Provisional Tax

For a standard 12-month year, provisional tax is due in three instalments. The instalments generally fall on the 28th day of the fifth, ninth and thirteenth months. However, this is varied in certain situations. For example, for a business with a 31 March balance date the instalments are due on 28 August, 15 January and 7 May. The second and third instalments being pushed out due to the Summer and Easter holidays, respectively.

Most taxpayers use the ‘standard uplift’ method where instalments are calculated based on the previous year’s (“year-1”) residual income tax (RIT) +5%, or the RIT from two years ago (“year-2”) +10% if the prior year tax return has not been filed.

Understanding the way provisional tax works is complicated by the fact there are different rules for the purpose of late payment penalties versus interest. This means it is possible to pay the required amount on-time, as calculated under the standard uplift method, and not be subject to late payment penalties. But then incur interest from that same point because the final liability for the year exceeds the provisional tax amounts paid.

Whilst the rules can be complex, concessionary changes over the past few years have made the regime less onerous and costly. For example, provisional tax use to be calculated as at a particular instalment date based on the most recently filed income tax return, whether year-1 or year-2. If profits declined across the two prior tax return periods, the provisional tax payable would not be reduced until the most recent return was filed and only for subsequent provisional tax payments.

Under current rules, the amount due at a past instalment is re-calculated based on the lesser of year-2 or year-1. This ‘lesser of’ approach means there is less risk in choosing to pay a lower amount of provisional tax based on the prior year’s estimated taxable income, even though the income tax return for that period has not been filed.