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Thousands of levy invoices were sent to to New Zealand tax residents who had declared foreign employment or service income in their tax return. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver ACC is chasing thousands of New Zealanders for levies on income they earned while working overseas. The department said it had sent 4300 levy invoices for the 2023 tax year to New Zealand tax residents who had declared foreign employment or service income in their tax return. These invoices can run into thousands of dollars. It said ACC was generally charged on employment income taxable in New Zealand, which meant people who went overseas to work but retained tax residency might remain liable for ACC levies. To give up tax residency, people generally need to be away from New Zealand for more than 325 days i...

Some people are reportedly putting BNPL payments ahead of everything else. File photo. Photo: 123RF Financial mentors are concerned that buy now pay later loans are snowballing into major debt problems for some borrowers. While Centrix data shows buy now pay later (BNPL) arrears have dropped, mentors say people who are in a cycle of BNPL debt are prioritising its payments over their other obligations. "Financial mentors are getting really stretched by unaffordable buy now pay later loans," said Fincap senior policy adviser Jake Lilley. "They've told me that some whānau are presenting for food support after one initially affordable purchase through a buy now pay later loan snowballed into multiple loans. The apps seem to encourage people to spend more and more through buy now pay later l...

Photo: Unsplash / RNZ When you drive south down State Highway 1 to get to the Cannabis Clinic in Auckland, you can't ignore the exit number: 420. The number - spoken as four-twenty - is cultural slang for weed. But Dr Waseem Alzaher assures me that isn't why he chose the swanky beachside suburb of Takapuna for the location of what would become New Zealand's largest prescriber of medicinal cannabis. Really, it was convenient and Takapuna doesn't scream weed (it gives off more of a sneaky-bit-of-cocaine, $100 bottle of red kinda vibe). "It is part of why the universe ended up putting us here," says Alzaher, who spent time as an emergency room doctor and as a GP before setting up the Cannabis Clinic. "It was all meant to be: exit 420, a big cannabis clinic, big cannabis pharmacy and then we...

Auckland house prices fell 0.7 percent in September. File photo. Photo: 123rf New Zealand's property downturn continues, Corelogic says, but it may not last much longer. Its house value index shows that prices fell another 0.5 percent in September, the seventh fall in a row. Values are 16 percent higher than in March 2020 but 18 percent below their Covid boom peak. Hamilton was down 1.2 percent in September, Wellington 0.5 percent and Auckland 0.7 percent. Christchurch values were flat and Dunedin's were slightly up. Chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said there were signs falling mortgage rates had started to boost sentiment but that was yet to show up in the data. "I think you've probably got to call this a downturn. The language has been 'it's a bit soft, it's soggy, ticking al...