Here’s what you can and cannot claim with Investment Boost, including minor use, improvements, assets under construction, and backdating when there’s a reassessment.
What you can claim for
Businesses can claim 20% deductions for the costs of new (or new to New Zealand) business assets that they bought - or finished constructing - on or after 22 May 2025.
To claim Investment Boost, the asset must be:
- new or new to New Zealand (even if it was used overseas in the past)
- first available for the business to use on or after 22 May 2025
- depreciable for tax purposes.
You can also claim for:
- new commercial and industrial buildings
- improvements to depreciable property (but not residential buildings)
- primary sector land improvements
- assets arising from petroleum development expenditure and mineral mining development expenditure incurred on or after 22 May 2025 (except rights, permits or privileges)
- mixed-use assets.
There is no limit to the value of new investments you can claim Investment Boost for.
What you cannot claim for
You cannot claim Investment Boost for:
- second-hand assets that are sourced from New Zealand
- residential rental buildings
- most fixed-life intangible assets (such as patents).
Incidental or minor use of an asset
To qualify, assets must never have been used in New Zealand (other than for specific things such as being held as trading stock).
However, assets will still qualify if they’ve only been used in a minimal or insignificant way. For example, a single demonstration of a lawnmower while it’s being held for sale is not ‘use’ of that lawnmower.
Finish date for construction or improvements
You can claim Investment Boost on assets that finished construction (or were improved) on or after 22 May 2025.
The finish date is when the asset or improvement became available for use. This means the date it was physically and legally able to be used, even if you did not begin to use it straightaway.
Other factors like the terms of a contract may also be relevant.
What improvements are
An improvement means an alteration, extension, or repair of an item of depreciable property that increases its capital value. An alteration, extension or repair project needs to be complete, or complete to an identifiable stage that increases the capital value of the asset, before there is an improvement that may be available for use.
Read more about improvements and construction in our Investment Boost examples.
Backdating Investment Boost
You can choose to claim Investment Boost for a past year if we reassess your tax for that year.
For example, if you claimed a deduction for an expense that we did not consider deductible when we reassessed your tax, you could claim Investment Boost on that expense instead, as long as it met the other Investment Boost requirements.