Tourism New Zealand has announced Australian entities will now be open to claim back the goods and services tax when holding business events in New Zealand.
Effective from today, the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985 has been amended to allow businesses that are non-resident in New Zealand to register for GST.
Open to Australian conferences, business can qualify by meeting a list of criteria found on the Inland Revenue Department website.
Bjoern Spreitzer, International Business Events Manager for Tourism New Zealand, said New Zealand provides an enticing conference proposition for a range of Australian businesses.
“Tourism New Zealand has made headway to encourage Australian companies to bring their conferences to New Zealand and show off its amazing people, venues and culture,” he said.
“Our key objective is to educate business about the advantages of conferencing in New Zealand and in doing so we’ve implemented new staff to cater entirely for the Australian market.
“Australia has a rich and diverse business culture and New Zealand’s conference options are only a three hour flight from the east coast with daily direct flights,” he says.
Spreitzer welcomes the change which he believes will make New Zealand even more accessible to Australian businesses and encourage them to choose New Zealand as their next business events destination.
To find out more about convention offerings in New Zealand, Meetings 2014 is a highly regarded annual event held from 18-19 June 2014 which brings together buyers and sellers of conference and incentive travel products.