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Inland Revenue

Tax Policy

Information release
Published 5 April 2022

COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Act 2020 – 2020 Cabinet papers

This information release includes Cabinet papers, policy reports and advice related to the COVID-19 Response (Taxation and Social Assistance Urgent Measures) Act 2020, enacted on 25 March 2020. These were published on the Government’s COVID-19 website on 8 May 2020.

The Act covered these topics:

  • Income tax
    • Depreciation on non-residential buildings
    • Increase in the provisional tax threshold
    • Increase in the low-value asset write-off threshold
    • Research and development tax credits – broader access to refunds
  • Tax administration
    • Use of money interest remission
    • Information sharing
  • Social assistance
    • Removal of hours test from the In-Work Tax Credit
    • Winter energy payment
    • Working for Families tax credits entitlement for emergency benefit recipients
    • GST on COVID-19 related social assistance payments
Documents in this information release

CAB-20-SUB-0108: COVID-19: Overview of the Government’s response and economic response package (16 March 2020)

  1. CAB-20-SUB-0108 – Cabinet paper: COVID-19: Overview of the Government’s response and Economic Response Package (16 March 2020) (28 pages; PDF 2.2 MB)
  2. CAB-20-SUB-0108 – Cabinet paper attachment: Annex Three: Alternate options to extend the Winter Energy Payment and updated financial recommendations (16 March 2020) (8 pages; PDF 1 MB)
  3. CAB-20-MIN-0108 – Minute: COVID-19: Overview of the Government’s response: Economic Package (16 March 2020) (13 pages; PDF 3.1 MB)

CAB-20-SUB-0103: COVID: Tax measures (16 March 2020)

  1. IR2020/123 – Tax policy report: COVID-19: Update to Inland Revenue's response and next steps (5 March 2020) (12 pages; PDF 1.6 MB)
  2. IR2020/134 – Tax policy report: COVID-19: Inland Revenue's tax relief package in response to the 2016 Gastroenteritis outbreak in Havelock North - a comparison (6 March 2020) (5 pages; PDF 1.5 MB)
  3. IR2020/139 T2020/616 – Tax policy report: Draft Cabinet paper: COVID-19: Tax measures to support affected businesses (11 March 2020) (9 pages; PDF 2.6 MB)
  4. IR2020/149 T2020/634 – Tax policy report: Cabinet paper: COVID-19: Tax measures (12 March 2020) (3 pages; PDF 931 KB)
  5. CAB-20-SUB-0103 – Cabinet paper: COVID-19: Tax measures (16 March 2021) (8 pages; PDF 718 KB)
  6. CAB-20-MIN-0103 – Minute: COVID-19: Tax measures (16 March 2021) (2 pages; PDF 767 KB)

CAB-20-SUB-0118: Order in Council: Goods and Services Tax (Grants and Subsidies) Amendment Order 2020 (23 March 2020)

  1. CAB-20-SUB-0118 – Cabinet paper: Order in Council: Goods and Services Tax (Grants and Subsidies) Amendment Order 2020, and amended application dates (23 March 2020) (5 pages; PDF 644 KB)
  2. CAB-20-MIN-0118 – Minute: Goods and Services Tax (Grants and Subsidies) Amendment Order 2020 (23 March 2020) (2 pages; PDF 738 KB)

CAB-20-SUB-0127: COVID-19 recovery package: increases to main benefits and the Winter Energy Payment (23 March 2020)

  1. REP/20/3/267 – MSD aide-mémoire: COVID-19 recovery package: increases to main benefits and the Winter Energy Payment (20 March 2020) (3 pages; PDF KB)
  2. CAB-20-SUB-0127 – Cabinet paper: COVID-19 recovery package: increases to main benefits and the Winter Energy Payment (23 March 2020) (5 pages; PDF 638 KB)
  3. CAB-20-MIN-0127 – Minute: COVID-19 recovery package: increases to main benefits and the Winter Energy Payment (23 March 2020) (2 pages; PDF 677 KB)

CAB-20-SUB-0128: R&D Tax Incentive: Reducing the impact of COVID-19 on business R&D (23 March 2020)

  1. 2778 19-20 – MBIE briefing: R&D Tax Incentive - Reducing the impact of COVID-19 on business R&D (19 March 2020) (12 pages; PDF 712 KB)
  2. CAB-20-SUB-0128 – Cabinet paper: Reducing the impact of Covid-19 on business R&D (23 March 2020) (6 pages; PDF 766 KB - Cabinet paper + Minute)
  3. CAB-20-MIN-0128 – Minute: R&D Tax Incentive: Reducing the impact of COVID-19 on business R&D (23 March 2020) (2 pages; PDF 766 KB - Cabinet paper + Minute)
Additional information

These documents were published on the Government's COVID-19 website (About our COVID-19 response > Proactive releases > Economy and Income support measures) on 8 May 2020.

This information release was added to the tax policy website on 5 April 2022.

This information release and the single PDF with all the documents is provided for convenience.