An Easter (tax) declaration

Jesus knew about tax.

His famous saying "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's" is a broad acknowledgment that, even if you're the son of God, you must comply with local taxation laws.

Or maybe Jesus didn't have a good accountant. The bible is not clear on this point.

From what I recall of my school religious lessons, though, tax collectors normally featured as biblical bad guys. As the 'Jesus Walk' website  puts it: "Tax collectors were considered the scum of the earth."

Well, it's a dirty job but someone's got to do it. In New Zealand's case the top dirty job has been handed to Peter Dunne, head of the one-man political party United Future and also Revenue Minister.

The core purpose of tax collection hasn't changed from Jesus' time on earth but the modern methods of revenue-raising are undoubtedly a bit more sophisticated and require constant tinkering to keep pace with social complexity and clever accountants.

This week Dunne spoke  to a gathering some of those clever accountants outlining 'The new Government's tax policy vision'.

There's plenty of things to look at in Dunne's speech, so much that it's difficult to focus on a single point. But this caught my eye, there is an "urgent need to modernise several Inland Revenue systems", he said.

Urgent because the tax system has extensively remodeled in the last couple of years. Innovations such as KiwiSaver, the Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE) regime and the Fair Dividend Rate (FDR) method for calculating tax on foreign investments have all put a strain on the IRD's back office.

But it's not all about patching up and catching up. As Good Returns reported, the systemic tax renovations have also opened up new business potential for the funds management industry, for example.

Easter in New Zealand coincides with the beginning of the tax year, it's a good time to address fundamental questions such as 'can I claim for that' or 'should I use FDR or go for the comparative value method when assessing the tax liability on my offshore investments'.

If you're not sure, consider what Jesus might do in the same circumstances. Or ask your accountant.

David Chaplin

 

 

Photo/ Caesar Augustus, shown on a Roman denarius coin, struck circa 19-18 BCE