Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Income Tax Act 2007

General collection rules - General withholding and payment obligations

RA 21: Regulations

You could also call this:

“Rules for tax payments and job-related loans”

The Governor-General can make rules about how certain payments are handled for tax purposes. These rules can change what counts as salary, wages, extra pay, or schedular payments.

The Governor-General can also make rules about schedular payments. These rules can set how much tax you pay on these payments. They can let the Commissioner set your tax rate if you ask. The rules can also say that for some payments, the tax you pay is the same as your income tax. They can also say that tax must be taken out even if you’ve given the payment to someone else.

The Governor-General can set the interest rate for loans related to your job. When they make these rules, they usually start working after at least a month. If they lower the interest rate, it might start working sooner if they make the rule at least a month before the quarter ends.

All these rules are called secondary legislation. This means they have to follow certain steps to become official laws.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1519779.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Taxes
Previous

RA 20: Amalgamation of companies, or

“How tax responsibilities change when companies merge”

Next

RA 22: Limits on application of other provisions for purposes of PAYE rules, or

“Special rules for combined tax and earner-related payments in PAYE”

Part R General collection rules
General withholding and payment obligations

RA 21Regulations

  1. The Governor-General may make regulations by Order in Council to—

  2. declare a particular payment, or particular class of payments, to be included in, or excluded from, the definition of—
    1. salary or wages; or
      1. extra pay; or
        1. schedular payment:
        2. provide further rules in relation to schedular payments as set out in subsection (2):
          1. provide that the regulations do not apply to a particular person, or class or persons, on notification from the Commissioner.

            1. For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), regulations may be made under this Act or the Tax Administration Act 1994 in relation to schedular payments for the following purposes:

            2. to set the amount of tax for a particular schedular payment or particular class of schedular payment:
              1. to provide that the Commissioner may, if a person asks, set the rate of tax for a schedular payment to the person:
                1. to provide that the amount of tax for a particular schedular payment, class of schedular payment, or schedular payments under a particular threshold is the person’s income tax liability in relation to the relevant kind of income:
                  1. to provide that an amount of tax must be withheld and paid despite any assignment or charge.

                    1. The Governor-General may make regulations by Order in Council to declare the rate of interest applying to employment-related loans.

                    2. When regulations referred to in subsection (3) are made, they apply to quarters starting from a date at least 1 month following the date the regulations were made. Regulations that reduce the rate of interest from the prescribed rate of interest at the time, if made at least 1 month before the quarter ends, may apply for that quarter.

                    3. Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

                    Compare
                    Notes
                    • Section RA 21(4): amended (with effect on 1 April 2008), on , by section 494(1) of the Taxation (International Taxation, Life Insurance, and Remedial Matters) Act 2009 (2009 No 34).
                    • Section RA 21(5) heading: inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
                    • Section RA 21(5): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
                    • Section RA 21 list of defined terms ask: inserted, on , by section 74 of the Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Act 2016 (2016 No 27).