New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Forgiveness of debt

Legal area

Court

1 Dec 2021

HARVEY v HARVEY [2021] NZHC 3264

Citation

[2021] NZHC 3264
Court

High Court

Court exercised discretion under the High Court Rules: rejected respondent's r14.15 submission and allowed separate costs for each successful defendant; held Bryce liable for costs of steps other parties took in other parties' proceedings when his conduct caused those proceedings; allowed costs for preparation of costs submissions and relevant witness expenses; refused indemnity costs for Paul (threshold not met) but awarded indemnity costs of $165,712.80 to the estate because Bryce's conduct necessitated estate litigation and would otherwise unfairly burden residuary beneficiaries; awarded i…
21 Aug 2018

ROBERTS v THE COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE [2018] NZHC 2153

Citation

[2018] NZHC 2153
Court

High Court

A 'monetary gift' under s LD 3(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act 2007 does not require a cash payment; it includes sums denominated in money such as forgiveness of debt, and 'paid' can be satisfied by crediting/debiting accounts (per s YA1 and common law). Therefore the Deeds of Gift forgiving specified loan amounts to the registered charitable Trust constituted monetary gifts and qualified for charitable tax credits.
7 Mar 2016

ENGINI LIMITED v NZNET INTERNET SERVICES LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION) [2016] NZHC 368

Citation

[2016] NZHC 368
Court

High Court

In the absence of a deed or evidence that valuable consideration passed to NZNet, the alleged transfer of shares to a director could not discharge the company's debt; there was no evidence of company acquiescence or consideration, so the defence disclosed no tenable defence and the asserted new ground of appeal and proposed additional evidence were not appropriate to admit on appeal given the absence of special reasons and the risk of resolving substantive factual issues on appeal.
30 Jul 2015

L-A T S v C B S [2015] NZHC 1768

Citation

[2015] NZHC 1768
Court

High Court

The Court accepted the professionally prepared partnership accounts showing the $500,000 advance was made to and forgiven by the partnership and refused to allow a late re-pleading that the advance was a personal debt absent timely evidence; accordingly the Waterview section was transferred to Mr S valued at $240,000, a $40,000 provision for unpaid partnership debts was retained for three months, and the partnership's Eastpak shares were ordered sold with proceeds held for equal distribution.

New Zealand Case Law

HARVEY v HARVEY [2021] NZHC 3264

ROBERTS v THE COMMISSIONER OF INLAND REVENUE [2018] NZHC 2153

ENGINI LIMITED v NZNET INTERNET SERVICES LIMITED (IN LIQUIDATION) [2016] NZHC 368

L-A T S v C B S [2015] NZHC 1768