Adams Amy: Taxation (Annual Rates Trans-Tasman Savings Portability KiwiSaver and Remedial Matters) Bill — Second Reading 
Adams Amy: Taxation (Annual Rates Trans-Tasman Savings Portability KiwiSaver and Remedial Matters) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:664;Page:12186] 
AMY ADAMS (National—Selwyn) 
: 
 It is a pleasure to take a call this afternoon on the second reading of the Taxation (Annual Rates Trans-Tasman Savings Portability KiwiSaver and Remedial Matters) Bill. I was part of the Finance and Expenditure Committee that examined the bill. Tax legislation is possibly not the most stimulating of topics that we deal with in this House and for a wider audience it possibly does not generate the highest levels of interest. But it was quite an interesting process to work through the bill which enjoys a broad level of support in the House and I think that is sensible. 
There are certainly sensible measures within the bill such as allowing much easier flow of retirement savings between New Zealand and Australia. That is a welcome step. Many many New Zealanders who have worked in Australia and been subject to its compulsory retirement savings scheme have come back to New Zealand and been unable to access or transfer those funds and in the time between their transfer back to New Zealand and their reaching retirement age they have simply lost touch with those funds. Huge sums of money in Australia have not found their way back to their rightful owners. Anything we can do to ensure New Zealanders get the benefit of retirement savings they have made in Australia—and similarly for New Zealanders who go to Australia—is to be encouraged and applauded and I certainly do that. 
I will briefly touch on two other aspects of the bill that I found interesting during its passage through the Finance and Expenditure Committee. The first of those tidies up the rules for under-18-year-olds enrolling in KiwiSaver. Some traps in that process had been discovered that we had to work through. We looked at some interesting issues in relation to guardianship and the various situations that under-18-year-olds might find themselves in. The committee spent a bit of time on that with help from officials and I am comfortable that the position we have come to is a sensible one. 
The last matter I want to touch on briefly in this contribution is the reasonably well overlooked provisions in this legislation relating to binding rulings. Binding rulings are a part of tax law that I am very interested in because I think they are a very very important part of our tax structure whereby we enable taxpayers to find out in advance what the tax consequences will be rather than saying: “Have a go enter in then we’ll tell you later whether you’ve got it badly wrong.” They are a very valuable part of our tax system and one that I would like to see better utilised. So I applaud anything that clarifies the way in which they work. Although the provisions in the bill seem restrictive on the face of it they make it clear where the Commissioner of Inland Revenue can and cannot issue a binding ruling. To the extent that they will help taxpayers and their advisers better understand that process and know when to use it I think they are a welcome step and I certainly encourage taxpayers to take full of advantage of them. As I said any step we can take to enable people to understand how tax law will affect them at the front end of a transaction is to be welcomed. I commend the bill.