News Round Up

Tax changes not over, Smartshares FUM nearly $600 mill. Comment: Class action against Bridgecorp advisers unlikely.

Monday, October 29th 2007, 6:55AM

Tax changes not over
The government has outlined its latest round of tax reform work which includes some areas of interest to advisers and the savings industry.

"The reform of New Zealand's international tax rules, measures to increase personal savings…will continue to be a major focus over the next few months," Revenue Minister Peter Dunne says.

"They will be joined by a review of the imputation rules, which will soon get under way. The review will look at issues such as who can use imputation credits and the refunding of imputation credits to charities."

A discussion document seeking feedback on proposals emerging from the review is planned for release early next year."

In the next few weeks officials will release an issues paper that looks at the treatment of foreign dividends received by New Zealand residents. Before Christmas there will be a consultative document covering the taxation of life insurers.

NZX's Smartshares passive fund business has finished the third quarter of its financial year with $591 million in funds under management. This is a 28% increase on the same period last year.

Smartshares operating revenue was up 22% to $748,000 compared to last year, however EBITDA was down 15% to $109,000 due to one-off costs associated with the introduction of the PIE tax regine and the establishment of its KiwiSaver scheme, Smartkiwi.

COMMENT: Class action against Bridgecorp advisers unlikely
I spent some time, last week, at the EUFA-organised public meeting of people who lost money in Bridgecorp.

The aim of the meeting was to discuss what sort of action people who lost money in Bridgecorp (and other finance companies) could take against advisers.[READ ON]

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