This paper examines the role played by shams in tax avoidance in New Zealand and its relationship with the general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) encapsulated in statutory provisions. It shows that as long as the orthodox conception of the sham is employed, there is no need for such a mechanism to...

International trust taxation in New Zealand is dominated by the settlor regime under which the claim to tax accumulated trust income on a worldwide basis depends on the fiscal residence of the settlor. A trust entity is constituted by the trustees collectively, together with their right of...

In 1944, Martin Crowe, a Catholic priest, wrote a doctoral dissertation titled The Moral Obligation of Paying Just Taxes. His dissertation summarized and analyzed 500 years of theological and philosophical debate on this topic, which identified three basic philosophical positions on the issue....

In 2003 the Australian and NZ governments enacted legislation to permit trans-Tasman companies to allocate to their shareholders franking credits and imputation credits. This legislation is known as the pro rata allocation method, and was heralded as a major improvement in trans-Tasman taxation....

With the growth of electronic commerce tax authorities were faced with the challenge of applying traditional tax principles, which have been developed in times where business comprised the delivery of physical goods and services were provided in face-to-face transactions, to cross-border...

The aim of this article is to point to a flaw in one of the measures recently enacted by the New Zealand Government to prevent tax avoidance by large multinational enterprises (MNEs). That measure is section GB 54 of the Income Tax Act 2007, which was added to the Act in July 2018 and which is...

The OECD has for several years been laboriously attempting to reform the international tax system so as to rectify the gross under-taxation of heavily digitalized firms such as Google, Facebook and eBay. Progress has been slow, though, so a number of countries, including New Zealand, have...

This paper examines the evolution of the New Zealand tax system from 1845 to 1876. The key to this period is the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (UK), which was devised by the Governor, Sir George Grey, and which divided the Colony into six provinces. There were hardly any roads, so allowing...

New Zealand is in general a high tax country. It is host to a thriving offshore trust industry established after an amendment to the income tax legislation in 1987. The successor to this amendment is section HC 26(1), which means that where non-residents settle income-producing property on New...

There is an active but unpublicised industry of New Zealand trustees who look after foreigners’ money. Also, taxpayers from other countries sometimes use New Zealand as a haven. Some trustees for foreign funds have a reasonably substantial presence in New Zealand; others may be single-purpose...