We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

New Zealand to tax multinationals in digital services

New Zealand will be consulting on the design of changes that will be done on the tax rules that currently allow multinational companies in the digital services field to do business in the country without paying income tax.

According to a recent press release, Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Revenue Minister Stuart Nash say that the Cabinet has agreed to issue a discussion document about how to update the tax framework to ensure multinational companies pay their fair share of tax in this country.

As explained, highly digitalised companies, such as those offering social media networks, trading platforms, and online advertising, currently earn a significant income from New Zealand consumers without being liable for income tax.

They find the arrangement unfair and are determined to do something that will address it.

International tax rules have not kept up with modern business developments. In the longer term, this threatens the sustainability of the country’s revenue base and the fairness of the tax system.

Moreover, the current tax rules provide a competitive advantage to foreign companies in the digital services field compared to local companies who offer e-commerce, online advertising, and social networking services.

The cross-border digital services in New Zealand are estimated to be valued at around NZ$ 2.7 billion.

The New Zealand Government is determined to guarantee that multinational companies involved in this sector of the economy pay their fair share of tax.

New Zealand’s revenue estimate for a digital services tax is between NZ$ 30 million and NZ$ 80 million, which depends on how it is designed.

New Zealand is currently working at the OECD to find an internationally agreed solution for including the digital economy within tax frameworks.

The Government prefers to continue working within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which was also recommended last year by the interim report of the Tax Working Group.

However, they believe that they need to move ahead with their own work so that they can proceed with their own form of a digital services tax, as an interim measure, until the OECD reaches agreement.

This is the same approach being considered by Australian authorities, who released a discussion document late last year.

The OECD has also released a discussion document on its proposals. Officials will now finalise the New Zealand document which is likely to be publicly released by May 2019.

The document will make it clear that the New Zealand Government is determined that multinational companies pay their fair share of tax.

They are committed to finding an international solution within the OECD but would also consider an interim option till the OECD finalises a position.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend