Taxes - Income, Capital Gains and Inheritance

[Michaux]

We are thinking of moving from UK to NZ with our 2 boys, 10 and 8.
We would like to get some advice on how to minimise taxation, as we are free to locate our excess capital in any tax jurisdiction.
Can anyone who has similar experience advise?
Thanks in advance
Frank

[doreysc]

On a recommendation from this forum I am taking advice from Martin Riley at Sterling Tax Services who seems to have an understanding of UK and NZ tax and whose costs are reasonable.

http://www.sterlingtax.co.nz/

Simon

[James 1077]

In terms of taxes the headline rates here are relatively low - 33% top rate income tax; 2% compulsory insurance; no capital gains tax; no inheritance tax. However, for income tax, the tax kicks in from the first dollar you earn and ramps up relatively quickly so a salary of $120k will be paying more in tax and insurance here than an equivalent GBP60k would in the UK (although due to the 33% top rate compared to 50% in the UK high income earners are definitely better off here).

It should be noted that if you have lots of easily movable capital then there is a 4 year tax exemption on passive offshore income (interest, dividends, house rent etc). There is, however, a relatively punative regime for offshore equity investments once those 4 years is up so you may want to research taxation of Foreign Investment Funds (FIFs).

In terms of tax minimisation the tax structuring industry is relatively small as there is a general anti-avoidance rule that means that many structures won't work. The main thing that you can do if you have lots of overseas equity investments is to make sure that you use the most beneficial calculation method rather than sticking to the simple one (FDR - 5% of the opening market value of the investment).

One relatively normal thing to do is to take advantage of the 4 year exemption by moving your investments offshore so that they do not attract tax in the source country and are exempt over here (i.e. cash goes to Jersey branch of your bank where interest is earned tax free).

[Michaux]

Thank you for the good information.

The other question we have is how to find a good immigration agent or immigration consultant? There seem to be so many advertising everywhere. It is hard to tell who is trustworthy and who is just after your money.
As mentioned before we are coming from the UK although we are Belgium and German Nationals, but our kids have British passports.
Thank you

[JandM]

You may get some recommendation from individual members later, but the vast majority of those here do it themselves, following the instructions on the INZ website. While the amount of the agent's charge is not an issue for everybody, most people object to what they have to pay for relatively little work on the agent's part -in order to send in your application, they tell you to assemble the documentation and fill in the same forms that the INZ website tells you to, not actually taking any of that off your shoulders.

[dharder]

As mentioned before we are coming from the UK although we are Belgium and German Nationals, but our kids have British passports.

I think in general, it is more than possible to do it yourself. Unless you are in a particularly difficult situation, which of course I don't know if you're in or not. As far as I am aware, there isn't a way of 'retiring' to NZ as such, so you may want to look at what visa options there are for you.

Your nationalities shouldn't make any difference to INZ at all, the only thing to take into consideration is the documentation you will need from each of those countries, which could take longer because it requires translation.

Good luck,

Daniela

[JandM]

http://www.dol.govt.nz/immigration/k...base/item/1090
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/invest/

Those visa categories spring to mind, in addition to the work-based ones.