Changes to who can be a director of a NZ Company are coming

Important changes to who can be a director of a NZ Company are coming

Legislation has been passed to alter the residency requirements of directors of New Zealand Companies. From 1 May 2015, any company incorporated in New Zealand is required to have at least one director who lives in New Zealand.

Due to the close economic ties between New Zealand and Australia, the sole exception to this rule is that a person living in Australia who is also a director of an Australian incorporated company will be classified as a NZ resident director for the purposes of the director test.

Existing companies will be given an additional 180 days (until 28 October 2015) to comply with this new requirement.

As part of the legislation change, all directors of NZ companies must also provide the following information to the NZ Companies Office as part of the annual return process:

The date and place of birth of each director
Details of the entities ultimate holding company if applicable
If these changes affect your company we recommend you talk to your trusted MSI advisor today to put in place a strategy to ensure that you will comply with the new rules by the due date.

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