Public give views on new tax laws

The Government is calling for public submissions on new tax laws which aim to more closely align depreciation rates with commercial realities and lower the low-value asset threshold.

The Taxation (Depreciation, Payment Dates Alignment, FBT and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was given its first reading yesterday and was referred to Parliament's finance and expenditure committee for consideration.

Committee chairman Clayton Cosgrove said the bill would change the payment of provisional tax and GST to the 28th day of the month.

"It is proposed that taxpayers will be able to calculate their provisional tax using the ratio method, based on a percentage of their taxable supplies, in order to align their provisional tax payments with cashflow," he said in a statement.

The bill also included measures to reduce compliance costs, remove anomalies in fringe benefits, introduced new rules on share lending taxation, allow small businesses to voluntarily make use of a PAYE intermediaries and strengthen resident withholding tax rules.

Some of the other provisions in the bill were: tax deductions for research and development; removing incentives encouraging companies to migrate rather than liquidate; reducing additional tax burdens on new migrants and expatriates; and introducing new rules on information reporting and record-keeping for New Zealand resident trustees of foreign trusts.

Submissions close on August 12.

- NZPA