Like death, tax is not a topic that most of us investors hold close to our hearts! Perhaps we see it more like a “necessary evil”. However, this year in particular, we are being forced to give the issue of tax more thought than we might otherwise like to. For many of us, this is causing a very sore head! Not only do we have the new and more restrictive tainting rules to deal with, but we are also heading towards changes that will see a reduction to the taxation benefits offered by property investment. As with any change, we can respond in a number of ways including:

1. Ignore the problem and hope it goes away,
2. Fight, wail and gnash our teeth and resist the change, or
3. Understand the new rules and learn how to adjust our game so we can continue winning in the new environment.

For those of you who prefer to adapt and continue winning, we have two specialists at our next meeting who can help us come to terms with the changing landscape.

• Jeff Owens is a specialist property accountant, director of Owens Tax Advisors Ltd (www.owenstax.com), and he will help us to understand the mystery of tainting.
• Craig Macalister is the Tax Director for the NZ Institute of Chartered Accountants and he will highlight the most likely tax changes coming later this year, and what they mean to us as investors!