The ‘bright-line’ measures: The tax implications for china

This article considers the implications of the new ‘Bright-line’ measures for Chinese residents. It will be seen that not only does section CB6A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 2007 (ITA 2007) provide a new source of taxation for property gains made by such persons, but the new Residential Land Withholding Tax (RLWT) will ensure that tax is collected at settlement and remitted to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). Further the new land information measures and related changes in the requirements for obtaining an IRD number will significantly impact on Chinese nationals. As already briefly noted, these new measures are also designed to combat the significant money laundering that currently occurs in New Zealand. Further, the new RLWT measures include disclosure requirements by both the vendor and the paying agent (solicitor/conveyancer). It also has implications for the government ofthe Peoples Republic of China. China has an existing Double Tax Agreement (DTA) with New Zealand. One role of a DTA is to allocate the taxing rights between the contracting States through distributive Articles, determining whether it is the source country or the country of residence that has the right to tax the income. This article considers the taxing rights under the China and New Zealand DTA. Moreover, the new information gathering and sharing measures will build on the existing DTA and assist the Chinese government in ensuring such persons are meeting their domestic tax obligations.