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Goods and Services Tax Act 1985

Registration

52: Cancellation of registration

You could also call this:

"Stopping your GST registration if you don't earn enough or stop doing taxable activities"

Illustration for Goods and Services Tax Act 1985

If you are registered for goods and services tax and you think you will not make more than a certain amount of money from taxable activities in the next 12 months, you might not have to be registered anymore. You can ask the Commissioner to cancel your registration if you meet this condition, as stated in section 51(1). The Commissioner will then cancel your registration from the last day of the taxable period when they decided to cancel it.

If you stop doing all taxable activities, you must tell the Commissioner within 21 days. The Commissioner will then cancel your registration from the last day of the taxable period when you stopped doing taxable activities. You need to give the Commissioner the date you stopped doing taxable activities and whether you plan to do them again within 12 months.

The Commissioner can also cancel your registration if they think you are not doing any taxable activities. They will cancel it from the last day of the taxable period when they made this decision. For some people, like those who are not residents of New Zealand and are not registered under section 54B, taxable activities only include those done in New Zealand.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM84836.

Topics:
Money and consumer rights > Taxes
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Part 8Registration

52Cancellation of registration

  1. Subject to this Act, every registered person who carries on any taxable activity shall cease to be liable to be registered where at any time the Commissioner is satisfied that the value of that person's taxable supplies in the period of 12 months then beginning will be not more than the amount specified for the purposes of section 51(1).

  2. Every person who, by virtue of subsection (1), ceases to be liable to be registered may request the Commissioner to cancel that person's registration, and if the Commissioner is at any time satisfied, as mentioned in subsection (1), the Commissioner shall cancel that person's registration with effect from the last day of the taxable period during which the Commissioner was so satisfied, or from such other date as may be determined by the Commissioner, and shall notify that person of the date on which the cancellation of the registration takes effect.

  3. Every registered person who ceases to carry on all taxable activities shall inform the Commissioner of that fact within 21 days of the date of cessation and the Commissioner shall cancel the registration of any such person with effect from the last day of the taxable period during which all such taxable activities ceased, or from such other date as may be determined by the Commissioner: provided that the Commissioner shall not at any time cancel the registration of any such registered person if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the registered person will carry on any taxable activity at any time within 12 months from that date of cessation.

  4. Any information provided by a registered person to the Commissioner under subsection (3) must include the date on which the person ceased to carry on all taxable activities and whether or not the person intends to carry on any taxable activity within 12 months from that date.

  5. Where the Commissioner is satisfied that a registered person is not carrying on a taxable activity the Commissioner may cancel that person's registration with effect from the last day of the taxable period during which the Commissioner was so satisfied, or from such other date as may be determined by the Commissioner, and shall notify that person of the date on which the cancellation of the registration takes effect.

  6. Any date determined by the Commissioner for the cancellation of registration under subsection (5) may be retrospective to a date not earlier than—

  7. the last day of the taxable period during which taxable activity by the person ceased; or
    1. the date on which the person was registered under this Act, if the Commissioner is satisfied that the person did not, from that date, carry on any taxable activity.

      1. Repealed

      2. In subsections (5) and (5A), for a non-resident person who is not registered under section 54B, a taxable activity means a taxable activity carried on in New Zealand.

      3. If a unit title body corporate is a registered person on the date of introduction of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2015–16, Research and Development, and Remedial Matters) Bill and the registration is later cancelled after an application under subsection (2), the cancellation must take effect on or after the date on which the unit title body corporate applies for cancellation of the registration.

      4. If a unit title body corporate is registered under this Act with effect from a date (the registration date) after the date of introduction of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2015–16, Research and Development, and Remedial Matters) Bill and the registration is later cancelled after an application under subsection (2), the cancellation must take effect on or after the later of—

      5. the date on which the unit title body corporate applies for cancellation of the registration:
        1. the day that is 4 years after the registration date.

          Notes
          • Section 52(1): amended, on , by section 9 of the Goods and Services Tax Amendment Act 1987 (1987 No 103).
          • Section 52(2): amended, on , by section 193(1) of the Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Act 2016 (2016 No 27).
          • Section 52(3): amended, on , by section 193(2) of the Taxation (Transformation: First Phase Simplification and Other Measures) Act 2016 (2016 No 27).
          • Section 52(3): amended, on , by section 163(2) of the Taxation (GST, Trans-Tasman Imputation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2003 (2003 No 122).
          • Section 52(3): amended (with effect on 3 December 1985), on , by section 27(1) of the Goods and Services Tax Amendment Act 1986 (1986 No 43).
          • Section 52(4): substituted, on , by section 163(3) of the Taxation (GST, Trans-Tasman Imputation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2003 (2003 No 122).
          • Section 52(5): substituted, on , by section 13 of the Goods and Services Tax Amendment Act 1990 (1990 No 64).
          • Section 52(5A): inserted, on , by section 13 of the Goods and Services Tax Amendment Act 1990 (1990 No 64).
          • Section 52(6): repealed (with effect on 3 December 1985), on , by section 27(2) of the Goods and Services Tax Amendment Act 1986 (1986 No 43).
          • Section 52(7): added, on (applying to a person who becomes registered under this Act on or after 21 June 2005), by section 160(1) of the Taxation (Base Maintenance and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2005 (2005 No 79).
          • Section 52(7): amended, on , by section 140 of the Taxation (Livestock Valuation, Assets Expenditure, and Remedial Matters) Act 2013 (2013 No 52).
          • Section 52(8): inserted (with effect on 26 February 2015), on , by section 282 of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2015–16, Research and Development, and Remedial Matters) Act 2016 (2016 No 1).
          • Section 52(9): inserted (with effect on 26 February 2015), on , by section 282 of the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2015–16, Research and Development, and Remedial Matters) Act 2016 (2016 No 1).