Tax law changes deferred because laws not enacted yet

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said he had recommended deferrals of a number of tax reforms set to be implemented on April 1 because the laws had yet to be properly considered and passed by parliament. Dunne said there would be no legislative basis for companies to apply some of the proposed changes in New Zealand's tax laws (for international taxation, life insurance, and remedial matters) and that he had written to the chairman of the select committee recommending deferment of application dates in the bill until it was passed into law. "As 1 April approaches, many business people and their tax advisors are becoming increasingly concerned about the problems of working in accordance with complex tax reforms that have still to be enacted," Dunne said in a statement. "The application dates of most concern are those for the reforms relating to our international tax rules, the taxation of the life insurance business, definitions of associated persons, and payroll giving for charitable donations," he said. "There are practical problems here. For example, provisional taxpayers who get it wrong in second guessing the final form of the changes to the international tax rules may well face penalties and interest for their mistakes." "Likewise, employers who want to get payroll giving under way on 1 April will find they have no legislative basis on which to make charitable donations from their employees' pay." "For the international tax changes, I have recommended that the application date remain at the 2009-10 income year only for taxpayers who have balance dates on or after 30 June, the date of the bill is expected to be reported back to Parliament. For all others, the application date would be the 2010-11 income year." "For the reform of the rules on taxing the life insurance business, I have recommended that the application date of the new rules be deferred until a date to be determined following further discussion with the industry." "For the changes to the associated person rules, I have recommended a one-year deferment, to the 2010-11 income year, except for the land provisions, which would be deferred from 1 April 2009 to the date of enactment." "For payroll giving, a change keenly awaited by charities but requiring changes to employers' payroll systems, I have recommended that the application date be deferred from 1 April 2009 to three months after enactment." "I have also recommended deferrals of the application dates of a number of other, smaller changes, many of which are taxpayer-friendly or which simply clarify the rules. For example, changes to rules on provisional tax pooling would be deferred from 1 April to the date of enactment."