[Full judgment: CommissionerofIRvTrustpowerLtdCA8302013.pdf]
COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND
19 June 2015
MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION
Commissioner of Inland Revenue v Trustpower Ltd
(CA 830/2013) [2015] NZCA 253
PRESS SUMMARY
This summary is provided to assist in the understanding of the Court’s judgment. It does not comprise part of the
reasons for that judgment. The full judgment with reasons is the only authoritative document. The full text of the
judgment and reasons can be found at Judicial Decisions of Public Interest:
http://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/from/decisions/judgments.html
The Court of Appeal (the President Justice Ellen France, Justice White, and Justice Miller) has today released its
decision in Commissioner of Inland Revenue v Trustpower Ltd. The taxpayer, Trustpower Ltd, is a company which generates,
buys and sells electricity. It spent some $17.7 million investigating and applying for resource consents for four
possible new hydro and wind plants. The High Court held the expenditure was deductible on revenue account for tax
purposes.
The Court of Appeal has allowed the appeal brought by the Commissioner. It found Trustpower Ltd incurred the expenditure
for the purpose of decisions relating to the expansion of its electricity generation business. The resource consents
were valuable capital assets. The expenditure was not incurred in earning income by generating and selling electricity
but rather it was capital expenditure. The Court has therefore held the expenditure was not deductible on revenue
account for tax purposes.
[Full judgment: CommissionerofIRvTrustpowerLtdCA8302013.pdf]