Tax to be levied on overseas online purchases

A goods and services tax will be charged on overseas purchases such as music and e-books from October next year, New Zealand's revenue minister said on Monday.

Todd McClay said the proposed measures, contained in a tax bill, will apply a GST to cross-border "remote" services supplied by offshore suppliers to New Zealand-resident consumers.

The measures will require the offshore supplier to register and return a GST on these supplies. The bill includes products such as e-books, music, videos and software bought from offshore websites.