01
Start the process
Tell us where you are moving, when you are leaving and the basic facts of your New Zealand departure.
New Zealand departure, without the full-service bill
Save $1,000s
in professional fees.
Get clarity for $497.
Stop paying accountants and lawyers premium hourly rates to organise paperwork you can prepare efficiently. ExitNewZealand walks you through the facts Inland Revenue actually looks at, organises your evidence, compiles a residency position file, and puts it in front of an experienced reviewer before you file your final part-year IR3 or send an IR886.
Guided preparation / Residency file compiled / Human legal review
Your next chapter, organisedExample
🇳🇿 New Zealand🇦🇪 Dubai
One move. One organised file.
Your documents, without the guesswork.
Example checklist3 of 4 added
🏠
New-country leaseA home for your next chapter
✓🪪
Residence documentYour status abroad
✓🏦
Bank statementYour everyday financial ties
✓🚗
Driver's licenceAdd it when available
PENDINGKnow what you have. See what's next.Less scattered paperwork. More room for what's next.
Built around your move
Where are you headed?
🇦🇪 Dubai (UAE)🇲🇹 Malta🇨🇾 Cyprus🇬🇧 UK (non-dom / FIG)🇵🇦 Panama🇵🇾 Paraguay
Need a new residence too?
Leaving New Zealand is one step.
Establishing somewhere new is the next.
Exit Global can help evaluate practical residency pathways in Dubai, Malta, Cyprus and UK and beyond. Some routes can be completed relatively quickly depending on your circumstances. Each destination has its own site — click through.
🇦🇪
Dubai (UAE)
Explore residency pathways ↗
🇲🇹
Malta
Explore residency pathways ↗
🇨🇾
Cyprus
Explore residency pathways ↗
🇬🇧
UK (non-dom / FIG)
Explore residency pathways
🇵🇦
Panama
Explore residency pathways ↗
🇵🇾
Paraguay
Explore residency pathways ↗
Immigration eligibility, processing times and government requirements vary by route and applicant.
The $497 guided departure package
Do the simple work once.
Pay experts for judgment — not administration.
Traditional full-service departure engagements get expensive when accountants and lawyers each bill hourly for gathering the same facts. Software handles the organisation and drafting; experts handle the parts that require judgment.
$497Prepared residency file + written review
Start the process →02
Upload your documents
Add evidence of your new life abroad and the New Zealand ties you have changed, ended or retained.
03
Answer the questionnaire
Work through structured questions covering your home, family, work, banking, KiwiSaver, student loan, investments and the other connections Inland Revenue weighs under the permanent place of abode test.
04
We compile your residency file
The software organises your answers and evidence into a structured departure file: your position under the permanent place of abode test and the 325-day rule, your part-year IR3, your student-loan and KiwiSaver position, and the investments and property you are leaving behind.
05
Expert review + written evaluation
Our team reviews the file and evidence, provides a written evaluation of your residency position and flags what to fix before you file or send an IR886.
06
You decide how to proceed
You receive the prepared file and review. You decide whether to file on that basis, send the IR886 questionnaire to Inland Revenue, or obtain specialist advice first.
No open-ended hourly meter.
The core guided preparation and review is $497. Complex tax, valuation or specialist work is scoped and quoted separately, only if your situation requires it.
Your information is sensitive. We treat it that way.
Documents are stored privately when you explicitly save them. We use restricted access and do not sell or share your information.
01 / Understand the rules
New Zealand has something close to an NR73.
Here is how it fits together.
New Zealand is one of the few countries with an optional residency questionnaire — the IR886 — that Inland Revenue answers in writing. But the law is a two-part test you have to satisfy yourself, and the questionnaire only reflects the facts you give it. Getting the file right before you send anything is what protects you later.
The two-part test
No permanent place of abode, and more than 325 days away.
You stop being a New Zealand tax resident only when both conditions are met: you do not have a permanent place of abode in New Zealand, and you are away from New Zealand for more than 325 days in any 12-month period. Part-days in New Zealand count as full days present and do not count towards the 325 days.
Non-residence is backdated to the first of the 325 days — provided you had no permanent place of abode at any time during that period. The abode question, not the day count, is where most departures are won or lost.
Inland Revenue: tax residency status for individuals ↗Permanent place of abode
A place you habitually reside in — even if you spend periods overseas.
Inland Revenue's interpretation statement IS 25/16 (16 May 2025, replacing IS 16/03) defines a permanent place of abode as a place a person habitually resides from time to time even if they spend periods overseas. It looks at the nature and quality of your use of and connection with the dwelling, your intentions, family and social ties, employment and economic ties, where your personal property is, and other circumstances.
The question is not which country you are more connected to — it is whether the place you have in New Zealand is a permanent place of abode. A home kept available to you is the fact that needs the most explanation.
Inland Revenue: IS 25/16 Tax residence ↗If you want certainty
The IR886 questionnaire — optional, and answered in writing.
The New Zealand tax residence questionnaire (IR886) asks about your departure date, expected return, family, the 183-, 275- and 325-day tests, your travel history, property and accommodation, personal property, employment and financial ties, memberships, and your student loan, Working for Families and child support position. Inland Revenue replies in writing. The form says plainly that it is not compulsory — and the reply is only as good as the facts you supply.
Inland Revenue: IR886 New Zealand tax residence questionnaire (2026) ↗Separate from your questionnaire
Your departure-year IR3 still has to be right.
If you will have no ongoing New Zealand income, Inland Revenue's guide IR292 says you can file an IR3 up to the date of your departure, covering income from all sources up to the day you leave. If you keep New Zealand income after you go, you file an IR3 to the end of the tax year (31 March) following your departure, showing worldwide income to the date you left and New Zealand income after that date. From then on, New Zealand-source income goes on the non-resident return, the IR3NR — unless it is only interest, dividends or royalties with tax correctly deducted.
Inland Revenue: IR292 New Zealand tax residence guide (April 2026) ↗Why this matters
A flight changes
your location.
The facts tell the rest.
New Zealand tax obligations depend on residency. Residents pay tax on worldwide income, whether or not it is brought into New Zealand and whether or not the other country has already taxed it. Non-residents pay only on New Zealand-source income, much of it through withholding. Inland Revenue decides which you are by looking at your whole life, not your departure date.
Read Inland Revenue's residency overview ↗Where is your home?
Whether you sold, let out or kept your New Zealand home available is the single heaviest fact under the permanent place of abode test.
Where is your family?
A spouse, partner or dependent children staying in New Zealand is a significant tie and needs an explanation, not silence.
What does daily life look like?
Work, banking, KiwiSaver, investments, memberships, the electoral roll and how often you come back tell the story the test is asking about.
02 / A simple way forward
From scattered documents
to a clear next step.
You don't need everything on day one. Start with what you know and keep track of the gaps.
01
Tell the story of your move
Choose your destination and record the key facts, dates and New Zealand ties.
02
Build your document file
Keep new-country evidence and changes to New Zealand ties in separate, labelled sections.
03
Get reviewed before you file
Our team reviews your residency file and evidence, provides an advisory opinion and recommends revisions before you file or send an IR886.
Guided preparation. Human review.
You do the groundwork.
Our team reviews the final file.
You should not have to start from a blank page, or pay a professional to chase every document. Build the file yourself; have it reviewed before you rely on it.
A reviewed residency file
Our team reviews your position under the permanent place of abode test and the 325-day rule, your supporting documents and departure narrative, provides an advisory opinion and recommends revisions.
A human review of the facts and evidence, not just a completed checklist.
Less administration. Lower preparation costs.
You gather documents and answer the guided questions. We focus professional time on reviewing your prepared file rather than assembling it from scratch.
Designed to cost less than having a firm manage every preparation task.
Specialists for the complex parts
Have a company, a family trust, a rental property or foreign shares above the FIF threshold? We can connect you with chartered accountants and tax lawyers for the pieces that need them.
The right specialist for the work your situation actually requires.
A more focused way to get there
Do not pay full-service rates
for paperwork you can organise.
New Zealand has no exit tax, so a straightforward departure should not cost tens of thousands. But fees still run into the thousands of dollars once a family trust, a rental property under the bright-line test, financial arrangements or a student loan are in play and each adviser bills hourly for the same facts.
This refers to broader, multi-specialist engagements, not residency preparation alone. Actual fees and savings vary.
Beyond the residency question
No exit tax. No capital gains tax.
Still a few things that follow you.
New Zealand has no general capital gains tax and no departure charge — ceasing residency does not trigger a deemed disposal of your shares, crypto or business. What does follow you: a New Zealand residential property sold within the 2-year bright-line period is taxable, and an offshore seller has residential land withholding tax deducted at settlement; financial arrangements may need a base price adjustment when you leave; interest, dividends and royalties you keep earning here are subject to non-resident withholding tax; and a student loan starts accruing interest from the day after you leave once you are overseas-based. As at September 2026 a capital gains tax on property is an opposition election policy, not law.
Inland Revenue: leaving New Zealand ↗CA
Tax analysis and filings
A Chartered Accountant (CA ANZ) with cross-border experience can prepare your part-year IR3, any base price adjustment, your IR3NR going forward and the FIF and bright-line positions on what you keep.
TAX LAWYER
Trusts, companies and rulings
A tax lawyer or specialist adviser can deal with trustee and settlor residence changes, company control, and a binding ruling if the IR886 reply is not enough certainty for you.
Prepare it yourself. Get it reviewed. Bring in specialists when needed.
Start my guided departure →Team review is a separate, agreed professional engagement. Our advisory opinion is not a determination by Inland Revenue.
03 / Know what to gather
Two sides of the move.
One practical checklist.
These are suggested evidence categories, not a universal Inland Revenue document requirement. Include what's relevant to your situation.
Your new country
Establishing your life abroad
- Lease or proof of housingNames, address, dates and the living arrangement.
- New driver's licenceIf issued and applicable to your situation.
- Residence or immigration documentThe visa or permit that applies to your status — and whether it is permanent.
- Local bank statementEvidence of an account in your new country.
Other useful context: employment, utilities, health coverage and travel records.
New Zealand
Documenting what changed
- Sale, lease or letting of your New Zealand homeExplain what happened to it and whether it remains available to you — the core of the permanent place of abode test.
- Student loan: overseas travel in myIRRecord your travel in the 'Travelling overseas' section of myIR. Once you are in New Zealand fewer than 32 days in any 184-day period you are overseas-based, interest runs from the day after you left, and repayments are set by your loan balance with a 30 September due date.
- KiwiSaver, Working for Families and child supportTell Inland Revenue before you go. Working for Families payments may be affected; KiwiSaver can be withdrawn (except government contributions) after one year of permanent emigration outside Australia, or transferred to an Australian scheme.
- PIE rate, trust and NZ Super notificationsChange your prescribed investor rate to 28%; if a trustee becomes non-resident the settlor files an IR462 within 3 months; if you receive NZ Super, apply to Work and Income at least 6 weeks before you leave.
- Bank, electoral roll and licence updatesGive your bank a non-resident address so withholding is right; update your enrolment (citizens can vote from overseas only if they have been in New Zealand within the past three years); cancel or explain a retained licence.
Keeping a New Zealand bank account does not by itself give you a permanent place of abode. See how Inland Revenue weighs it ↗
Still waiting on a document? Mark it pending and keep going.
Start my departure file — $497 →Your file grows as your move does.
04 / When you're ready
You prepare here.
You file with Inland Revenue.
There is no compulsory departure form — but there is an optional questionnaire, a part-year return and several notifications with real deadlines. This app does not connect to myIR.
Inland Revenue: what to do when leaving New Zealand ↗01
Tell Inland Revenue you are leavingThrough myIR, your tax agent or by post: your overseas address, the date you left or intend to leave, and how long you intend to be away. If you want a written answer on your status, send the IR886 questionnaire to Inland Revenue, PO Box 39010, Wellington Mail Centre, Lower Hutt 5045.
02
File your departure-year IR3With no ongoing New Zealand income, file an IR3 up to your departure date before you leave. With ongoing New Zealand income, file to 31 March showing worldwide income to the date you left and New Zealand income after it. If your income was all taxed at source, ask for an income tax assessment by myIR message instead.
03
Deal with your social policy accountsUpdate your student loan travel record, Working for Families, child support and KiwiSaver before you go. Inland Revenue warns the rules and timeframes are different for each programme.
04
Keep the fileInland Revenue can revisit residency years later, and the 325-day count only works if you can prove it. Keep the evidence, your passport movements, the IR886 reply and every notification you sent.
Good questions. Clear answers.
Before you
get started.
You can organise your evidence before deciding how far to take it.
Will your team review my final file?
Yes. Under an agreed review engagement, our team reviews your residency file and supporting package, provides a written advisory opinion and recommends revisions. That is our opinion — not an Inland Revenue determination, an IR886 reply or a binding ruling.
Is there a New Zealand equivalent of Canada's NR73?
Closer than most countries. The IR886 New Zealand tax residence questionnaire is an optional form covering your departure, ties, property, family and day counts, and Inland Revenue replies in writing. It is not compulsory and it is only as reliable as the facts you give — which is why the file comes first. IR886 (2026) ↗
Is there an exit tax when I leave New Zealand?
No. New Zealand has no general capital gains tax and no deemed disposal on ceasing residency. The things to watch are the 2-year bright-line test on residential property, a possible base price adjustment on financial arrangements, and non-resident withholding tax on income you keep earning here. Labour has announced a 28% tax on gains from residential and commercial property (excluding the family home) from 1 July 2027 if it wins the 2026 election — as at September 2026 that is a policy, not law. Inland Revenue: leaving New Zealand ↗
I am gone 325 days but kept my house. Am I non-resident?
Not necessarily. Both conditions must be met: more than 325 days away in a 12-month period and no permanent place of abode in New Zealand. A house you can return to — especially one kept furnished or lived in by family — can keep you resident regardless of the day count. Letting it out on a genuine arm's-length lease changes the picture; leaving it empty does not. IS 25/16 ↗
What about my rental property and the bright-line test?
The bright-line test does not care about your residency; it looks at whether you sell within 2 years of your bright-line start date (for sales on or after 1 July 2024). Once you are an offshore person, residential land withholding tax is deducted at settlement unless you hold an exemption certificate, and the rental income is still New Zealand-source and returned on an IR3NR. Bright-line test ↗
What happens to my KiwiSaver and NZ Super?
KiwiSaver stays invested. After one year living permanently overseas (outside Australia) you can withdraw your contributions, employer contributions, kick-start, fee subsidies and earnings — but not government contributions. Moving to Australia, you can transfer to an Australian super scheme instead. NZ Super continues overseas at a rate based on the months you lived in New Zealand between 20 and 65, and you must apply at least 6 weeks before you leave. KiwiSaver overseas ↗
I have a student loan. Does leaving end it?
No, and it gets more expensive. You are overseas-based once you spend fewer than 32 days in New Zealand in any 184-day period; interest is charged from the day after you first left, and your repayment obligation is set by your loan balance, not your income, with payments due by 30 September. Record your travel in myIR and consider nominating someone to act for you. Student loans overseas ↗
If I come back later, do I start again as a resident?
Yes, and possibly with a bonus. You become resident again after more than 183 days in any 12-month period, or from the day you acquire a permanent place of abode. If you were not resident at any time in the 10 years before you re-qualify, you can be a transitional resident with a roughly 4-year exemption on most foreign income — once only, and lost if you claim Working for Families. Clean non-residence now is what makes that available later. Temporary tax exemption ↗
The next chapter starts with a plan
Get clarity before you spend
thousands more on professional fees.
Start my departure file — $497 →Dubai (UAE) / Malta / Cyprus / UK (non-dom / FIG) / Panama / Paraguay
The Exit network
One process. Every country.
Each site covers one departure, in that country's own rules. The destination sites cover where you're going. All reviewed by the same team at Exit Global.
Leaving
🌐Exit GlobalPortfolio home🇨🇦Exit CanadaNR73 + departure file🇺🇸Exit USAExpatriation + Form 8854🐻Exit CaliforniaFTB residency🗽Exit New YorkDomicile + statutory residency🇬🇧Exit the UKStatutory Residence Test🇮🇪Exit IrelandOrdinary residence tail🇫🇷Exit FranceArt. 167 bis exit tax🇧🇪Exit BelgiumSpecial departure return🇳🇱Exit NetherlandsM-form + conserverende aanslag🇪🇸Exit SpainArt. 95 bis + quarantine rule🇮🇹Exit ItalyAIRE + black-list presumption🇩🇰Exit DenmarkFraflytterskat🇳🇴Exit NorwayUtflyttingsskatt🇸🇪Exit SwedenTen-year share rule🇦🇺Exit AustraliaCGT event I1🇿🇦Exit South AfricaSection 9H exit charge🇩🇪Exit Germany§ 6 AStG Wegzugsbesteuerung🇦🇹Exit Austria§ 27 (6) Wegzugsbesteuerung🇫🇮Exit FinlandThree-year rule🇧🇷Exit BrazilSaída definitiva🇯🇵Exit JapanExit tax on ¥100m+ assets🇮🇱Exit IsraelCentre of life + s.100A🇳🇿Exit New Zealand325-day rule + IR886🇵🇹Exit PortugalArt. 16 CIRS residency🇰🇷Exit South KoreaExit tax on large shareholders🇦🇷Exit ArgentinaPérdida de residencia + baja🇮🇳Exit IndiaSection 6 residency + RNOR🇨🇭Exit SwitzerlandWegzug + pension withholding
Arriving
🇵🇦Move to PanamaTerritorial tax, Friendly Nations🇦🇪Move to DubaiNo personal income tax🇲🇹Move to MaltaRemittance basis, EU🇨🇾Move to Cyprus60-day rule, non-dom🇵🇾Move to ParaguayTerritorial tax, fast residency🇺🇾Move to UruguayTax holiday for new residents🇨🇷Move to Costa RicaTerritorial tax🇧🇸Move to BahamasNo income tax🇵🇹Move to PortugalD7, D8, Golden Visa, IFICI🇹🇭Move to ThailandLTR visa, remittance basis🇲🇾Move to MalaysiaMM2H, territorial tax🇮🇩Move to IndonesiaSecond Home visa, Bali🇬🇪Move to GeorgiaForeign income exempt, 1% SBS🇵🇷Move to Puerto RicoAct 60 for US citizens🇮🇹Move to ItalyFlat tax, 7% pensioner regime🇬🇷Move to GreeceGolden Visa, non-dom flat tax🇭🇰Move to Hong KongTerritorial, no CGT🇸🇬Move to SingaporeForeign income exempt, no CGT