Rewrite Advisory Panel

The Rewrite Advisory Panel (New Zealand) was established in 1995 to consider and advise on issues arising during the rewriting of the income tax legislation. It was a step in the rewrite of New Zealand's income tax legislation that was recommended by the Working Party on the Reorganisation of the Income Tax Act 1976.^[1] The Rewrite process was intended to produce more readable and clearer legislation.

The Rewrite process began with the enactment of the Income Tax Act 1994, which adopted alpha-numerical numbering of income tax legislation. In 1996, amendments were enacted to the "Core Provisions" of the Act (in Part B). Parts C, D and E were rewritten and enacted in a complete Act, the Income Tax Act 2004. The final step in the Rewrite process was the enactment of the Income Tax Act 2007, in which all the remaining parts of the Act were rewritten in Rewrite style.

The Panel initially supervised the rewrite process and since 2004 it has been responsible for considering submissions that there have been errors in the rewrite process (referred to as "unintended legislative changes" (or "ULC")). It has the power to recommend that the legislation be amended retrospectively where the Panel determines that there is a ULC.

The Panel has an ongoing role in ensuring that the 2007 Act has "a continuing consistency with the objectives of the Rewrite Project" according to Hon Dr Michael Cullen in a speech made in 2008 when he was Minister of Finance.^[2]

The Panel is also to provide advice on remedial issues.^[3]

Panel membership

The Panel comprises representatives of Inland Revenue and the Treasury, and of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand and the New Zealand Law Society. The independent Chair is appointed by the Minister of Revenue. The first Chair was Colin Blair, who resigned in 2003 upon being appointed the Retirement Commissioner. His successor was Sir Ivor Richardson who chaired the Panel until June 2008, after the enactment of the Income Tax Act 2007. The current Chair is David McLay, a tax barrister.^[4]

Unintended legislative changes

The website of the Panel contains a listing of the Unintended Legislative Change submissions that the Panel has considered,^[5] as well as a listing of other submissions that have been accepted by Inland Revenue.^[6]

References