Tax guides

Your prescribed investor rate is the rate your KiwiSaver and managed funds are taxed at. Nobody sets it for you, and both directions of error cost something.

Registering is compulsory above a turnover threshold and optional below it. The optional case is where people get it wrong in both directions.

One number in last year's return decides whether you spend next year paying tax three times instead of once. Here is what crosses the line, what the instalments are, and what Inland Revenue charges when they are short.

The foreign investment fund rules have a cost-based exemption for eligible investors. The exemption and Australian-share exceptions have separate conditions.

You picked a number in a form once, possibly never. It decides whether your term deposit interest is settled by the time it lands or waiting for you in an end-of-year bill.

Five bands, one progressive rate, and the secondary codes that decide whether a second job costs more at year end.

The independent earner tax credit reduces tax for eligible earners, with an income band, exclusions and a whole-month eligibility rule.

Donation tax credits apply to qualifying money gifts to approved organisations, subject to taxable income, receipt and claim-year requirements.

Annual PIE calculations compare tax already paid with tax at the correct prescribed investor rate, and may produce a credit or debt in the tax assessment.

Imputation credits pass company income tax through to shareholders, reducing their personal tax on dividends within a published maximum ratio.