Goodbye to gift duty

The law that will get rid of gift duty got its Royal Assent yesterday in yet another milestone in removing the antiquated tax, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said today.

As well as ending gift duty on October 1 this year, the Taxation (Tax Administration and Remedial Matters) Bill, introduced to Parliament last November, also includes major items such as:

• amendments to the tax disputes process
• the introduction of rollover depreciation relief for Canterbury businesses, and
• amendments to aid the sharing of tax information between Inland Revenue and other government agencies.

Mr Dunne said that the changes are a collection of common-sense solutions towards a more efficient, lower compliance tax regime.

The ending of gift duty in particular cut compliance costs and was the removal of a tax “well past its use-by date”.

“Gift duty has continued to impose $70 million of compliance costs on New Zealanders each year, while no longer serving its intended purpose.

“It is a relic of the estate duty era, long since passed, and it has been overtaken by other developments rendering it obsolete,” Mr Dunne said.