Lifetime Property Accounting

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Lifetime Property Accounting Creating greater financial certainty through all life stages. Property decisions are big-dollar decisions.

Lifetime Property Accounting
Specialists in property tax, structuring, and investment accounting for nearly 20 years. The right structure can save you thousands in tax, protect your assets, and keep your cash flow working for you. The wrong one can lock you into costly mistakes that are difficult to undo. That’s why property investors need more than a general accountant; they need a specialist who understands the rules, the risks, and the opportunities unique to property. From rentals to developments and trading, property decisions all come with tax rules, structures, and long-term implications to navigate. At Lifetime Property Accountants, we focus on making those decisions clearer and your accounting simpler with tools like Xero. We specialise in guiding investors through every stage of property ownership. We can help you with:
Buying or selling rentals – understand cashflow and tax implications before you commit. Reviewing your rental portfolio – ensure your properties are set up in the most tax-effective way. Turning your home into a rental – know the financial and tax consequences upfront. Developments and subdivisions – assess whether adding units or building new property will create equity and workable cashflow. Property trading – understand GST rules, tainting, and risk management. Ownership structures – including Trusts and Look-Through Companies (LTCs). Long-term property strategy – align your decisions with future goals

Xero integration – make your accounting easier with cloud-based tools

A great starting point is to organise a free 5 or 10 minute chat with Ross to see how we can help - https://www.lifetime.co.nz/business-advice/accounting/lifetime-property-accounting/

22/10/2026

Why lifestyle blocks don’t make great rentals

Inflation - Below expectations, but a higher inflation outlook for year end.Back in May 2026, the RBNZ was predicting 4....
22/10/2026

Inflation - Below expectations, but a higher inflation outlook for year end.

Back in May 2026, the RBNZ was predicting 4.3% annual inflation by the end of September 2026. In quarterly terms, this implied September quarter would be approximately 1.3%. This forecast changed over the following months, with the RBNZ's latest prediction revised down to 3.9% annual inflation for September.

September actual annual inflation is 3.7%.

Actual quarterly inflation is only 0.7%! If we annualise, that equates to 2.8% per annum.

What does this mean for interest rates?

The next OCR announcement is 28th October.

- ANZ, BNZ, ASB and Westpac, are expecting a 0.25% increase, taking the OCR to 3%.
- Kiwibank: “We don’t need rate hikes at the minute,” Kiwibank’s economists said, adding that if the RBNZ does move, it should take the OCR to 3% and hold.

In theory, the banks should have already factored this increase into their rates. However, swap rates have also been rising. Over the next few days, before the 28th, is a great time to review your loans.

Keep an eye out for our upcoming post compared 1 year and 2 year fixed rates.

Does Your Accountant Really Understand Property?Here are some simple examples of a few accountant mistakes we have seen:...
16/10/2026

Does Your Accountant Really Understand Property?

Here are some simple examples of a few accountant mistakes we have seen:

1. Depreciation claimed on a commercial building (incorrectly claimed).
Approximately $9,000 of depreciation had been claimed on commercial building, incorrectly reducing tax by around $3,000.

This creates exposure to IRD interest and penalties, and potentially even more serious Trust related issues that could cost thousands.
- No chattels depreciation had been claimed on the commercial property, meaning substantial deductions were missed on internal partitions, plumbing, electrical systems, and other depreciable assets such as heat pumps, carpet, driveways, and fencing.
- Depreciation was also being claimed on commercial land, just to top it off.

2. Large beneficiary current account within a Trust
This meant the key objective of asset protection was not being achieved.

3. Property sales with taxable gains returned as tax free.

The gains were taxable due to tainting but had been returned as tax free. If the property investor had known the true tax position, they probably wouldn't have sold the properties.

4. Missing chattels valuation and depreciation on a new-build rental property.

Thousands of dollars of legitimate depreciation deductions had been missed, resulting in thousands of dollars of additional tax being paid. The property was high level, so this could mean an additional $15,000 tax paid over 10 years.

5. Old business entity not being wound up
This was creating an unnecessary additional tax bill of approximately $8,000 every year. In this case, it was an easy fix.

6. Business structure not linked with an existing property and asset protection structure.

The result was that at least $50,000 per year was being taxed at 39% instead of 17.5%.
Potential tax saving: $10,750 per year, at minimal cost and easy fix.

7. Restructuring debt between personal and rental entities.

By legitimately borrowing an additional $300,000 within the rental entity and reducing personal home debt, estimated tax savings of approximately $5,000 per year could be achieved.

We find that for many business owners who also own property, the structures and entities are already in place but are not being fully utilised to legally minimise tax.

Similarly, many smaller property investors find that their accountants simply are not particularly focused on property, meaning many straight forward opportunities and legitimate tax saving strategies are overlooked.

Do you owe IRD? Unfortunately, sometimes business doesn't go to plan, and either your business or you as an individual c...
15/10/2026

Do you owe IRD?

Unfortunately, sometimes business doesn't go to plan, and either your business or you as an individual can get behind with IRD.

If you hide from the IRD arrears, sooner or later the IRD will get serious and try to collect this debt, which could, in a worst-case scenario, mean liquidation of your business or personal bankruptcy.

1) We have a number of options available to help with IRD debt. It might be a simple payment arrangement with IRD, or potentially we can use Tax Management to pay your tax on time (so that IRD sees you as a perfect taxpayer), and you pay a lower interest cost to Tax Management.

2) The key thing is to talk to IRD and resolve the issue. To do this, you must keep current with your tax obligations. If you are continually late filing or continually paying late for GST, PAYE, and other taxes, then IRD will not enter into a payment arrangement.

3) Make sure any payment arrangement includes all taxes. If, for example, the tax return for the year ending 31/3/26 has not been completed and filed with IRD, you might get the monthly payment arrangement set up, only to find that you have further tax due that you hadn't budgeted for.

4) Make sure any write-off is not made within the company, as this can lead to further profit and an additional tax bill.

5) Once the arrangement is in place, you must stick to it.

EXAMPLE:
We recently had a client in a difficult personal situation. They had gotten further and further into arrears and, in total, owed IRD approximately $300,000.
We met with IRD and our client early on, so that IRD could understand the client's situation.

We worked with the client to get all returns up to date and to estimate their 2027 earnings and profits, so that our client could understand the full picture and future tax payments required.

The end result was that the client only had to pay around $200,000, representing a reduction of approximately $100,000.

If you have IRD arrears, a great starting point is a chat with Ross, and then, most likely, a meeting with IRD.

We will be amazed if Ring Fencing is ever removed. Before 2019, property promoters were too aggressive with promoting ...
13/10/2026

We will be amazed if Ring Fencing is ever removed.
Before 2019, property promoters were too aggressive with promoting negative cashflow properties that were propped up by tax refunds.

One of the biggest tips to legally reduce tax on rental properties is to see whether you can borrow more that is deducti...
12/10/2026

One of the biggest tips to legally reduce tax on rental properties is to see whether you can borrow more that is deductible.

Here is a simple example of saving $2,500 in tax per year.

A client is undertaking $150,000 of renovations on their personal home. If they borrow from the bank to complete these renovations, the interest will not be deductible because the debt is being used for personal purposes.

After a discussion with Ross, their rental company borrows $150,000 to repay part of their shareholder's current account. The extra debt is then being used for a business/rental purpose, so the interest is deductible. At approximately 5% interest, and tax savings at 33% in this case, this results in around $2,500 less tax per year!

This is strategy is called borrowing to repay shareholder's current account, and we have included a video example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63UINb5qI1s

If you have personal debt, or are looking to borrow for something personal, it is worth reviewing whether you have a large shareholder's current account within your rental company!

If Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is introduced, what happens if you renovate or improve your rental property? We won’t have de...
11/10/2026

If Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is introduced, what happens if you renovate or improve your rental property?

We won’t have definite answers until the legislation is released. However, based on current property tax provisions in New Zealand, any capital improvements or renovation costs would reduce the capital profit and, therefore, reduce the CGT payable.

Want to know more about how Capital Gains Tax (CGT) would work for property investors? Our September article has great information and a simple example.


Does removing tax on investment earnings (gains) inside KiwiSaver make much difference?This is a post we did a few month...
11/10/2026

Does removing tax on investment earnings (gains) inside KiwiSaver make much difference?

This is a post we did a few months ago on the actual tax paid on a KiwiSaver investment. The effective tax rate worked out to be only 12.6%.

That's right, only 12.6% tax. Not 28%, even though the taxpayer earned over $180,000.

What is the reason?

Capital gains on New Zealand shares are generally not taxed, and capital gains on overseas shares have been relatively lightly taxed over the last 20 years.

26TH JUNE 2026 ARTICLE - https://www.facebook.com/thepropertyaccountant/posts/pfbid02UfF1GZwQ7t2i4wgdAxZ8Knwv7cQY9YaBKL6w2n7TYoZwF8PQ4aVvPn5QTcmKPB7Dl

What % tax do you pay on your Kiwisaver gains?

This also applies to gains on share/funds investments.

Here is a real example of a person who earns over $180,000, so they are on the highest 39% tax rate.

- There Kiwisaver gain for the year ending 31/3/26 was $8,244.20 (after fees but before tax).

- This does not include employee or employer contributions.

- Only $3,713.46 of the gain was actual taxable income (after fees but before tax).

- Tax paid $1,039.77 (this was a PIE, so the tax rate was 28% on the taxable income).
This equates to just 12.6% tax on the total Kiwisaver Gain!

Every year and every Kiwisaver/fund will be different, but this shows that the overall tax rate paid is generally quite small!

PIE or not PIE? In this case, it was a PIE investment, so the maximum tax paid was 28%. If this had been a non-PIE investment, the tax rate would have been 39%. The difference in tax would $408.48 or a very small amount.

Why do we mention this? Many advisors and investors choose a PIE investment to limit the tax to 28%. However, in reality the tax difference is tiny. It is generally better to ignore tax, and focus on what shares/funds best suit your circumstances. Quite often, the better performing share/fund portfolios are not PIEs, and often better to accept the higher return than the lower return with a PIE tax rate.

Are you thinking about buying a townhouse? The top picture highlights a massive oversupply in the Christchurch townhouse...
08/10/2026

Are you thinking about buying a townhouse?

The top picture highlights a massive oversupply in the Christchurch townhouse market, with 74% of consents being for multi unit developments!

Be very careful!

Auckland listings for properties for sale are slowly increasing. Based on basic economic theory, higher supply would sug...
07/10/2026

Auckland listings for properties for sale are slowly increasing.

Based on basic economic theory, higher supply would suggest the Auckland property market should remain flat or potentially decline.

But are there two different markets at play?

According to Trademe data, 52% of Auckland City listings are for townhouses, units or apartments! Therefore, there is probably not an oversupply of free standing houses in Auckland.

Address

520 Colombo Street
Christchurch
8140

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4pm
Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm
Friday 8am - 4pm

Telephone

+64 7 839 2801

Website

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