When you decide to buy commercial property in New Zealand, there are many compliance issues that need to be taken into account. Every country has its own compliance rules specific to that jurisdiction and people entering into business activities such as buying and owning commercial property need to know those rules before making the decision to move forward.

Your business dealings in New Zealand need to operate within the New Zealand legal system. To be sure your commercial property purchase is going to be a good financial decision, it’s important to gain the advice of a lawyer. This will protect your business, your customers, your staff and your suppliers.

Compliance tasks can be time consuming, so you need to organise good systems so that you minimise the time you take to complete your legal requirements. Your main business compliance feature in New Zealand will be meeting your tax obligations and complying with the Financial Reporting Act. This obviously involves keeping accurate financial records and registering for all the appropriate business taxes. Every country has specific business tax laws. In New Zealand, this starts with getting an Inland Revenue Department or IRD tax number for your business, registering as an employer and registering for Goods and Services Tax (GST) as well as Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT). At this point you will have also decided whether you will act as a sole trader, in a partnership or as a company.

If your decision to buy commercial property in New Zealand means you will be having employees, you will have to comply with the employment regulations and understand New Zealand’s PAYE (Pay as you Earn) system for paying employees. Being an employer can be complicated, so it’s important to become familiar with all your obligations which will include providing minimum rights and wages, employment agreements, KiwiSaver, health and safety issues and trial periods. Some of these rules have changed recently in New Zealand, so it’s important to make sure you are familiar with the very latest information about your legal compliance issues around being an employer.

Running a business in New Zealand also puts you under compliance rules relating to consumer laws and rights about price setting and dealing with customers. If you provide goods and services in New Zealand, you will need to understand the Fair Trading Act, pricing regulations, estimates and quotes, product recalls and dealing with customer complaints.

Finally, New Zealand businesses must comply with the Resource Management Act which can include gaining consent through the act to start your business. It also means you can make decisions about ways to make your business environmentally friendly, use water efficiently and other environmental matters. This is about keeping New Zealand’s image clean and green through all aspects of business and doing so can give you a significant edge over your competitors.