The standard value system is a special method of accounting for livestock that is sanctioned by the Income Tax Act 1976 for the benefit of farmers. The system allows farmers to navigate the fluctuations in the livestock market and to attribute a standard (rather than market) value to their stock...

Section 16 of the Estate and Gift Duties Act 1968 catches death benefits left by a deceased who was a member of any superannuation scheme. The case of Hounsell v CIR (SC Wellington, 17 April 1975, M274/73) illustrates that considerable duty can be payable on such a scheme. Some estate planning...

In order to avoid holiday houses being bought into the notional estate by either section 11 or 12 of the Estate and Gift Duties Act 1968 many lawyers recommend alienating the property to a discretionary trust and leasing it back to the original owners. This technique results from a...

The matrimonial home allowance was introduced by the Estate and Gift Duties Amendment Act 1976. The allowance reinforced the importance of planning to reduce estate duty and to take full advantage of the joint family home legislation. The article suggests some planning techniques. As at 2009,...

Trusts fit uneasily into any tax system. The beneficiary should be taxed on any trust income received; yet the trustee also receives income that is amenable to taxation. It would not be fair for the income to be taxed to both the beneficiary and the trustee, yet neither should the trustee escape...

The general charging provisions of the Income Tax Act 1976 purport to tax all assessable income. Sections 226 to 233 of the Act lay down a code for the taxation of the income of trustees and beneficiaries. Is this code an exhaustive statement of the assessability of trust income over-riding pro...

Is an “intention to make a profit” necessary for there to be business income within the meaning of section 65(2)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1976? English cases on an analogous provision suggest intention to make a profit is not required. Literal interpretation of the New Zealand provision...

Autopoiesis is a post-modern, essentially positivist theory that tries to describe the true nature of law. Its principal tenets are the ideas of self-reproductive growth from reasoning that is self-referential and recursive, relative autonomy from, and “operative closure” against, other...

The English version of this paper can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1473612 The article compares the general anti-avoidance rule of income tax law with the civil law doctrine of abuse of law (Rechtsmissbrauch, abus de droit) in eight jurisdictions: Germany, Croatia, New Zealand,...

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...