Why Set Up Your Business in New Zealand?
Just five hours ahead of Singapore, New Zealand is a country known for its awe-inspiring landscape, lush greenery, agriculture, and filming locations of Lord of the Rings trilogy. Beyond wizardry, rolling green hills and Royal Gala apples, the magical lands offer more.
Do you know that New Zealand is both the easiest place to do business and the easiest place to start a business in the world? What’s more, there are very few restrictions on what you can invest in. Here are four advantages of setting up a business in New Zealand; you wouldn’t want to miss out!
Safe, stable and secure
With proximity to Asia’s booming economies, New Zealand is also recognised globally as being a safe place to invest and do business. It is:
- Ranked first in the world for protecting minority investors (World Bank, ‘Doing Business’ 2017)
- Ranked third in The Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom in 2015
- Has a strong banking sector with the parents of the four largest banks all in the top 21 of the Global Finance World’s Safest Banks index
World’s easiest place to do business
Incorporating a business in New Zealand takes just one day and can be done online. New Zealand is ranked first in the World Bank’s 2017 Doing Business report as it has fewer procedures required to setup a business and enables the shortest time period to fulfil them. It also has:
- Very few limitations on where and how you can invest
- A highly friendly regulatory and tax environment with support for exporters and selected growth industries such as film, incentives and tax credits for certain research and development activities
- Investment showcases by government’s agency to support New Zealand companies
- Flexible immigration policies with a range of visa categories for entrepreneurs and more
Efficient, straightforward tax system
New Zealand is eighth lowest in the OECD for time taken for taxpayers to comply with tax obligations (World Bank, ‘Doing Business 2016’ – Paying Taxes).
In New Zealand there is:
- No payroll tax
- No social security tax (voluntary KiwiSaver introduced 2007)
- No capital gains tax
Robust economy with extensive market access
New Zealand has a wide range of free trade agreements, pro-competitive regulation, an efficient tax code, and an open political system. New Zealand:
- Is among the top 20 rated sovereigns in the world: Standard & Poors gives New Zealand an AA+ local currency rating, an AA foreign currency rating and an AAA T&C assessment
- Maintains a low-inflation environment for more than two decades; independent monetary policy and a focus on price stability; a long-standing floating exchange rate and no exchange controls or restrictions on repatriation of funds.
- Has free-trade agreements (FTA) in place with China, Australia, Vietnam, Philippines, Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore and Chile
On top of these, New Zealand government backs business activity with extensive infrastructure investment and a range of Government-sponsored business networks and public support mechanisms.
To get started, a specialist investment team at New Zealand government’s international business development agency New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE), is easily reachable to assist you in setting up a business in the country.
