Summary

New Zealand continues to perform well in all aspects of transparency and exchange of information and remains rated Compliant by the Global Forum. The organisation and procedures remain complete and coherent and peers have been very satisfied with the quality and timeliness of the information provided by New Zealand. Over the new review period (from 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2016), New Zealand received almost 200 requests. A number of partners reported that the requests they sent to New Zealand were, albeit limited in number, very important in terms of the amount of tax to be assessed.  The main gap identified relates to the availability of beneficial ownership information, where a gap was identified in terms of coverage of legal entities, in particular the ones that do not fall within the obligations established for offshore persons. Moreover, since a number of legal obligations concerning beneficial ownership are new, New Zealand is recommended to ensure their adequate implementation in practice, in particular with regard to the obligations established under anti-money laundering legislation for lawyers, accountants and trust and company service providers and the tax reporting requirements imposed on offshore persons and non-resident settlor trusts.