it’s not just the fact that Labour lied to us; it’s the whole bigger picture and the implications for ordinary New Zealanders. This Government is attacking middle New Zealand with all these housing initiatives and tax reforms – it’s mums and dads being hit, not property oligarchs. According to February 2021 stats from ... More 

BREAKING NEWS: Government introduces bright-line and interest deductibility changes

 Matthew Gilligan  22 Mar 21

Matthew Gilligan As part of the Government’s property policy announcements today (23 March 2021), there are two significant changes to tax rules that will impact residential property investors. If you don't support the changes, there is a petition that you can sign (link here and at the end of this blog). I ran a webinar discussing these changes on 25 March. You ... More 


Webinar Recording

Matthew Gilligan and Anthony Lipscombe discuss new 39% trust tax rate
May 2023 Tax Changes - Trust Tax Rate to 39%

Interview

Matthew Gilligan discusses tax policy with David Seymour, October 2022
Excerpt from Trusts & Tax webinar, October 2022

Webinar Excerpt

Tax Changes Summary October 2022
Excerpt from Trusts & Tax webinar, October 2022

Insight

Email from ACT party re tax changes

Interview

Matthew Gilligan interviews David Seymour from the Act Party on Housing Changes, April 7 2021

Webinar

Tax changes and property market update webinar 27 Oct 2021

Webinar

Impact of Bright-line & Interest Deductibility Changes, March 2021

Petition

Brightline Petition

Press

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