GST Treatment of Emission Liabilities and NZUs in New Zealand

• NZUs are treated as services, not goods, under the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985
• Most NZU supplies are zero-rated for GST
• Zero-rated supplies include:
• Transfer of NZUs
• Surrender of NZUs for emissions
• Services to or by the Crown in consideration for which there is no payment of a price
• Disposal of similar units to NZUs
• Transfer or surrender of NZUs is generally zero-rated for GST purposes
• Where unrelated parties agree on future NZU provision as part of a supply of goods and services, the agreed amount is the value for GST purposes
• The agreed amount can include a nil value for NZUs

Source: taxtechnical.ird.govt.nz

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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