[Brian Morris]

A query from a student. “Has anyone been hit twice for TAX from UK jobs?”

Usually the client (eg a UK book publisher) deducts non-resident withholding tax from the contractor’s (YOU) payment and they pay you the remainder. That’s normal procedure.

Question: Has anyone been asked to pay NZ TAX on top of the payment received from UK? Or elsewhere?

That means double tax. Unfair.

PS: I’ve never heard of it. BM

[Contact NZIBS]

I’ve thought twice about responding to this, as I have not earned an income per se from the UK since I moved to New Zealand. So, I could not comment on what would or has happened in this instance.

However, I can confirm that income that was, or still is being generated through investment, such as a pension investment or a saving’s account, will have incurred tax in the UK, and then is taxed again when you bring it over to New Zealand. This happened to my husband and me when we brought our pensions over. It was unavoidable despite both the pension-broker and a well-established accountant working on our behalf.

The New Zealand authorities do not distinguish between income that has been taxed, or income that has not been taxed abroad.  Their sole concern is the income that a resident of New Zealand earns, regardless of where it comes from geographically. At least, that is how it was explained to me.

[Dick Ward]

I have a feeling that US citizens can be taxed twice as well.

I know the rules about UK pensions have changed but my understanding is that even if you pay tax in the UK for a job you can claim it back from the UK tax authorities at the end of the tax year if you are non-resident. That used to be the case but who knows with all sorts of loopholes being tightened up.

[Janice Mitchell]

Thanks, Dick. I have tried contacting IRD about this, and after quite a performance getting someone to talk to, and then having that person say they can’t answer unless I send a private query via MYIRD, which I had to register for, then not having my query responded to, I am about to try to contact them again. Wish me luck! At this point, without solid info, there really is no point applying for anything offshore as far as I can see, as you don’t know what you are dealing with.