Tax Administration Act 1994

Information, record-keeping, and returns - Returns - Returns and return dates

44: Commissioner may in certain cases demand special returns, and make special assessments

You could also call this:

"The Commissioner can ask for special tax returns and assessments in certain situations."

Illustration for Tax Administration Act 1994

The Commissioner can ask you to make a special return if you are in certain situations. You might be an agent, a non-resident trader, or someone who is about to leave New Zealand. The Commissioner can also ask you to make a return if you have stopped doing business in New Zealand. The Commissioner can make a special assessment of your income tax at any time. You will have to pay the tax when the Commissioner asks you to. You can object to the assessment under Part 8 or challenge it under Part 8A. If the Commissioner makes a special assessment, it does not stop them from making another assessment later. You will get a credit for any tax you have already paid if the Commissioner makes another assessment. The tax rate used will be the one from the last annual taxing Act before the assessment was made.

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This page was last updated on 28 November 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM351362.

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Taxes

43B: Trustees, administrators, or executors of certain trusts or estates not required to file returns, or

"Some trusts and estates don't have to file tax returns if they have no income."

44A: Special returns by taxpayers affected by reduced deductions under Income Tax Act 2007, or

"File a special tax return if your income or deductions change under certain rules"

Part 3Information, record-keeping, and returns
Returns: Returns and return dates

44Commissioner may in certain cases demand special returns, and make special assessments

This section applies to the following persons:
an agent:
a non-resident trader:
a person who is believed by the Commissioner to be about to leave New Zealand or to be about to discontinue the carrying on of business in New Zealand:
a person who has ceased to carry on business in New Zealand or to derive income:
the executors or administrators of a deceased taxpayer in respect of taxable income of the taxpayer for the taxpayer's lifetime:
a person who has become bankrupt, or a company which is in the course of being liquidated.

The Commissioner may, if the Commissioner thinks fit, at any time during the tax year or in any subsequent year, and either before or after the passing of the annual taxing Act or the due date of tax, require any person to whom this section applies to make a return in relation to a specified transaction or transactions from which income has been derived, or any specified period in which income has been derived, and may assess the person for income tax accordingly, or, when default is made in making any such return, or the Commissioner is dissatisfied with the return, then on such sum as the Commissioner thinks reasonable, and shall give notice of the assessment to the person so assessed.
Any person so assessed shall have the same right to object to the assessment under Part 8 or to challenge the assessment under Part 8A as if the person had been assessed in the ordinary course.
Tax so assessed shall be payable on demand, which may be made in and by the notice of assessment or at any later date, and the tax shall be recoverable in the same manner as income tax assessed in the ordinary course.
If an assessment is made under this section before the passing of the annual taxing Act, the tax shall be assessed at the rate fixed by the annual taxing Act last passed before the date of the assessment.
No assessment made under this section shall in any manner preclude a subsequent assessment of the same person in the ordinary course for the tax year with respect to which the assessment under this section was made, but in any such case the tax paid under the earlier assessment shall be credited in the subsequent assessment.

Compare

1976 No 65 s 12
1994 No 76 s 9

Notes

Section 44(1)(d): replaced, on 26 July 1996 (applying to 1997–98 and subsequent income years), by section 442(1) of the Taxation (Core Provisions) Act 1996 (1996 No 67).
Section 44(1)(d): amended, on 1 April 2005 (effective for 2005–06 tax year and later tax years, except when the context requires otherwise), by section YA 2 of the Income Tax Act 2004 (2004 No 35).
Section 44(1)(e): replaced, on 26 July 1996 (applying to 1997–98 and subsequent income years), by section 442(1) of the Taxation (Core Provisions) Act 1996 (1996 No 67).
Section 44(2): replaced, on 26 July 1996 (applying to 1997–98 and subsequent income years), by section 442(2) of the Taxation (Core Provisions) Act 1996 (1996 No 67).
Section 44(2): amended, on 1 April 2005 (effective for 2005–06 tax year and later tax years, except when the context requires otherwise), by section YA 2 of the Income Tax Act 2004 (2004 No 35).
Section 44(3): amended, on 1 October 1996, by section 10 of the Tax Administration Amendment Act (No 2) 1996 (1996 No 56).
Section 44(5): replaced, on 26 July 1996 (applying to 1997–98 and subsequent income years), by section 442(3) of the Taxation (Core Provisions) Act 1996 (1996 No 67).
Section 44(5): amended, on 24 October 2001 (applying to 2002–03 and subsequent income years), by section 197(1) of the Taxation (Taxpayer Assessment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 (2001 No 85).
Section 44(6): replaced, on 26 July 1996 (applying to 1997–98 and subsequent income years), by section 442(3) of the Taxation (Core Provisions) Act 1996 (1996 No 67).
Section 44(6): amended, on 1 April 2005 (effective for 2005–06 tax year and later tax years, except when the context requires otherwise), by section YA 2 of the Income Tax Act 2004 (2004 No 35).
Section 44(6): amended, on 24 October 2001 (applying to 2002–03 and subsequent income years), by section 197(2) of the Taxation (Taxpayer Assessment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2001 (2001 No 85).