This article, which is based on the inaugral address given at the IBFD Tax Lecture Series in Beijing, China, examines the basic foundations and nature of income tax law before going on to offer a unifying theory of taxation law. Income tax law is notoriously complex for a range of reasons. One...

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...

A trustee is in principle liable to tax on trust income because the trustee is the legal owner of that income. Local source income is taxed in any event on a source basis, and foreign-source income is taxed to the trustee on a residence basis. In New Zealand, foreign source income is not taxed...

This paper deals with trusts that are established in New Zealand or Australia, with locally resident trustees, but having foreign settlors and foreign-source income. For purposes of source country tax, it may be relevant whether there is an agreement to minimise double taxation between New...

Lorimer v. Commissioner of Inland Revenue 13 ATR 132 considered the question of whether, in valuing a pension for estate duty purposes, any account should be taken of the liability of the pension to income tax. The court held against the objector on the basis of section 25(2) of the Estate and...

An example of farming estate plan is provided taking into account the substantial changes made by the Estate and Gift Duties Amendment Act 1979. Estates can be largely duty-free if a husband transfers up to $250,000 worth of assets to his wife, although further measures may be necessary to...

This is the last in a series of four articles, in which the authors compare specific aspects of the real estate investment trust (REIT) regimes in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Previous articles dealt separately with the REIT regimes in each of these countries. The United...

The Working Group examined the New Zealand tax system. Its recommendations included alignment of company, personal, and trust taxation rates; base broadening; an increase in goods and services tax (the New Zealand VAT); and an examination of the interface between the tax and the welfare systems....

Workplace Communication for Skilled Migrants, formally “English for Professional Purposes ELIN 941”, is a course within the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at the Victoria University of Wellington. the paper first describes the initial stakeholders in the programme and...