Minister of Revenue Peter Dunne today confirmed the Government’s intention to abolish gift duty, saying the decision would be welcomed by taxpayers generally as the rules were resulting in a high level of compliance costs and were no longer raising any significant revenue.

“Earlier this year I announced the Government’s intention to remove gift duty if concerns regarding creditor protection and social assistance targeting could be addressed,” said Mr Dunne.

“Since my announcement there has been considerable work done by officials across government to assess the concerns. This work has revealed that the protection that gift duty offers in the areas of income tax, creditors and social assistance has only ever been incidental and very limited.”

“Furthermore, the limited protection that gift duty offers does not outweigh the significant compliance costs, estimated at approximately $70 million per year that gift duty imposes on the private sector.”

“There is a broad range of other existing legislation that will provide adequate protection to mitigate the identified risks following the abolition of gift duty. Government agencies will monitor the impact of the changes and a post-implementation review will ensure there are no unintended effects,” said Mr Dunne.

The abolition of gift duty will be included in legislation to be introduced in November 2010 and will be effective from 1 October 2011.

ENDS

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