New Zealand: Tax measures in 2026 budget
Changes to foreign investment tax rules, financial arrangement rules, and R&D tax credit
The New Zealand 2026 budget introduces various tax proposals, including:
- Foreign investment tax reforms, such as doubling the de minimis threshold (from NZ$50,000 to NZ$100,000) before investors become subject to the complex foreign investment fund (FIF) regime and making the realization basis taxation approach for unlisted foreign shares available to all New Zealand taxpayers
- Changes to financial arrangement rules, including exclusions for certain low-risk financial arrangements (e.g., residential mortgages) and unrealized foreign exchange movements
- Research and development (R&D) tax credit changes, including significant decrease in the cap on non-administrative internal software development spend (from NZ$25 million to NZ$3 million) and introduction of the in-year tax credit process, as well as other compliance simplifications.
Read a May 2026 report prepared by the KPMG member firm in New Zealand