Office of the Chief Tax Counsel (OCTC)
Public Rulings Unit
The aim of the Public Rulings Unit is to provide greater certainty on the application of tax law to:
- allow taxpayers to enter into commercial transactions with confidence, and
- foster taxpayers' compliance with their legal obligations.
The Public Rulings Unit has the primary responsibility for issuing public rulings, which are the Commissioner's formally binding interpretations of the tax laws. The unit also issues statutory determinations, and interpretation statements and guidelines. Issues may be brought to Public Rulings when there is doubt or different views about how the law should apply to particular arrangements or matters. Public Rulings' decision then becomes the Commissioner's view on that matter.
Statutory determinations, and interpretation statements and guidelines are available to browse and download from the technical tax area.
The Unit communicates its interpretations to both external customers and Inland Revenue staff by:
- publishing interpretation statements and guidelines, statutory determinations, and public and product rulings in the Tax Information Bulletin and on Inland Revenue's website
- supplying copies of the above to interested parties on request, mainly by the use of email.
It is important that binding rulings, which bind the Commissioner for the period of their application, are technically correct and in accordance with the tax Acts and relevant case law. Analysts, who are usually qualified solicitors, must thoroughly research the issues. Draft public rulings go through a consultation process that gives Inland Revenue groups and external interested parties an opportunity to comment.
Public Rulings work programme
Towards the end of each financial year, Public Rulings prepares a draft programme of priority work for the following year. The criteria for inclusion in the programme are based on such factors as the importance of the issues involved, the level of uncertainty/ambiguity, the number of taxpayers potentially affected, the need to resolve existing issues, and the potential revenue implications. The draft is consulted on with key stakeholders.
This has the advantage of permitting the Public Rulings Unit to plan in advance its work commitments and better ensure that it produces timely and relevant items.
Download the Public Rulings work programme 2009-10 >
(PDF | 72 kb | 4 pages)
Public Rulings customer feedback survey 2009
In early 2009, the Public Rulings Unit ran a customer survey to explore ways of improving its public items and its consultation and publication processes.
A short report is available setting out what actions the Unit is taking based on the comments and suggestions received, together with some brief highlights of the responses.
Download the customer survey report >
(PDF | 105kb | 4 pages)
Public Rulings Unit article
An article about the Public Rulings Unit and the work that it does was first published in Taxation Today (Issue 18, May 2009). It is reproduced here with permission of the publisher.
Download the Public Rulings Unit article >
(PDF | 198kb | 20 pages)
Guide to binding rulings
Our Guide to binding rulings (IR715) provides comprehensive information on:
- what binding rulings are
- the different types of binding rulings available, for example, private, product, public, and status rulings
- what you need to do to apply for a binding ruling.
Date published: 10 Nov 2009
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