Inland Revenue lifting the veil

At present, if you do business with a company, and it has significant tax debt, which weakens its cash position, you have no way of knowing about this liability.

Effective 29 June 2017, Inland Revenue will be able to disclose information about companies which have tax debt over $150,000, to approved credit reporting agencies. While we will not be able to obtain this information directly, a request through one of the credit agencies will reveal a significant tax debt.

While this is a crack in the wall surrounding Inland Revenue’s secrecy, it is hard to argue with as it does make this information available to potential creditors, and thus make informed decisions about dealing with companies which have high tax debt.