New Zealand’s banks are planning to freeze accounts of several people who have yet to respond to requests to confirm whether they are foreign taxpayers. New Zealand has a new legislation under which financial institutions must find out whether their customers are tax residents of other countries and report the details of those who are to the Inland Revenue by 30 June each year, starting this year. The Inland Revenue then shares that information with other countries in the OECD to ensure people are paying the right tax under an automatic exchange of information standard. Thousands of customers have yet to contact their banks, leaving their accounts in limbo as banks are forced to put a hold on their accounts. The New Zealand Bankers Association has estimated about 8 per cent of accounts opened since 1 July 2017 could be affected by the change.
