Posts by Rich of Observationz
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Hard News: Forgetting what we didn't know, in reply to Deborah,
As I understand it, and IANATA, the LTC regime allows a person to get the benefits of both personal and company status when paying tax.
That is something you can't do in most overseas jurisdictions, where you either have a company (which pays tax on retained profits and capital gains) or hold your assets/business in person. Doing this means that business and asset owners pay less tax - obviously this is at the expense of ordinary wage earners, who pay more.
The other effect of being unaligned with most other countries tax systems (no capital gains tax, no inheritance tax, favourable treatment of trusts and LTCs) is that it makes sense for foreigners to engineer their affairs such that capital tax liabilities show up in NZ (at zero) - combine that with other jurisdictions with zero company tax, and it's possible to minimise tax bills to near nothing (once you can afford the accountancy fees).
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I see Slater got diversion. Despite previous convictions for name suppression breaches. Cops and tories protecting their own, I guess.
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Speaker: Confessions of an Uber driver, in reply to goforit,
So Uber isn’t charging GST? I can’t find any reference to this on invoices (so if they are charging GST, it’s illegal).
I suspect the IRD is going to drop a very large bucket of poo on them. Not a tax expert, but I think the revenue would have no difficulty dipping into their credit card receivables (which will generally go through NZ banks).
I would not rely on Uber still being in business in NZ a year from now. Unless they bribe John Key.
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Interestingly, it's possible to drive a coach and horses through our overseas ownership laws by having the property owned by a company with anonymous bearer shares:
Could be El Chappo for all the OAI knows.
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Does Guyon Espiner! always have the pling at the end of his name now, like Yahoo!
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The tax avoidance is easily dealt with - there are already a bunch of activities where the IRD requires the employer to withhold tax from contractors - they just add taxi driving/"ridesharing" to this list.
If Uber then refuse to pay, then they instruct the banks (there's probably a law somewhere that lets them do this, or they could pass one) to block them from receiving credit card payments from NZ customers.
Which would be a pity, because it's a good idea to have an efficient personal transport service (and given the pricing on Uber now, it's actually growing the pot, as two people on Uber is cheaper than a bus ride, at least here in Wellington).
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Polity: Is being a tax haven worth it?, in reply to simon g,
Lizards, I tell you. LIZARDS!
(I was just thinking that somebody should turn the International Reptilian Shapeshifter Conspiracy into a movie. Maybe get Stephen Fry to play the Duke of Edinburgh. I'm sure there would be a role for Rhys Darby as well).
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Polity: Is being a tax haven worth it?, in reply to Alfie,
Is the British rep Mark Thatcher?
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Polity: Is being a tax haven worth it?, in reply to Sacha,
Part of the problem is that trusts are a middle-class dodge in NZ, which isn't the case in other countries.
If you have a trust in the UK, HMRC will look at you funny and charge the trust income tax on all income over GBP1000, plus capital gains (even if the trust owns a family home, because trusts don't live in houses) and they'll expect the trust to operate at arms length (e.g. if you live in a house belonging to a trust, you have to pay rent on it).
Apparently (I owe this information to Cactus Kate, who apart from anything else, is at least an expert in this area) most NZ trusts are of very dubious standing - one person is settlor, trustee and beneficiary and typically has full control of the trust's bank account.
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Polity: Is being a tax haven worth it?, in reply to Steve Barnes,
About right, except that there haven't been francs for over 16 years.