A good tax budget but a pity about FIF

In a June 2008 I criticised the introduction of the foreign investment fund tax regime. At that time I said:

A good tax system is a simple one - right? Well all I can say is that someone forgot to tell the Government which has created a nightmare of complexity for FIF taxpayers. The Government was no doubt aided and abetted by its advisors who should surely have known better.

I noted that the new regime would result in a huge amount of unproductive time and cost and I provided a horrendous list of things investors would need to know and things they would have to do, to meet their tax obligations. At Sharesight we came to the rescue of our customers caught under the FIF rules by giving them a FIF report that provided the information they needed automatically. I concluded my June 2008 blog post by asking:

So what’s the answer? We can but hope that if there is a change of Government, this piece of lunatic legislation will be repealed. But don’t hold your breath!

Now two years later we have had a change of Government and Terry Hall advises that 'officials are studying ways to remove it'. See Dompost June 7 2010 NZ Grass may be looking green for tax weary Brits.

My mind boggles at the phrase ‘studying ways to remove it’ — surely all they have to do is scrap it!

Then we can stop holding our breath.

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