TalkTax

The much heralded new associated person rules were introduced for land transactions from 6 October 2009.  There has been a plethora of commentary and articles on the new rules and it is not the intention of this article to add further to that body of work.  Needless to say however it is generally well accepted that the new rules are extremely wide, and difficult to break as far as establishing non-tainted entities for land developers, land dealers and builders (although not impossible in some circumstances, in the author’s opinion).  The purpose of this article is to instead explore the parameters of the exemptions available to land developers, dealers and builders.  In view of the fact that many clients who are in business as land developers, dealers or builders will be “tainted” under the new rules, perhaps now is the time to focus on other ways under the Act to avoid taxation on non-business land.

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The well publicised new Associated Persons Rules are due to come into force within the next week or two and already there is uncertainty about their application.  The rules are possibly the most complex part in the Income Tax Act, and what makes things worse is that they play a very important role in the taxation of some of the largest assets traded in New Zealand – i.e. real property.  It is therefore very important that everyone understands exactly what they are, and how to apply them.

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