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New Zealand

#3 overall · Score 88.2 / 100 · unchanged from 2025

Overall

#3

88.2 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Corporate

#31

54.4 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Individual

#7

85.5 / 100

down one place from 2025

Consumption

#1

100.0 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Property

#8

73.7 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Cross-border

#14

74.6 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Strengths

  • New Zealand levies no taxes on inheritance, property transfers, assets, capital gains, or financial transactions.
  • The VAT of 15 percent applies to nearly the entire potential consumption tax base.
  • New Zealand allows corporate losses to be carried forward indefinitely, allowing businesses to be taxed on their average profitability.

Weaknesses

  • New Zealand has an above-average corporate tax rate of 28 percent (the OECD average is 24.2 percent) and the second-worst cost recovery provisions for business investments in the OECD.
  • New Zealand has a narrow tax treaty network, with 40 countries.
  • The cost of inventory can be accounted for using First In, First Out method or the Average Cost method (Last In, First Out is not permitted).

Component Scores

New Zealand category scores out of 100Corporate Taxes: score 54.4, rank 31. Individual Taxes: score 85.5, rank 7. Consumption Taxes: score 100.0, rank 1. Property Taxes: score 73.7, rank 8. Cross-Border Tax Rules: score 74.6, rank 14255075100Corporate Taxes: 54.4 (rank 31)Individual Taxes: 85.5 (rank 7)Consumption Taxes: 100.0 (rank 1)Property Taxes: 73.7 (rank 8)Cross-Border Tax Rules: 74.6 (rank 14)CorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Category Rank Score vs 2025
Corporate Taxes #31 54.4 unchanged from 2025
Individual Taxes #7 85.5 down one place from 2025
Consumption Taxes #1 100.0 unchanged from 2025
Property Taxes #8 73.7 unchanged from 2025
Cross-Border Tax Rules #14 74.6 unchanged from 2025

Ranking Changes, 2014–2026

New Zealand's best overall rank was 2nd and its worst was 3rd. It ranks 3rd in 2026.

Overall rank by year for New ZealandNew Zealand: 2014 rank 2, 2015 rank 2, 2016 rank 2, 2017 rank 2, 2018 rank 2, 2019 rank 2, 2020 rank 2, 2021 rank 3, 2022 rank 3, 2023 rank 3, 2024 rank 3, 2025 rank 3, 2026 rank 32014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026New Zealand 2014: rank 2New Zealand 2015: rank 2New Zealand 2016: rank 2New Zealand 2017: rank 2New Zealand 2018: rank 2New Zealand 2019: rank 2New Zealand 2020: rank 2New Zealand 2021: rank 3New Zealand 2022: rank 3New Zealand 2023: rank 3New Zealand 2024: rank 3New Zealand 2025: rank 3New Zealand 2026: rank 3#2#3

OECD Context

Each row places all 38 countries on a 0–100 score scale for one measure. New Zealand is highlighted; the dashed line is the OECD median.

All 38 Countries' Ranks

Overall and category ranks for all 38 countries
CountryOverallCorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Estonia#1#2#1#24#1#7
Latvia#2#1#8#22#4#6
New Zealand#3#31#7#1#8#14
Switzerland#4#7#9#4#36#2
Lithuania#5#3#10#23#6#16
Luxembourg#6#20#21#7#15#5
Czech Republic#7#9#4#32#5#11
Australia#8#29#14#9#3#23
Turkey#9#21#6#15#22#8
Hungary#10#5#3#38#23#4
Israel#11#11#31#11#10#18
Slovak Republic#12#24#2#33#7#17
Sweden#13#6#18#26#9#12
Costa Rica#14#35#13#6#11#29
Canada#15#17#28#8#25#28
Netherlands#16#23#30#14#20#3
United States#17#8#17#3#27#37
Austria#18#18#27#17#17#10
Germany#19#30#34#13#12#9
Norway#20#15#29#27#16#15
Mexico#21#28#26#12#2#38
Finland#22#10#24#28#21#24
Greece#23#22#5#29#30#19
Chile#24#32#23#10#13#36
Slovenia#25#14#12#30#24#30
Korea#26#26#38#2#31#34
Belgium#27#16#15#25#28#21
Japan#28#36#35#5#26#31
Ireland#29#4#36#35#18#27
United Kingdom#30#25#22#34#33#1
Denmark#31#19#37#20#14#32
Poland#32#12#11#36#29#25
Portugal#33#34#19#21#19#33
Iceland#34#13#32#19#34#26
Spain#35#33#20#18#35#20
Italy#36#27#16#37#38#22
Colombia#37#37#25#16#37#35
France#38#38#33#31#32#13

Across the OECD

New Zealand ranks 3rd of 38 OECD countries on the overall index.

Source: 2026 International Tax Competitiveness Index.

Notes on the Data

The 2026 Index uses the most up-to-date data available as of July 2026. Data may not reflect changes in countries making rapid reforms.

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About the Authors

Alex Mengden Tax Foundation
Expert

Alex Mengden

Economist

Alex Mengden is an Economist at the Tax Foundation, where he focuses on international tax issues and tax policy in Europe. He holds a BA in philosophy and economics from the University of Bayreuth and an MSc in economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Tax Foundation Staff

Luis Zarka

Transatlantic Tax Fellow

Luis Zarka was a 2026 Transatlantic Tax Fellow with the Tax Foundation’s Center for Global Tax Policy.

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Sarah Wilbur Tax Foundation Media Relations Contact

Sarah Wilbur

Communications Manager

Sarah Wilbur is Communications Manager at the Tax Foundation where she advances the organization’s institutional reach by developing its corporate communications and media programs.

Jesse Solis Tax Foundation

Jesse Solis

Vice President of Communications

Jesse Solis is Vice President of Communications at the Tax Foundation, where he leads the communications team and works to build coverage of Tax Foundation’s experts and their work across the globe. He joined the team in 2021 as Communications Manager and became Communications Director in 2024.