The Week In Tax

Terry's guest on the podcast today is Deborah Russell, MP with whom he co-authored Tax and Fairness book. They dig into how the government and parliament legislate tax policy. Deborah speaks on tax issues in parliament and explains the different ways that Deborah is on the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee - what do they discuss? The Loss Ringfencing Bill going through parliament also focuses on getting GST from online sales Most tax legislation goes through unopposed - who knew? The working day of a parliamentarian - a 40 hour week done in 3 days The Inland Revenue IT upgrade - tax agents felt less-involved than they could Next week's budget - MPs get prior announcements an hour beforehand The living standards framework - based on Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum's work And a prize draw....

How not to end up in court defending a $4m tax evasion charge - investigators from Inland Revenue should not be under-estimated as they are highly skilled, motivated and are looking for pattens e.g. gross profit ratios for similar businesses. Welfare Expert Advisory Group Report was released - Up to $5.2 Billion pa needed to overhaul New Zealand's social welfare system to incentivise people back into work among other changes - Tax implications for clients claiming Working for Families Tax Credits. - Major changes proposed around amounts paid and abatement rates. Problems with overseas mortgages and investments - These are part of the FIF regime - a topic so complex there's no Inland Revenue guide to it! Due to changes in currency exchange rates income has arisen so the £ mortgage value hasn't changed but the equivalent in NZ$ has created a change in relative valuation. There's hope on the horizon. Inland Revenue business transformation release 3 has gone live - the team apparently consumed a significant volume of pizza and chocolate!

Is it now back to normal after the Government's decision on TWG report? The Week in Tax news: International tax pressure is building to create a Digital Services Tax because OECD's BEPS initiative is growing consensus. Why you shouldn’t be spending any refund from Inland Revenue that turns up unexpectedly. Unexplained credit balances sometimes are paid to prevent interest payments to Inland Revenue and these are getting refunded! Expect the report from Welfare Expert Advisory Group soon. They consider the interaction between tax and social assistance. Full transcript at https://baucher.tax/dont-spend-your-tax-refund/

Andrea Black supported the Tax Working Group for the past 17 months. She discusses whether Inland Revenue is under-resourced and whether it was worth it. Full transcript https://baucher.tax/andrea-black-and-the-tax-working-group/

The Government announces its decision not to introduce a Capital Gains Tax in this parliament. This podcast reviews the TWG proposals and the implications for New Zealand 11 recommendations are likely to be implemented by the Inland Revenue. Articles on the topic published elsewhere: 17 April on Interest.co.nz predicting a CGT - Will there be one CGT to rule them all? https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/99191/terry-baucher-ponders-whether-there-will-be-one-capital-gains-tax-rule-them-all 18 April on Interest.co.nz admitting I got the prediction wrong - I am surprised the environmental tax proposals aren't prioritised https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/99212/terry-baucher-surprised-govt-wont-prioritise-any-tax-working-group-environmental-tax 18 April on The Spinoff - The other tax recommendations the Government ignored https://thespinoff.co.nz/business/18-04-2019/the-other-tax-recommendations-the-government-ignored/

1) Cullen Group law case against Inland Revenue 2) The Act to generate automatic tax refunds by Inland Revenue 3) Digital Services Tax affecting Google, Facebook adverts booked in New Zealand. Full transcript https://baucher.tax/this-week-in-tax-15-march-2019/