New Zealand?s Inland Revenue Department (IRD) and its Australian counterpart have linked pages on their Web sites to provide tax advice for companies planning to do business on both sides of the Tasman.

The IRD page headed ?Doing business in Australia? has a link to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) Web page on ?business between Australia and New Zealand?. This gives an overview of the Australian tax system and a comparison between the two tax systems. Further advice follows under the heading ?New Zealanders doing business in Australia -- kia ora? and ?Australians doing business in New Zealand?, who apparently do not merit such a friendly greeting.

Each heading, when clicked on, opens out a menu of subheadings dealing with particular circumstances, each of which links to another page. Situations covered range from selling goods and services across the Tasman to setting up a permanent place of business in Australia. The heading ?Australians doing business in New Zealand? naturally links to pertinent material on the NZ IRD site.

Inland Revenue Commissioner David Butler emphasizes that New Zealand businesses seeking to expand into Australia should seek expert advice on tax matters and business structures; but the new web-based information is a useful first step, he says.