Rt Hon Winston Peters
New Zealand First Leader
Member of Parliament for Northland
2 MAY 2017

BIG HOUSING FAILURE AS SPECULATORS SUPPLY ‘INCORRECT’ IRD NUMBERS

The government’s feeble attempt to control housing speculation with some buyers and sellers having to disclose their IRD numbers has failed, says New Zealand First Leader and Northland Member of Parliament Rt Hon Winston Peters.

“People are breaking the law; that’s the only way to explain why there have been so many incorrect IRD numbers supplied on land transfer tax statement (LTTS) forms.

“The National Business Review has reported one in every 20 IRD numbers supplied are incorrect.

“Between October 1, 2016, and December 31, 2016, from a total of 266,000 land transfer forms, approximately 12,500 were incorrect.

“Human error could have been responsible for some of these errors but the number is so high it is clear widespread rorting of the system is going on.

“Two years ago the government, in an attempt to tighten rules on residential property investors and overseas buyers, introduced a requirement that non-residents and New Zealanders buying and selling any property other than their main homes had to provide a New Zealand IRD number.

“New Zealand First warned at the time that buyers and sellers would find ways to work around it and this is happening,” says Mr Peters.

ENDS

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