If you have brought or sold land recently then as part of this transaction you would have been required to provide your IRD number.

However, for someone who was selling their main home there was no requirement to provide an IRD number. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash suggest that “up to one-third of land transactions are made without record of the IRD number of the buyer or seller”.

A Supplementary Order Paper introduced into Parliament this week requires IRD numbers to be provided on all land transactions from 1 January 2020. While this will not impact on the tax status of the sale of the main home, it will provide transparency to IRD. In particular, where people are attempting to rely on the main home exemption but have brought and sold three main homes within two years or have a regular pattern of buying and selling their home,  IRD will have the information to assess tax.