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New Zealand GST on foreign sellers delay till Dec 2019

  • Jun 10, 2019 | Richard Asquith

New Zealand is to require non-resident businesses selling goods to its consumers to collect 15% Goods and Services Tax from 1 December 2019, a two-month delay for the Oct launch plan. This is based on a recent recommendation by the Finance and Expenditure Committee.

There will be an annual sales registration threshold of NZ$60,000 (approximately €35,000). There will also be NZ$1,000 (approximately €570) GST exemption on small value items being imported to consumers. B2B transactions will be outside of the scope of the new rules, and the New Zealand GST registered company may instead record the transaction in their return under the reverse charge rules.

Facilitating marketplaces setting conditions to the transactions via the terms and conditions on behalf of the foreign seller will be required to register and report the GST instead of the seller. Arrangement of delivery of the goods by the marketplace will also require them to become the deemed supplier for GST purposes.

Foreign suppliers or marketplaces may use the simplified GST registration and returns program. This requires basic business information for the registration, and just sales totals for the subsequent quarterly returns. This is known as a ‘pay-only’ registration.


VP Global Indirect Tax
Richard Asquith
VP Global Indirect Tax Richard Asquith
Richard Asquith is the former VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara
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