New Zealand launches refreshed Compliance Focus for MNEs

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Country Correspondent – John Nash

New Zealand Inland Revenue recently launched its refreshed Compliance Focus for Multinational Enterprises (this can be found at the following link: https://www.classic.ird.govt.nz/resources/4/3/43264550-b294-4598-8545-
f1f05322fe45/compliance-focus-2019.pdf).

The publication of the Compliance Focus reinforces Inland Revenue’s drive for greater transparency in international tax matters. The department has received positive feedback from both major companies and leading tax practitioners regarding this approach and the Compliance Focus in particular. The document includes a full reconciliation of New Zealand’s implementation of the minimum standards and other recommendations from the OECD’s BEPS Action Plan and also details Inland Revenue’s forward programme of work to assure compliance by multinationals.

Of special interest to practitioners, the Compliance Focus includes several checklists and risk indicators to enable multinationals to ‘get it right from the start’, such as:

  • Checklists covering corporate tax governance and transfer pricing documentation;

  • Risk indicators as to expected tax performance; and

  • Recommended actions for companies in light of the new measures passed last year in New Zealand to address base erosion and profit shifting by multinationals.

John Nash