Property Transaction Changes 2015

New Requirements for Residential Property as of October 2015

If you are buying, selling or settling* a residential property from 1 October 2015 then there is additional information you MUST supply to us.

The New Zealand Government has passed amendments to the Land Transfer Act and the Tax Amendment Act which took effect from 1 October 2015.

It requires all purchasers and sellers to sign a tax statement providing:

  • Your New Zealand Inland Revenue Tax number and your bank account
  • If you are an Offshore Person (see definition below) or not,
  • If you are an Offshore Person you have to state the country you are a tax resident in, provide the Country Code (this is the code the IRD has ascribed) and your tax identification number in that Country
  • If it is an exempt supply (you intend the property to be your main home or land on which your main home is to be built) and which it is

You have to provide the above information if you are buying for a Trust as it relates to that Trust and its beneficiaries.

This statement signed by you has to be provided to us BEFORE we can settle your sale or purchase.

You can view the Parliamentary paper that sets out this information here.

Terms

  • “Settling” means the day that the residential property is transferred into your name
  • The term “offshore person” is defined as:
    • for an individual,
      • a New Zealand citizen who is outside New Zealand and has not been in New Zealand within the last 3 years;
      • a person who holds a resident class visa granted under the Immigration Act 2009, and who is outside New Zealand and has not been in New Zealand within the last 12 months;
      • a person who is not a New Zealand citizen and who does not hold a resident class visa granted under the Immigration Act 2009.
    • for a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons, including a trust or a unit trust,
      • one who is an “overseas person” under Section 7(2)(b) to (e) of the Overseas Investment Act 2005 (Part 2, Clause 9, amending Section 3 of the Tax Administration Act 1994 by inserting definitions of “bank account number’ and “offshore person”; Clause 10, inserting new Section 24BA into that Act and amending Section 81 of that Act ).