Tax Updates: 7 July 2025

Welcome to this week’s review of tax issues where Richard comments on what’s been happening in the world of tax over the past week. If you have a question or would like a second opinion on any national or international tax issues, please contact Richard via email at richard@gilshep.co.nz.

Inland Revenue (IR) has issued two operational statements (OS) recently, both connected to the Commissioner’s powers contained in section 17 of the Tax Administration Act 1994 (‘the Act’).

The first is OS 25/04, which replaces the early version, OS 13/01. The OS outlines the procedures the Commissioner will generally follow when exercising the Commissioner’s search powers under sections 17, 17C and 17D of the Act and the Search and Surveillance Act 2012.

OS 25/04 is a 48-page document, which comes into effect on 27^th June 2025.

The most salient points I took away from the document are:

• Under section 17, the Commissioner may access any property or documents. The purpose of the section 17 powers is to provide the Commissioner with the necessary powers to enable the collection of all taxes or duties imposed by the Inland Revenue Acts, the carrying into effect of any of the Inland Revenue Acts and the carrying out of functions lawfully conferred on the Commissioner.

• Section 17C enables the Commissioner to take an extract from the document, make a copy of the document, remove the document from the premises to make a copy, or remove the document from the premises and retain it for a full inspection.

• While section 17(1) is considered to be a warrantless power of entry, a private dwelling cannot be entered unless either the Commissioner obtains the consent of the occupier, or a warrant is issued under section 17D (obtained from an issuing officer – say a judge of the District/High Court or an authorised Justice of Peace).

• If your client is approached at their premises (not a private dwelling), they are required to provide all reasonable facilities and assistance for the effective exercise of the powers under sections 17 and 17C, and to answer all proper questions relating to the effective exercise of the powers under section 17.
  
  
• Simply saying you’ve lost the key to a certain door or cabinet will not prevent IR from obtaining the documents, as in these situations, they are entitled to engage the services of a locksmith to gain access. And while you’re entitled to seek legal advice at the time, IR does not have to wait until your legal representation arrives to commence their search.

OS 25/04 provides a lot of detail about IR’s application of section 17 search powers. So, it’s a lengthy read if you have the time, but possibly one of those balancing exercises where, knowing your client base, cost (time to read) may outweigh the benefits (being in the know). And no, I did not read the whole document – I’ve been fortunate to have never had a client experience this scenario – but at least I now know where to look if a potential situation should arise.

The second OS relates to section 17B of the Act, which contains one of the Commissioner’s information-gathering powers – the power to make an information demand to a taxpayer or a third party.

OS 25/05 is a 38-page document, replacing an earlier version (OS 13/02), and comes into effect from 26^th June 2025.

Section 17B empowers the Commissioner to require any person to provide any information and produce any documents considered necessary or relevant for any purpose relating to the administration or enforcement of an Inland Revenue Act or a function lawfully conferred on the Commissioner.

Most of us receive information requests from the Commissioner almost daily about risk reviews regarding various tax returns filed by our clients. The majority of these requests are not issued under section 17B, IR just asks, and usually we just give, keen to put any risk review to sleep as quickly as possible, to save our clients both costs and potential sleepless nights.

Now, IR does not have to issue any information request in advance of being entitled to use the section 17B power, particularly if your client has been uncooperative in the past, so IR just wants to cut to the chase.

Your client is not required to provide information which is not (or is deemed not to be) in their possession, knowledge or control, nor that which is subject to legal privilege, or the non-disclosure right for tax advice documents.

I’d suggest that it is also good to know that while the Commissioner will usually specify a 21-calendar-day timeframe within which to provide the information, legislatively, there is no set timeframe specified. So, make sure you communicate with the Revenue accordingly if you need more time to gather the information, and you should get a positive response if your extension request is timely.

Equally, there is a lot of detail in OS 25/05, and it probably does have a lot more potential relevance to your clients than OS 25/04. However, I also have not fully read this document, given it’s unlikely the Commissioner’s representatives will be breaking down my client’s door on a dawn raid under a section 17B request. And, consequently, I’ll have plenty of time to read up on the salient points, should such an information request fall onto my desk.

This article was originally published through the ‘A Week In Review’ newsletter. If you would like to receive Richard’s tax updates every Monday morning, you can subscribe here.