Determinations

• NAMV 2025: National Average Market Values of Specified Livestock Determination 2025
• OS 19 04 (KM 2025): Kilometre rates for the business use of vehicles for the 2025 income year
• 2025 Consumers Price Index adjustment to standard-cost amounts for household services (childcare, boarding services, or short-stay accommodation)
• 2025 CPI adjustment to Operational Statement OS 19/03: Square metre rate for the dual use of premises
• Det 25/02: Determination of expenditure incurred relating to payments made by New Zealand Clinical Research to volunteers
• Det 25/03: Determination of amount of a particular payment (being per diem allowances paid in the screen production industry) that shall be regarded as expenditure incurred relating to those payments

Ruling

• BR Prd 25/03: Extraordinary Pay Limited

Interpretation statements

• IS 25/16: Tax residence
• IS 25/17: Tax residence – government service rule

Question we’ve been asked

• QB 25/16: Income tax – How do the income tax rules apply when a close company provides short-stay
  accommodation?

Case summaries

• CSUM 25/08: Absence of evidence makes it impossible to prove nexus with the expenditure and the claimed deductions
• CSUM 25/09: Lack of complete financial records secures TCRA win for the Commissioner in major income suppression case

Technical decision summaries

• TDS 25/13: Income tax – land transferred within a consolidated tax group
• TDS 25/14: Business restructure

The Court of Appeal granted the COP’s appeal, agreeing with the COP and CIR that where tax has been evaded and not subsequently paid to the CIR, the tax evader has benefited from significant criminal activity, and a profit forfeiture order should be made. The court rejected the view that the CIR’s ability to recover unpaid tax means there can be no benefit to the offender.

This was a judicial review case. The applicants challenge decisions of the Commissioner to decline proposals for relief under s 177 of the Tax Administration Act 1994 (the TAA).  At issue is the interpretation of provisions of the TAA and the Commissioner’s obligation to collect the highest net revenue that is practicable within the law.

This operational statement outlines the procedures the Commissioner of Inland Revenue will generally follow when exercising the Commissioner’s search powers under ss 17, 17C and 17D of the Tax Administration Act 1994 and the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.

This operational statement outlines the procedures the Commissioner will generally follow when issuing notices, including to third parties, under s 17B of the Tax Administration Act 1994. Section 17B, which relates to information demands, contains one of the Commissioner’s information-gathering powers. The Commissioner can use other information-gathering powers (such as s 17) in conjunction with s 17B, but they are not discussed in this statement.

This item summarises a private ruling that addressed income tax issues arising from the transfer of assets from a charitable trust.

GST – input tax deductions, grants, omitted sale

This determination applies to per diem payments.  It sets out the amount regarded as expenditure incurred in the production of particular schedular payments when those payments are per diem allowances paid to contractors/entertainers working in the Screen Production Industry in New Zealand.

The restructure of a business to change the ownership structure.

Tax Information Bulletin - Vol 37 No 6, July 2025

New legislation

• Public Act 2025 No 09: Taxation (Annual Rates for 2024–25, Emergency Response, and Remedial Measures) Act 2025
• SL 2025/64: Income Tax (Fringe Benefit Tax, Interest on Loans) Amendment Regulations 2025
• SL 2025/65: Taxation (Use of Money Interest Rates) Amendment Regulations 2025

Operational statements

• OS 25/03: Authority to Act for Tax Agents, Representatives and Nominated Persons: Access to a Client’s Inland Revenue Information 

Interpretation statements

• IS 25/14: Income tax – arrangements involving tax losses carried forward under the business continuity rules
• IS 25/15: Look-through companies and disposal of residential land under the bright-line test

Questions we’ve been asked

• QB 25/07: What is the income tax treatment of gift cards and products provided as trade rebates or promotions?
• QB 25/08: When is land acquired for a purpose or with an intention of disposal so that the amount derived from the sale is income?
• QB 25/09: When do I have a “regular pattern” of transactions that prevents me from using exclusions from the land sale rules for my residence or for my main home?
• QB 25/10: On what date is a person treated as acquiring land for the purposes of the land sale rules?
• QB 25/11: When is the bright-line start date for the 2-year bright-line test?
• QB 25/12: How does the bright-line test apply to the sale of a subdivided section?
• QB 25/13: When is the sale of a lifestyle block excluded from the bright-line test?
• QB 25/14: When does the business premises exclusion to the bright-line test apply?
• QB 25/15: How do the bright-line rollover relief provisions apply to transfers of residential land between associated persons?

Case summaries

• CSUM 25/05: NZTCRA rejects argument that an interest amount paid under a relationship property agreement was deductible as an expense under the Income Tax Act 2007
• CSUM 25/06: NZTCRA finds work to convert retail space to office space in commercial building was capital in nature
• CSUM 25/07: NZTCRA finds remediation work on unit was capital in nature

Technical decision summary

• TDS 25/08: Disposal of shares following amalgamation
• TDS 25/09: Distribution and resettlement of trusts
• TDS 25/10: Source of income and foreign tax credits
• TDS 25/11: Deductions, zero-rating and shortfall penalties
• TDS 25/12: Deductions and shortfall penalties