Flood tax law passed

Parliament last night pushed through a law giving Inland Revenue more flexibility to deal with business taxpayers affected by last month's flooding in the lower North Island.

The Taxation (Disaster Relief) Bill allows Inland Revenue to remit use-of-money interest on tax payments that are late because of the flooding, either through records being destroyed or not being accessible, or lack of time to make payment because of higher priorities created by the flooding.

Inland Revenue will also accept estimates of provisional tax that are late because of the floods.