Overseas businesses selling into NZ: remote services and LVIG GST

Inland Revenue lists five GST registration paths for businesses that are not New Zealand residents for GST purposes. Two of them catch most remote sellers: supplying remote services into New Zealand, and supplying low value imported goods from 1 December 2019. A third, listed services through online marketplaces, started on 1 April 2024. The GST rate Inland Revenue publishes is 15%.

GST Act 1985 section 2 defines remote services as a service that, at the time of the performance of the service, has no necessary connection between the place where the service is physically performed and the location of the recipient. Low value imported goods sit in the Act as distantly taxable goods, with an entry value threshold of $1,000. You generally account for GST on sales only under the remote services and LVIG registrations. This is not tax advice. Figures are working papers from Inland Revenue, NZ Customs, and the Act.

Which GST regime applies to an overseas seller?

Pick the regime from where the thing is at the time of sale, and what you are selling, not from your home country brand. Inland Revenue’s GST for overseas businesses page is the hub for all five paths.

Buyer-side border maths sits in GST on imports NZ. Consumer digital bills sit in GST on digital services. NZ shops and dropshippers sit in e-commerce and dropshipping GST.

When do remote services into NZ attract GST?

A non-resident business supplying remote services from outside New Zealand to New Zealand tax resident customers may have to register, collect, and return GST. Inland Revenue’s examples include digital content such as e-books, movies, TV shows, music and online newspaper subscriptions; games, apps, software and software maintenance; online gambling services; website design or web publishing; and legal, accounting, insurance or consultancy services.

GST Act 1985 section 8(3)(c) treats remote services supplied to a person resident in New Zealand as supplied in New Zealand (other than services physically performed in New Zealand by a person who is in New Zealand at the time). Tax Policy’s May 2016 special report on GST on cross-border supplies of remote services says those rules apply from 1 October 2016. You need two non-conflicting pieces of evidence that the customer is a New Zealand resident. Inland Revenue lists billing address, IP address or another geolocation method, bank details, mobile country code on the SIM, location of a fixed landline, or other commercially relevant information.

If you operate a marketplace such as an app store, you may have to register and return GST on supplies made through the marketplace, instead of the underlying supplier. That is why a personal App Store buy can show NZ GST even when the app maker never registered here. Online gambling duty applies to GST registered persons located outside New Zealand who supply remote gambling services to New Zealand residents. Inland Revenue: prior to 1 May 2026 that duty was called offshore gambling duty.

Software subscriptions for GST registered NZ buyers are a cousin topic: GST on subscriptions and SaaS. If the NZ buyer later has a reverse charge on imported services, that is their return, not yours: GST on imported services.

What counts as low value imported goods (LVIG)?

From 1 December 2019, overseas businesses that sell low value goods to consumers in New Zealand may need to register, collect, and return GST. Inland Revenue: a consumer is a person who is not registered for New Zealand GST, or who is registered and uses the low value goods for personal use only. A low value good is a physical good valued at NZ$1,000 or less, excluding GST. The NZ$1,000 test uses the customs value, so shipping and insurance are left out of that line. GST Act 1985 section 4B is the meaning of distantly taxable goods. Section 2 sets the entry value threshold at $1,000.

Examples Inland Revenue lists: books, clothing, cosmetics, shoes, sporting equipment, electronic items. The rules do not apply to alcohol and tobacco (GST, excise, and customs duties at the border regardless of value), or to fine metal at the fineness IRD lists (gold at least 99.5%, silver at least 99.9%, platinum at least 99.0%). GST does not generally apply to sales of low value imported goods to New Zealand GST registered businesses for business use. You may still choose to charge GST on those B2B sales if the goods are NZ$1,000 or less and, in the 12 months after the sale, you expect more than 50% of all your sales to New Zealand customers will be to customers who are not registered for GST.

Who charges GST: seller, marketplace, or redeliverer?

Sellers, online marketplaces, redeliverers, and personal shopping services all need to check. Inland Revenue: you may need to register if you supply goods to New Zealand consumers as a seller directly by phone, mail order or online; as an online marketplace; as a redeliverer that offers mailbox redelivery; or as a personal shopping service from countries other than New Zealand. Only one entity charges GST on a sale. If the marketplace is responsible, the seller is not. If the marketplace or seller is responsible, a redeliverer is not. If a New Zealand resident agent makes supplies of taxable goods on behalf of a non-resident principal, the agent is responsible where they have an agreement.

That answers the forum trap where a marketplace checkout has no field for a NZ GST number. The platform, not the underlying seller, is often the person Inland Revenue treats as the supplier. If you accidentally charge GST to a GST registered business and the supply is NZ$1,000 or less, Inland Revenue says you can refund the GST, or you can choose to provide taxable supply information instead of a refund. Records: taxable supply information.

How do overseas businesses register for NZ GST?

Use Inland Revenue’s page for GST on low value imported goods, remote services or listed services. You need customer registration information, a Taxpayer Identification Number from your country of residence, and GST application details. Register online through the non-individual registration service, or download form IR994 (March 2024) and email it to info.lvg@ird.govt.nz. Inland Revenue: we will process your registration within 5 working days and issue you a GST number. File returns and pay GST in myIR on a quarterly filing frequency. GST Act 1985 section 51(2): apply within 21 days of becoming liable. The $60,000 test in section 51 ignores GST charged on the supplies. Inland Revenue’s LVIG threshold page still tells you to include delivery, insurance, and other fees charged to New Zealand consumers when you add up the $60,000.

• ✓ Count the right sales: remote services, low value goods at NZ$1,000 or less each, plus delivery, insurance, and your fees. Do not include goods over NZ$1,000, or supplies to GST registered NZ businesses.
• ✓ One registration: if you are already registered for GST, you do not register separately for low value goods. Combined sales through branches still use one NZ$60,000 test unless a branch applies to file on its own.
• ✓ Receipts for consumers: name and GST number, date of supply, issue date if different, description, price paid and GST included (foreign currency is allowed), and which goods had GST charged. Customers can show that receipt to Customs.
• ✓ Keep records: Inland Revenue’s record keeping page: keep all records (including electronic) for at least 7 tax years, in English or Māori unless you have approval for another language. IR375 says keep business records for 7 years.

Domestic how-to: register for GST in NZ. Threshold walkthrough for NZ traders: the $60,000 GST threshold guide. If a return or payment is late after you are registered, the late GST penalty calculator is a working paper for Inland Revenue late filing and late payment rules.

What if GST is charged twice, or Customs still bills the parcel?

Inland Revenue: GST may be charged again at the border when the correct information is not on the customs documents. That happens when a single parcel valued over NZ$1,000 contains items that individually have a customs value of NZ$1,000 or less; when GST has already been paid on an item valued over NZ$1,000; or when the goods are priced in a foreign currency and your exchange rate differs from the New Zealand Customs Service rate. Tell your transporter or customs broker whether GST has been paid at the point of sale, and the name and GST number of the business returning the GST. Penalties may apply if you do not provide the required information.

NZ Customs’ duty and GST page: items purchased from overseas websites for NZ$1,000 or less can be imported without Customs collecting duty. The overseas supplier collects GST. Unless the item is part of a larger consignment valued over $1,000, Customs will not collect GST or duty. Alcohol and tobacco are always collected at the border. Customs GST at the border, when it does apply, is 15% on the value of the goods, plus duty if applicable, plus freight, postal or courier and insurance. A Customs and MPI Goods Levy can still apply even when Customs does not collect GST. That levy is not GST. Splitting checkouts does not help if several items arrive together for the same person.

From 24 September 2025, Inland Revenue and Customs changed GST refunds for goods worth more than $1,000 that are returned to overseas suppliers (for example faulty or not what was ordered). Importers can claim a GST refund from Customs in more situations if they are not GST registered in New Zealand, or they are not buying from a supplier registered under the low value imported goods scheme. The previous 2-month deadline is now 12 months in some cases.

Are listed services a separate overseas GST rule?

Yes. From 1 April 2024, online marketplaces (resident or non-resident) that facilitate listed services must collect and pay GST of 15% when the service is performed, provided, or received in New Zealand, whether the seller is GST registered or not. Listed services are ride-sharing and ride-hailing, food and beverage delivery, and short-stay and visitor accommodation. That is a platform rule. It is not the same as a Melbourne apparel brand posting parcels, and it is not the same as a Sydney SaaS login. If you operate that kind of marketplace, register on the same IR994 path once NZ sales including listed services exceed NZ$60,000 in a 12-month period.

A fifth path exists if you do not make taxable supplies in New Zealand at all but you want to claim GST on NZ business expenses. That is the non-resident business claimant registration (form IR564), with a first-period refund expected to be more than $500. It is not the remote services or LVIG seller path. If you start making taxable supplies here, Inland Revenue switches you onto domestic rules.

FAQs

Read Inland Revenue GST for overseas businesses, supplying remote services into New Zealand, supplying low value imported goods, register (IR994), NZ Customs duty and GST, GST Act 1985 definitions and section 8, and listed services at GST on listed services. Publisher path: About Us and Contact Us.

Last verified 6 September 2026 against Inland Revenue GST for overseas businesses (22 September 2025), supplying remote services (23 July 2026), low value imported goods pages, IR994 registration (31 March 2025), GST on listed services (31 March 2025), record keeping, GST guide IR375, GST Act 1985 sections 2, 4B, 8, 10C and 51, Tax Policy remote services special report (May 2016), and NZ Customs duty and GST. Ads may fund this free site. Not Inland Revenue. Not tax advice. Figures are working papers, not an Inland Revenue or Customs assessment.