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Accounting for deferred taxes under NZ IAS 12
A “balance sheet”approach
The most significant change in NZ IAS 12 from SSAP-12 is that the basis used to account for deferred taxes follows a balance sheet approach as opposed to an income statement approach. To calculate deferred taxes under the balance sheet approach, we must determine an entity’s temporary differences. Temporary differences are the differences between the carrying amount of an asset or liability in the balance sheet and its tax base (i.e., the amount attributed to the same asset or liability for tax purposes).
In contrast, to calculate deferred taxes under the income statement approach, we must determine an entity’s timing differences. Timing differences arise when revenue and expense items are recognized in the calculation of accounting profit before or after they are included in the calculation of taxable profit.
The focus of the deferred tax calculation in the balance sheet approach is on items that appear in the balance sheet, while for the income statement approach it is on items that appear in the income stateme
nt. However, since the income statement is a by-product of the balance sheet, all timing differences by definition must be a component of temporary differences (see paragraph 17 of NZ IAS 12 which hints at this point).
In some situations, the amount of temporary differences will equal the amount of timing differences in a period. However, the amount of timing differences cannot be greater than the amount of temporary differences. This is because not all asset and liability items in the balance sheet necessarily have an effect that passes through the income statement and which would impact on deferred taxes. For example, a temporary difference, but not a timing difference, can arise when an asset is revalued upwards (with the increment in value recognized in equity and not in the income statement), but there is no equivalent adjustment made for tax purposes (see later for a
more detailed discussion of how this is accounted for under NZ IAS 12).
Therefore, the main consequence of the balance sheet approach for entities when they adopt NZ IAS 12 is that it can capture a much wider range of items that will give rise to the recognition of deferred taxes in the financial statements. Further, the change to a balance sheet approach is consistent with the asset-liability orientation to financial reporting that is advocated for by the International Accounting
Standards Board in its “Framework for the Preparation and Presentation of Financial Statements”and the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants (formerly the Institute of Chartered Accountants of New Zealand) in its “Statement of Concepts for General Purpose Financial Reporting.”
Recognition of all temporary differences-no “partial” recognition
NZ IAS 12 requires a deferred tax liability to be recognized for all taxable temporary differences. Taxable temporary differences result in taxable amounts that impact the taxable profit of future periods when the carrying amount of an asset or liability is recovered or settled. Further, NZ IAS 12 requires a deferred tax asset to be recognized for all deductible temporary differences, although this is subject to certain criteria. Deductible temporary differences result in amounts that are deductible in determining the taxable profit of future periods when the carrying amount of an asset or liability is recovered or settled. Therefore, while some very limited exceptions apply, the requirement in NZ IAS 12 is that all temporary differences (taxable and deductible) are to be recognized as deferred taxes (liability and asset, respectively) in the financial statements.
In general, when all temporary differences are recognized as deferred tax, this is often referred to as tax effect accounting under a “comprehensive”basis. When only some, but not all, temporary differenc
es are recognized as deferred tax, this is often referred to as tax effect accounting under a “partial”basis. Using this terminology and distinction, NZ IAS 12 can be viewed as following a comprehensive basis. On the other hand, SSAP-12 allows entities the choice to recognize deferred taxes either under a comprehensive basis or under a partial basis, although the preferred option is comprehensive. As such, this provides a significant variation between the two
accounting standards because the partial basis is not allowed in NZ IAS 12.
By and large the partial basis arose out of concerns regarding the recognition of deferred tax liabilities when tax effect accounting under the comprehensive basis was used. These concerns centre on the issue of whether taxable temporary differences “reverse”. There are situations where the temporary differences created under the comprehensive basis may cause an entity to report on its balance sheet a deferred tax liability that appears never to be settled and which may be ever growing in nature. This can occur if an entity has high investments and/or a policy of continually investing in depreciable assets. In such a case, the taxable temporary differences may not reverse because new temporary differences are created and recognized that more than offset any reversing temporary differences from a prior period. Hence, this gives the impression that settlement of the deferred tax liability can be postponed indefinitely. The partial basis would overcome this concern by recognizing as deferred taxes
in the financial statements only those temporary differences that are expected to have a future cash flow effect (i.e., those that are expected to reverse).
While many New Zealand entities currently use the comprehensive basis and recognize all timing differences as deferred tax, NZ IAS 12 will cast that net wider by requiring all temporary differences to be recognized. The effect of this on entities will be small if the total amount of temporary differences is similar to the total amount of timing differences. But the effect could be substantial for entities that currently use the partial basis under SSAP-12 and have a history of not recognizing deferred taxes from all timing differences. These unrecognized amounts will now have to be recognized, and for some entities, this will not be a trivial exercise. To illustrate, consider what happened to Air New Zealand when it reported a change in its accounting policy for income taxes from the partial basis to the comprehensive basis for its financial year ending 2000, albeit under the requirements of SSAP-12. The financial effect of doing so increased Air New Zealand’s deferred tax liability by $786 million, an amount that had previously been unrecognized. It also significantly contributed to Air New Zealand’s bottom line net loss of$600 million and substantially increased its debt to total assets ratio from 34 to 66 percent for its 2000
financial year. Interestingly, Air New Zealand cited that its main reason for changing to the comprehens
ive basis was to bring its books in line with international accounting standard trends. More recently, Wong and Wong6 provide descriptive evidence that deferred taxes from unrecognized timing differences from a sample of New Zealand’s largest companies in 2002 and 2003 are not small.
NZ IAS 12’s requirement to recognize all temporary differences as deferred tax will fuel further debate on the merits of tax effect accounting under the comprehensive and partial bases. The resolution of this debate is far from certain, especially given recent research findings that entities choose partial over the comprehensive basis because it provides more accurate and relevant information about the deferred tax figures presented in the financial statements when there are temporary differences that are not expected to reverse.
Deferred tax assets
NZ IAS 12 and SSAP-12 both allow the recognition of deferred tax assets. However, the recognition conditions in NZ IAS 12 differ from those in SSAP-12. In NZ IAS 12, the recognition of a deferred tax asset depends on “the extent that it is probable that taxable profit will be available against which the deductible temporary difference can be utilized”(paragraph 24 of NZ IAS 12). In SSAP-12, the recognition of a deferred tax asset depends on “the extent that there is virtual certainty of its recovery i
n future periods”(paragraph 4.20 of SSAP-12). Hence, the recognition conditions in NZ IAS 12 regarding deferred tax assets appear to be less stringent than those in SSAP-12.deductible
The main consequence of this change in NZ IAS 12 is that entities are likely to recognize and report a higher incidence of deferred tax assets on their balance sheet than what we have seen under SSAP-12. However, NZ IAS 12 also requires that entities be conservative in their measurement of the deferred tax asset and they must review the carrying amount at each balance date. If there is a probability that there will no longer be sufficient taxable profits available to allow the benefit of part or the entire deferred tax asset to be utilized, then the carrying amount of the deferred tax asset must be reduced accordingly (paragraph 56 of NZ IAS 12). In addition, the
financial effect of recognizing a deferred tax asset (or for that matter, a deferred tax liability) may be reduced if an entity offsets the deferred tax assets and deferred tax liabilities that they present on the balance sheet (paragraph 74 of NZ IAS 12). Revalued assets
An interesting issue that arises in NZ IAS 12 concerns the revaluation of assets. In this situation, when an asset is revalued upwards in the financial statements, but there is no similar adjustment to the tax base of the asset, this creates a taxable temporary difference that requires the recognition of a deferre
d tax liability. In comparison, no deferred tax liability would be recognized in the balance sheet for an asset that is revalued under the income statement approach in SSAP-12. Generally, this is because of the way in which the depreciation charge from the revalued asset is handled in the income statement for accounting and tax purposes. While the depreciation expense for accounting purposes is based on the revalued amount, depreciation expense that is deducted for tax purposes must still be based on the asset’s original cost. This means that the depreciation expense that arises from the revaluation increment never has a tax effect (i.e., a timing difference does not arise from that part of the depreciation expense related to the revalued asset) under SSAP-12. Hence, the change in requirement in NZ IAS 12 could increase significantly the amount of the deferred tax liability that is recognized on the balance sheet because entities revalue their assets regularly.
The measurement of the deferred tax liability from the revaluation in NZ IAS 12 depends on the manner in which the carrying amount of the asset is expected to be recovered at balance date (see paragraph 52 of NZ IAS 12, in particular example B) - that is, whether the asset is expected to be recovered through its further use or if the asset is expected to be recovered through its subsequent disposal. If the carrying amount of the asset is expected to be recovered through its further use, a deferred tax liability would be recognized by calculating the difference between the carrying amount (i.
e., the revalued amount) and the tax base of the asset. If the carrying amount of the asset is expected to be recovered through its subsequent disposal, a deferred tax liability would be recognized by determining the difference between the