Taxation of Cross-Border E-Commerce: Addressing the Tax Challenges of the Digital Economy in New Zealand

This article was requested by the editor following earlier articles 1 in the Journal which discussed some of the pressing questions facing revenue-gatherers and governments in today's technologically driven economy. These articles noted that the relationship between taxation and technology has always been interactive, complex, and dynamic. The BEPS Action Plan, which the G20 endorsed in July 2013, focused particularly on how the spread of the digital economy poses challenges for international taxation.2 Action 1 is relevant in practical terms to New Zealand's goods and services tax (GST) system at present, as the government has recently taken legislative action to address the gaps hitherto existing in the GST treatment of certain types of electronic transactions. In this article the discussion focuses on the GST changes in the context of the OECD's guidelines.