Tax Alert

CIR v Trustpower Ltd: Unfeasibility expenditure

Hopes for a turning of the tide may have been high in the wake of Justice Andrews’ refreshingly practical and commercially-minded High Court (“HC”) judgment for the taxpayer in Trustpower Ltd v CIR - not to mention the other recent taxpayer win in Vector Ltd v CIR.

Unfortunately, the Court of Appeal (“CA”) has dashed those hopes in ruling against the taxpayer by allowing the Commissioner’s appeal in Trustpower.  In delivering judgment for the Court, Justice White has held that $17.7m outlaid by Trustpower in applying for various resource consents relating to four potential electricity generation projects in the South Island was non-deductible capital expenditure.

More >

Also in this issue

Bright-line test for sale of residential property - issues paper released

Currency conversions for branches – draft released

Tax avoidance: Inland Revenue sheds further light on their approach in practice

Take care when transferring funds from a UK pension plan

New tax bill – the start of the business transformation process

Increase in pooling value threshold for depreciation purposes