Tourism New Zealand today announced Australian entities can now claim back the goods and services tax when holding business events in New Zealand.

Effective from today, the Goods and Services Tax Act 1985 has been amended to allow businesses that are non-resident in New Zealand to register for GST.

Open to Australian conferences, business can qualify by meeting a list of criteria found on the Inland Revenue Department website.

International business events manager for Tourism New Zealand Bjoern Spreitzer said,“Tourism New Zealand has made headway to encourage Australian companies to bring their conferences to New Zealand and show off its amazing people, venues and culture.

“Our key objective is to educate business about the advantages of conferencing in New Zealand and in doing so we’ve implemented new staff to cater entirely for the Australian market.

“Australia has a rich and diverse business culture and New Zealand’s conference options are only a three hour flight from the east coast with daily direct flights.”