Companies register plan signals clampdown on New Zealand "tax haven" reputation

The New Zealand government indicated Friday it might tighten the disclosure requirements for foreign beneficiaries of companies amid growing controversy over whether the country is being used as a tax haven.

Police Minister Judith Collins detailed a list of commitments the government had made in a bid to fight corruption at an anti-corruption summit in London.

Collins, who is representing Prime Minister John Key at the summit, said the government was exploring the establishment of a public central register of company beneficial ownership information.

It follows rising concern over the country's relatively lax foreign trust regime and the related system of "look through companies" that are set up for foreign beneficiaries with a zero-percent tax rate.

Other measures outlined by Collins at the summit included greater efforts to secure the integrity of government procurement, denying entry to people identified as involved in "grand scale corruption."

New Zealand would also support efforts to set up a database of companies with corruption convictions and share information across borders, and efforts to develop internationally-endorsed guidelines for the transparent and accountable management of returned stolen assets and the development of common principles governing the payment of compensation to countries affected by corruption.

"New Zealand is committed to cooperating with our partners to help prevent illegal money flow across multiple countries caused by high level corruption, and undertake effective enforcement action against those involved," Collins said in a statement from her office.

The main opposition Labour Party said the commitment to investigating a public central register of who the beneficial owners are of assets including property put her at odds with Prime Minister Key.

"After weeks of the Prime Minister claiming our foreign trust industry has full disclosure of ownership and saying for years that there is no need for a register of foreign land sales, Judith Collins has told the world that (the ruling National Party) is investigating changes to stop people hiding their assets," said Labour Party leader Andrew Little.

"This is an apparent u-turn, delivered to a foreign audience thousands of miles away presumably so the government can pretend it is doing something about our reputation as a tax haven," Little said in a statement.

"Our international reputation has been damaged by the government refusing to end the secrecy around the mega-wealthy who use our tax system to hide their wealth and not pay tax." Endit