Registering to pay resident withholding tax

If you pay dividends or interest to New Zealand residents, these are known as resident passive income. If you make payments that are resident passive income you'll need to:

• register as a payer
• deduct resident withholding tax (RWT) from these payments
• send the deductions to us.

Resident passive income means an amount paid to a New Zealand resident that is one of the following:

• interest
• a dividend
• a taxable Māori authority distribution (other than a retirement scheme contribution)
• a replacement payment paid to a person under a share lending arrangement.

Under the resident withholding tax rules, resident withholding tax usually needs to be withheld from resident passive income, although there are some exceptions.