Taxation Services
Taxation Services
- Income Tax
- Good & Services Tax
- Fringe Benefits Tax
- Compliance
- Consulting
- Inland Revenue Audits
Ross Pauling & Partners Limited provides comprehensive taxation services for New Zealand businesses and individuals. Within the practice we have a depth of expertise and experience to provide solutions for most taxation issues. When appropriate, and depending upon the complexity of issues, we consult with specialist tax advisors outside of our firm to ensure that clients receive the correct advice.
Our Tax Services Philosophy is
based on minimising our client’s taxation liability, over time and within the law.
OVER TIME
We all calculate taxes based on a twelve month cycle – and tend to think of our tax bill as an annual cost. But, like our income and our businesses, tax is dynamic, and decisions taken to minimise or defer tax today, may come back to bite us in a future year, unless properly planned.
When Ross Pauling & Partners advise on the tax effect of business and transaction structures, we ensure our clients understand the short term tax effect, but also the downstream effect – e.g, what happens when shareholding changes, an asset is sold, or a loss making investment comes into profit?
We also ensure that you do not view the tax cost (or saving) in isolation. It is all too easy to put too much emphasis on the tax effect of a structure, and to forget about both the key commercial drivers, and the compliance costs. There is no point in reducing your tax bill, if you are paying more than you save OVER TIME in fees to accountants and lawyers. There is no point in making an investment to obtain a tax loss, unless you expect the return on the investment to exceed losses OVER TIME, and to provide a reasonable percentage return on your original investment.
WITHIN THE LAW
We pointed out that total tax cost/savings should be measured and suggest that accounting, legal and compliance costs, arising from management of taxation affairs, should be viewed as part of the tax cost.
To these we would add another potential cost – Inland Revenue interest and penalties.
From time to time, tax saving schemes come to the surface and become popular amongst taxpayers and advisors. The promoters of these schemes generally advise, with appropriate disclaimers, that the schemes are legal, and clients sometimes come to us for advice on such schemes. In many cases they are already convinced, and what they really want from us is affirmation.
They don’t always get it.
Yes – we want to minimise tax for our clients, but we also want to minimise risk. Although a structure may be within the law under specific sections of applicable legislation, the possibility that it may contravene the spirit of the law must also be considered. That’s when the anti-avoidance provisions become relevant.
So at Ross Pauling & Partners Ltd, we work hard to minimise your overall tax costs.
That means:
- your total cost - tax, compliance costs, interest and penalties, for the life of the structure or transaction,
- forward planning with no surprises,
- ethical advice, including risk assessment of grey areas.
