Import distributions and settlements

You can import distributions into a New Zealand Trust, Partnership or Look Through Company and import settlements into a New Zealand Trust. We recommend reading the notes on importing below before starting.

There are two methods for importing distributions:  

• Export from the prior year, update and re-import
• Use a blank import template

Export from the prior year

This method is useful when the beneficiaries, partners or shareholders are the same or similar across tax years, and the prior tax year has been prepared in TaxLab.

1. Go to Workpapers tab > Distributions in the prior tax year.
2. Click the Export button.
3. Open the Excel file, update the data and add or remove recipients as required.
   • In a trust, ‘Tax jurisdiction” must be a two letter country code. Please find the list of country codes in the attached PDF at the bottom of this article.
   • The rows and columns that are totals do not need updated. These will not be imported so they can be left there, or deleted.
4. Go to Workpapers tab > Distributions in the current tax year.
5. Click the Import button.
6. Locate and select the updated file, and click Open.

For settlements in a trust, use the same process in Workpapers tab > Settlements

Use a blank import template

1. Download the relevant template file.
   • Please find the templates attached at the bottom of this article.
2. Open the Excel file, delete the sample data, add your data and save the updated file. Please refer to notes below on importing.
   • In a trust distribution or settlement, ‘Tax jurisdiction” must be a two letter country code. The list of country codes can be found here.
3. Go to Workpapers tab > Distributions or Workpapers tab > Settlements
4. Click the Import button.
5. Locate and select the updated file, and click Open.

Notes on importing

Recipient IRD numbers

• Each trust distribution or settlement line must have an IRD number, a TIN number or a reason no TIN required.
• Each partnerships or LTC distribution must have an IRD number.
• If you do not have these details for a recipient or they don’t have them available they cannot be imported. Distributions to these recipients must be entered manually into Distributions.
• Where a partner or a shareholder does not have an IRD number, use 000-000-000 instead. This number cannot be used for beneficiaries or settlors.
• If you have access to a recipient taxpayer in TaxLab that has an IRD Number that matches one in the import file then TaxLab will create the related incoming distribution in that taxpayer.

Round to two decimal places in the import file

Amounts that are distributed must be rounded to two decimal places before importing. If distributions are based on a calculation, make sure to use =ROUND(cell,2) to ensure cells are properly rounded.

In Partnerships, the total distributed needs to add to exactly the amount available to distribute (all to two decimal places). Inland Revenue checks this on filing and will reject a tax return if this is not the case.

Distribution percentages

For partnerships, Inland Revenue requires a distribution percentage to be included for each recipient, and that the percentages add up to exactly 100.00%.

Default values

If the following columns are not set, they will default to the settings below for a trust, therefore it is important to set them correctly. If importing into a partnership they will be ignored.

• Is tax resident – false;
• Is entity paying tax on behalf – false;
• Is minor – false;
• All numbers will default to zero.

Reimporting

You can import a file more than once. It will use the IRD Number to match rows with existing records and it will add any new rows. Rows will not be deleted or updated during an import if they are not on the import file.