Goods and services tax (GST) is a tax on most goods and services in New Zealand, most imported goods, and certain imported services. GST is added to the price of taxable goods and services at a rate of 15%.

• Goods include all types of personal and real property, except money.
• Services covers everything other than goods or money, eg TV repairs, doctor's services and gardening services.
• Taxable goods and services are part of the business or taxable activity. This means you supply or receive taxable goods and services for a consideration (money, compensation, reward) but not necessarily for profit. We refer to taxable goods and services as "taxable supplies".

• goods and services supplied by businesses that aren't registered for GST, and
• exempt supplies such as:
  • letting or renting a dwelling for use as a private home
  • interest you receive
  • donated goods and services sold by a non-profit body, and
  • certain financial services.

You must register for GST if you carry out a taxable activity and if your turnover:

• was over $60,000 for the last 12 months, or
• is expected to go over $60,000 for the next 12 months
  (This equates to $5,000 per month. If your turnover is $5,000 per month and you expect to maintain that level all year, you'll need to register for GST.), or
• was less than $60,000, but you include GST in your prices, for example taxi drivers who have included 15% in their taxi fares.

You can choose to register for GST even if your annual turnover it less than $60,000. This is referred to as voluntary registration.

You must file your GST return monthly if your taxable supplies in a 12 month period are more, or likely to be more than $2,000,000

There are three methods of accounting for GST:

• Invoice Basis
• Payments Basis
• Hybrid Basis

.For more information on GST see the GST section of the IRD website.