INCOME TAX LAWS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22488, 4 August 1936, Page 5

INCOME TAX LAWS

AUSTRALIAN AMENDMENTS BENEFITS FOR VISITORS v [by TELEGBAPH —rBESS association] CHRISTCHURCH, Monday Changes in Australian State anS Federal income tax law, removing features that have been a source of irritation to business men visiting Australia from New Zealand, are announced b.v the Australian Trade Commissioner, Mr. R. H. Nesbitt, in a letter to the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. ' Mr. Nesbitt explains that a new amendment to the Federal Act states: "The following income shall be exempt from income tax:—lncome derived as director's fees or salary by a non-resi-dent during a visit to Australia during which he acts as a director, manager or other administrative officer of a manufacturing, mercantile or mining business, or of a business of primary production, if the visit of the nonresident to Australia does not exceed six months."

A further section puts the statutory exemption at £250, less £1 for every £2 by which the income exceeds £250, or where the income does not exceed £250, the amount of the income. Briefly, these two sections mean that any person visiting Australia in any of the capacities stated in the firstquoted section is not subject to assessment for income tax unless he stays more than six months. At the time of writing the New South Wales Act had not received the Royal assent, so that some months might elapse before the provisions were operative.