This Statement applies to the Commissioner’s discretion to allow customers to store information in a digital format and also sets out how the discretion to store business records offshore will be applied. It also confirms that as official languages of New Zealand, customers may keep their records in English or te reo Māori. It also provides guidelines for customers who wish to keep their records in a language other than English or te reo Māori.
Businesses must meet the requirements as specified in following laws with reference to retention of business record:
<> The TAA and the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985 (GSTA);
<> Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 (CCLA);
<> Contract and Commercial Law (Electronic Transactions) Regulations 2017 (CCLETR)
The Commissioner may authorise a customer to store records offshore or a third party to hold records offshore for multiple customers, if the storage of those records offshore does not impede the Commissioner’s compliance activities. In particular, the records stored offshore must remain accessible by the Commissioner.
An applicant will be required to demonstrate that the manner in which the records are to be stored offshore will meet the requirements of the CCLA and the CCLETR. Each application will be considered on a case by case basis having regard to the merits of the case, including the compliance history of the applicant.
For a third party application, the Commissioner will also consider whether the third party carries on business in, or through, an establishment in New Zealand. The Commissioner will also take account of the procedure that the third party has for dealing with client data should they cease to hold records for a client.
The Commissioner may impose conditions on an authorisation to store records offshore. The need to impose such conditions is determined on a case by case basis.
The Commissioner may withdraw an authorisation, either upon request by the party to which the authorisation applies or by giving reasonable notice of the withdrawal.
An authorisation given to a third party does not replace a customer’s responsibility to meet the record keeping requirements as prescribed in the Inland Revenue Acts. The authorisation merely enables the third party to store the customer’s records offshore without the customer being in breach of their obligations.
Pursuant to s 17B, the Commissioner can request information from any person, including a third party. Generally, the records of a specific customer will be obtained from that individual customer in the first instance. The Commissioner may request this information from a third party if it is necessary in the particular circumstances of the case.
The Commissioner will follow the standard practice for protecting customers’ rights to non-disclosure of tax advice documents and documents that are legally privileged when requesting information.
The Commissioner may authorise records to be kept in a language other than English or te reo Māori. Applications to keep records in other languages will be approved only in limited circumstances where there are compelling reasons to do so. These applications will be considered on the facts of each case.
All customers must use certain English phrases specifically required by the GSTA and numbers must be recorded using Arabic numerals. This will be the case even where the Commissioner has agreed to keep records in another language, or whether the customer has elected to keep their records in te reo Māori.
REPLACES
SPS 13/01: Retention of business records in electronic format, application to store records offshore and application to keep records in MāoriSTART DATE 6/5/2021
#Source: IRD
Comments