December 2023 The importance of strategically planning the right vehicle to both build and preserve your assets for future generations has always been important. When doing so, you are likely also to want to ensure that the assets are managed, used, or sold in a way consistent with your intentions. The recent Court of Appeal… Read More.
June 2022 Last year, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) imposed new requirements for disclosures and the preparing of financial statements by trusts. This was done largely to prevent trusts from being used to avoid the new 39% tax rate. Now, for the recent income year (and subsequent years), trustees will need to make disclosures to… Read More.
June 2022 New Zealand’s trust law had the most significant development in over 60 years when the Trusts Act 2019 (the Act) came into force early last year. The Act serves to clarify and improve the accessibility of trust law. This includes setting out how a trustee who loses the capacity to act is removed… Read More.
September 2021 Are you a trustee of a trust? Did you know additional information may need to be provided to the IRD with your next tax return? Trustees should be aware of a new requirement to provide additional information with their tax returns for the 2021/22 tax year and beyond. This new requirement will give… Read More.
December 2020 On 30 January 2021, the Trusts Act 2019 comes into force. One of the most significant changes in the Act is a presumption that trustees of a trust will advise each adult beneficiary: that they are a beneficiary; details of the trustees; and that they have the right to request trust information (such… Read More.
June 2020 In the context of a global pandemic affecting lives and livelihoods the world over, the focus of most of us has been on those legal matters which are front and centre in our lives. What has perhaps gone under the radar is the impact COVID-19 may have on our trusts and charities, many… Read More.
November 2019 In the recent case of Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Development v Broadbent [2019] NZCA 201, (2019) 5 NZTR 29-002, the Court of Appeal considered the following question: When making an assessment of whether or not a person should qualify for a Residential Care Subsidy, can the Chief Executive include any income… Read More.
November 2019 Many New Zealanders are involved with trusts in some way, whether as trustees or beneficiaries of family trusts or as volunteers with charitable trusts. However, despite the popularity of trusts, the law relating to trusts is often archaic and difficult to follow. Over the past decade, the Law Commission has led a review… Read More.