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Commissioner's Interpretation Guidelines: Some Consequences from Publishing Them

The New Zealand Commissioner of Inland Revenue issues several kinds of statements that are in effect legal opinions. This article relates to certain public statements formerly known as “policy statements” and now called “interpretation guidelines”. The Commissioner issues interpretation guidelines when it appears to be desirable to offer an element of certainty, or, at least, to minimise uncertainty, in respect of a general area of law. Although they are not legally binding on the Commissioner he generally follows them administratively. The article argues that public statement of this type are not suitable vehicles to convey the Commissioner’s views on general matters such as what sort of arrangements amount to tax avoidance or how taxpayers should address questions of form and substance.