New Zealand runs its own depreciation regime, with its own prescribed rates, its own write-off thresholds and its own income year. It is not Australian rules with a different currency. These questions cover Investment Boost, the IRD rate schedule, the low-value write-off, and what changes when you hold entities on both sides of the Tasman.
What is Investment Boost?
Investment Boost is a New Zealand tax incentive announced in Budget 2025. For an eligible new asset, you deduct 20% of its cost immediately, then depreciate the remaining 80% at the normal rate over the asset’s life. It is an acceleration of the deduction rather than an increase in it: you claim the same total amount over the life of the asset, but more of it lands in the first year.
Which date decides whether an asset qualifies for Investment Boost?
The date the asset was first used, not the date you bought it. Investment Boost applies from 22 May 2025, so an asset ordered and paid for in April 2025 but not commissioned until July 2025 qualifies, while one bought and put to work in April 2025 does not. This catches people out, because almost every other depreciation rule you deal with keys off the acquisition date. In Dwindle, you record the first-used date on the asset and the correct treatment follows from it.
Does Investment Boost change my accounting depreciation?
No, and it should not. Investment Boost is a tax concession, so it applies to your tax book only. Your accounting book continues to depreciate the asset over its useful life on its full cost. The two books diverge from the first year, and the resulting variance is exactly the kind of difference that goes unnoticed when the register is maintained by hand. Dwindle applies the boost only to the books that follow jurisdiction rules and calculates the variance for you.
Do I need to look up IRD depreciation rates myself?
No. The full IRD prescribed rate schedule is built in, searchable by industry or by asset type, with the diminishing value and straight line rate for each asset class. Because the schedule is organised into acquisition windows and has changed over the years, Dwindle narrows it to the rates that applied for the asset’s acquisition date rather than offering today’s rate for a purchase made a decade ago. There is no rate finder to run and no PDF to search.
What is the low-value asset write-off threshold in New Zealand?
An asset costing less than the threshold can be deducted in full in the year it is bought, rather than depreciated. The threshold is currently $1,000. It has moved: it was $500 from May 2005, was lifted temporarily to $5,000 for assets purchased between 17 March 2020 and 16 March 2021, then settled at $1,000 from 17 March 2021. Dwindle applies the threshold that was in force on the purchase date, which matters when you are rebuilding a historical register or reperforming a prior year.
Can I claim Investment Boost and the low-value write-off on the same asset?
No, you choose one. For an asset under the $1,000 threshold you can either deduct the full cost in the year you buy it, or claim Investment Boost and depreciate the remaining 80% over the asset’s life. IRD excludes assets that are already immediately deductible from Investment Boost for exactly this reason. For a small asset the full write-off is usually the better answer, since it brings the whole deduction forward rather than a fifth of it, but it is a choice to make on each asset and worth recording, because the two treatments leave different closing values behind. In Dwindle the two are mutually exclusive on an asset, so the election is explicit rather than something a reviewer has to infer later.
What is the pool method?
The pool method lets you group a number of low-value assets and depreciate the pool as a whole instead of each asset separately. Every asset in the pool is treated as one asset for depreciation purposes, which is where the compliance saving comes from: one calculation and one balance rather than a schedule line each. You can run as many pools as suit you, and combine pools later.
The mechanics are specific. Depreciation is calculated on the pool’s average value for the income year, being the opening value plus the closing value before depreciation, divided by two. Only diminishing value rates can be used, and where the assets in a pool carry different rates, the lowest rate applies to the whole pool.
An asset is poolable if it cost $5,000 or less, or has depreciated to an adjusted tax value of $5,000 or less. That maximum applies per asset and excludes GST if you are registered. It has been $5,000 since the 2015-2016 income year and $2,000 before that, and you can apply to IRD for a higher pooling value on specific assets. Assets must be used wholly in the business or be subject to FBT, so anything with a private-use component is out, and buildings cannot be pooled.
Two things to weigh before pooling. Once an asset is in a pool it cannot be separated out again, unless it has to be because you start using it privately. And if you sell a pooled asset for more than it cost, that gain is taxable income.
Can I manage Australian and New Zealand entities in the same place?
Yes, and in the same entity group. Each entity keeps its own rules and its own income year: a New Zealand entity runs to a 31 March balance date and depreciates monthly, an Australian entity runs to 30 June and depreciates daily. Dwindle applies the right basis to each entity automatically, so a trans-Tasman client group is one register to govern, review and report on, not two.