Land transfer tax statements FAQs

Main home transfers

The land I am transferring doesn't have a home on it - do I need to answer question 3B?

No, you only need to answer question 3B if the transfer is a transfer of land that has a home on it.

What is a "main home transfer" in question 3B?

For Sellers, please indicate that the transfer is a “main home transfer” if either of the following apply:

(a) You (the transferor) have resided in the home for more than 50% of the period during which you have owned the land; or

(b) You (the transferor) are a trustee, and a beneficiary of the trust has resided in the home for more than 50% of the period that the trust has owned the land.

For Buyers, please indicate that the transfer is a “main home transfer” if either of the following apply:

(a) You (the transferee) intend to reside in the home; or

(b) You (the transferee) are a trustee, and a beneficiary of the trust intends to reside in the home.

Do I need to provide my IRD number if it’s a main home transfer?

Yes, you will need to provide your IRD number for all transfers, unless one of the non-notifiable reasons applies.

Do the tax changes introduced in March 2021 change how I should answer question 3B – “Is the transfer a ‘main home transfer’?”

No. The information you must provide in your tax statement is set out in the Land Transfer Act and has not changed. You should answer question 3B as follows:

For Sellers, please indicate that the transfer is a “main home transfer” if either:

• You (the transferor) have resided in the home for more than 50% of the period during which you have owned the land; or
• You (the transferor) are a trustee, and a beneficiary of the trust has resided in the home for more than 50% of the period that the trust has owned the land.

For Buyers, please indicate that the transfer is a “main home transfer” if either:

• You (the transferee) intend to reside in the home; or
• You (the transferee) are a trustee, and a beneficiary of the trust intends to reside in the home.

If I answer “yes” to question 3B, indicating that the transfer is a ‘main home transfer’, does that mean I don’t have to pay tax?

Not necessarily. You should obtain professional tax advice if you have any queries about your liability to pay tax. For residential properties acquired on or after 27 March 2021, a new change of use rule will apply, which means that tax may be payable on a proportion of the profit made through the property increasing in value even if the property was your main home for more than 50% of the time you owned it.

Find more information about tax on property on IRD’s website

A special report on the recent changes is available on the Tax Policy website:

Special report on new tax legislation

Non-notifiable reasons

What are the non-notifiable reasons?

You may not need to provide your tax details if one of the following “non-notifiable” reasons applies (but you will still need to provide a tax statement):

• you are disposing of the land as part of a mortgagee sale, rating sale under the Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, a court ordered sale or statute ordered sale.
• you are acting as a transferor or transferee on behalf of a public authority as defined in the Land Transfer (Land Information and Offshore Persons Information) Exemption Regulations 2015 (eg. Her Majesty the Queen)
• you are acting as a transferor or transferee on behalf of a local authority as defined in the Income Tax Act 2007
• you are acting as executor or administrator for a deceased person’s estate and the transferee is beneficially entitled to receive the property under the will or the rules governing intestacy.

Can I still claim the main home non-notifiable reason at question 15?

No. The main home non-notifiable reason was removed from the Land Transfer Act 2017 on 1 January 2020 and transitional period ended on 1 July 2020, so you can no longer claim the main home non-notifiable reason.

Family trusts

What tax information do family trusts need to provide?

Where a family trust is purchasing or selling a property or individual trustees are changing, whether the transfer is a main home transfer or not, they are still required to provide tax details including the IRD number for that trust. While trustees may be able to claim a main home exclusion from liability to pay tax under section CB 16A of the Income Tax Act 2007, they must still record the trust’s IRD number in the tax statement.  

Information on buying and selling residential property on the Inland Revenue website.

Whose IRD number is required for a trust?

Trusts are allocated IRD numbers independently of the trustees in their personal capacity. When a trust transfers property, it is the trust’s IRD number that’s needed.

Some trusts have no taxable income and may not have an IRD number. These trusts will need to obtain an IRD number to complete a purchase, sale or transfer of property (including transfer to give effect to a change of trustees).

How does a trust answer the questions in the Land Transfer Tax Statement?

A person acting as a trustee of a trust must complete a tax statement for themselves in their capacity as a trustee. Each other trustee must complete a separate tax statement. A trustee cannot submit one tax statement for the trust.

At question 5, the trustee must record their full name, not the name of the trust. This is because the Land Transfer Act 2017 prohibits any reference to trusts on the register.

The trustee should complete questions 9 and 10 with reference to their own and their immediate family’s citizenship and visa details.

The trustee will need to insert the trust’s IRD number in question 17. Trusts are allocated IRD numbers independently of the trustees in their personal capacity. When a trust transfers property, it is the trust’s IRD number that is needed.

Immediate family

Who is considered to be my "immediate family"?

For questions 10, 12 & 13 of the land transfer tax statement, “immediate family” is considered to be a person who is:

• your spouse, civil union partner, or de facto partner
• your parent, sister, or brother
• your child, or a child’s spouse or partner, or
• the parent, child, sister, or brother of your spouse, civil union partner, or de facto partner.

Information that sellers and buyers need to provide (Inland Revenue website).

Overseas taxpayers

Is my overseas Tax Identification Number (TIN) needed if I live in New Zealand?

If you file a tax return overseas, you’ll need to provide the TIN for that jurisdiction – even if you live in New Zealand.

What if I have more than one TIN?

If you’re a tax resident overseas, you must provide all relevant TINs from each jurisdiction where you’re a tax resident.

Only provide the numbers where you pay tax, not historic numbers. For example, if you have a TIN from working during your OE, but are no longer tax resident in that country, don’t provide it.

Relationship property settlements

What tax information is required for a relationship property settlement?

Even if someone is exempt from paying tax under the bright line test, they usually still need to provide a tax statement and, unless they have a non-notifiable reason not to, an IRD number. 

See how property tax applies to a relationship property settlement example

Estates

What happens with estates?

Where property is transferred from an estate to a beneficiary under the will or the rules governing intestacy, executors/administrators do not have to provide an IRD number. Beneficiaries, or anyone who purchases from an estate, are required to provide an IRD number. Where executors/administrators are transferring estate property to someone other than a beneficiary or not in terms of the will, the executor/administrator would need to provide the estate’s IRD number.

Mortgagee and Court-ordered sales

What happens with forced sales – such as mortgagee sales or sales as a result of court order?

If property is sold by mortgagee sale, the transferor is the mortgagee/bank and does not need an IRD number – however the purchaser does.

If property is sold as a result of a Court order (such as a sale under a charging order), the transferor does not need an IRD number, however the purchaser does.

Local authorities and Government agencies

Are transfers to local authorities or Government agencies exempt?

Tax-exempt public authorities or local authorities, as defined in the Income Tax Act 2007, do not need an IRD number when transferring land.  This includes departments and departmental agencies but not wider Crown entities or Council Controlled Organisations.

For example, if the Ministry of Education sells school buildings and land to an individual developer, it doesn’t need to provide its IRD number but the developer would.

Nominees and nominations

Is it the nominee or nominator who must provide tax information?

When completing the tax statement, be aware that the terminology used in respect to 'nominee' differs to that normally used in conveyancing.

For the tax statement, the 'nominee' is defined in section YB21 of the Income Tax Act 2007 and is the person who does, or holds, on behalf of someone else (the 'nominator').  The person who has decision-making power, or who takes the profit from the sale, is the 'nominator'.  It is the 'nominator' who must provide tax details.

See the case study 'Nominators and nominees' for more information

How is nominator tax information entered in Landonline?

The Landonline Prepare Tax Statements screen provides for entry of a nominator name using the following steps: 

1. Prepare the transfer as usual and the Transferor and Transferee names will display in the Prepare Tax Statements screen.

2. The nominee’s name as transferor or transferee will populate automatically in question 5 while the name of one of the nominators should be entered at question 7. The remaining questions should be completed using the nominator’s information.
3. The paper statement must be signed by the transferor or transferee who is acting as nominee.

How is tax information entered in Landonline for multiple nominators?

If a transferor or transferee is acting on behalf of multiple nominators, a tax statement is required for each nominator, however only one set of information can be recorded in Landonline against the transferor or transferee who is acting as nominee.

Prepare the required statements and have them signed by the nominee as described in step 3 of the above FAQ “How is nominator tax information entered in Landonline?”. You should then choose one for entry to Landonline. Lawyers and conveyancers are required to retain a copy of every tax statement they receive, so information on the other nominators will still be accessible on request from Land Information New Zealand or Inland Revenue.

How is tax information entered in Landonline when there is a Deed of Nomination?

For this discussion the Deed of Nomination will result in the nominee taking possession of property in their own right and they will not be acting on behalf of the nominator so are not considered a ‘nominee’ for the purposes of completing the tax statement (refer to the definition of a nominee in our FAQ "Is it the nominee or nominator who must provide tax information?").

For example:

There is an agreement for sale and purchase from Person A to Person B. B also has a Deed of Nomination to C. One transfer is prepared for registration from A to C. In this case, the following steps should be used:

1. Prepare the transfer as usual and the Transferor (A) and Transferee (C) names will display in the Prepare Tax Statements screen.
2. Enter tax information for A and C being their own tax details -  do not enter any tax information for B nor make reference to B in the tax statement.

Companies and partnerships

How does a company answer the questions in the Land Transfer Tax Statement?

A person completing a tax statement on behalf of a company should record the company’s full name at question 5, then select “entity” in question 6 and proceed to question 14. The company’s tax information should then be recorded in the relevant spaces.

Transfers of multiple titles

How is tax information entered in Landonline for a single transfer of multiple titles?

Each transferee (buyer) and transferor (seller) will need to provide a tax statement with full tax details unless they can claim a non-notifiable reason that is applicable to all records of title in the transfer.

This means, for each individual transferee (buyer) and transferor (seller) :

• if a single non-notifiable reason is claimable for the combined title area, this may be recorded against the individual to which it applies and no tax statement is required
• if a single non-notifiable reason is claimable for the combined title area, a tax statement is required, but no tax details are required
• if a non-notifiable reason is claimable for one title, but not the others, a tax statement with full tax details is required
• if a different non-notifiable reason can be claimed for each of the titles being transferred, but no single non-notifiable reason can be applied to all titles, the buyer or seller must provide a tax statement with full tax details.

Alternatively, the transaction could be split into multiple transfers, however this would result in additional registration fees. 

Getting an IRD number

How do you get an IRD number?

Apply in writing to Inland Revenue. If you apply on behalf of a trust, you must provide all trustees’ names and a copy of the trust deed.

Applying for an IRD number on the Inland Revenue website

Got a question?

For registered Landonline users, submit a 'Titles Information' request in Landonline.

For other users, send an email to customersupport@linz.govt.nz

Before you submit an enquiry, check the Land transfer tax statements main and common scenarios pages and the notes section of the Tax Statement form. We cannot provide advice about how to answer the questions in the tax statement.