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Income Tax Act 2007

General collection rules - Provisional tax

RC 4: Choosing to pay provisional tax

You could also call this:

“How to opt into paying provisional tax when filing your first tax return”

When you first give your tax return for a year, you can choose to pay provisional tax for that year. You can do this if you’ve paid more than $5,000 in provisional tax by a certain date. This date is either the date of instalment F for the matching income year, or the last instalment date in a changing year.

You also need to reasonably expect that you’ll have to pay provisional tax for the year, apart from this choice. This expectation should be there on the day you make your first provisional tax payment for the year.

This rule doesn’t apply to some people. You can check section RC 3(2) to see if you’re one of those people.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM1519807.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Taxes
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RC 3: Who is required to pay provisional tax?, or

“People who owe more than $5,000 in tax must pay provisional tax, with some exceptions”

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RC 5: Methods for calculating provisional tax liability, or

“Different ways to calculate how much provisional tax you need to pay”

Part R General collection rules
Provisional tax

RC 4Choosing to pay provisional tax

  1. A person, when first providing a return of income for a tax year, may choose to pay provisional tax for the tax year if—

  2. they have paid provisional tax of more than $5,000 on or before—
    1. the date of instalment F for the corresponding income year; or
      1. the final instalment date in a transitional year; and
      2. they have, on the day on which the first payment of provisional tax is made for the tax year, a reasonable expectation that they are liable to pay provisional tax for the tax year, other than by this election.

        1. This section does not apply to a person described in section RC 3(2).

        Compare
        Notes
        • Section RC 4(1)(a): amended, on , by section 22(1) (and see section 22(2) for application) of the COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Act 2020 (2020 No 8).