According to Ms Renee. M. the RewardsAffiliates.com program coordinator, CasinoRewards.com et al, have been paying New Zealand consumption tax, since 2017. I received this information from her, via email. The first time I heard about this NZ Tax, was in August 2020, when, my affiliate commission was short-changed by around US$3,300. I made contact with Renee, asking why? Her reply indicated that because they Casino Rewards were having to build a bespoke casino for the German market, they now had to pass a % of the NZ Tax to affiliates.
This was a pretty big change. Yet, not a peep was spoken about it. No forewarning. No mail from RewardsAffiliates.com advising of these NZ tax garnishes. Nothing! The excuse given? I thought I posted about this to the GPWA (gambling portal webmasters association). But I’ve just checked and I didn’t. Sorry???!!! Seems RA have no problem writing news in their affiliate-portal about player promotions and such, and at the time of Covid, acceptable marketing guidelines. However, posting about the introduction of New Zealand consumption tax charges to affiliates?
Reiterating not a peep was mentioned!
At the time, and given a lot of countries were introducing off shore consumption taxes, I had no reason to doubt what I was being told. A few months later my accountant, started asking me for NZ tax invoices, for my share of this paid tax. I approached Ms Renee .M., asking for these NZ tax invoices, stating that Australia has a tax treaty with New Zealand, and that any tax paid in either country by either citizens, is claimable against their yearly tax returns.
Well, right there was the commencement, of what was essentially, a ‘cat and mouse’ game.
Furthermore, my accountant also figured out that RewardsAffiliates.com were charging me 26.7x more than I was actually supposed to pay. My Wager-Model commission paid 1.3% of all wagering. Yet, when players lost, I was being flogged 5.25% tax on both deposit loses and bonuses awarded. In some instances, my tax exceed 65% of my total monthly income.
NB – Correct tax fee, based on my 1.3% commission, should have been 0.195%, not 5.25%. I will also add, I contacted the ATO (Australian Tax Office) forum, and posted the follow questions:
ATO New Zealand Consumption Tax
At that point we, my accountant and I realised this is definitely NOT kosher.
More emails back and forth to the Rewards Affiliates coordinator. Math is math. It’s a proven science. 2+2 = 4. However it soon became clear, that 2+2=5 when RewardsAffiliates.com and Ms Renee .M., were involved.
It’s not 1 nitwit having a discussion about tax related charges. Instead, it’s an Australian qualified, chartered accountant, who is saying, your tax charging figures are wrong. Yet, with this fact, Ms Renee .M., who is not an accountant, wants to state that 2+2=5 not 4… smh!
As time wore on and the years went past, and with no tax invoices supplied by RewardsAffiliates.com, I started to smell a rat. On the RA website, it makes claim that TAX is paid to regulated markets (have screen cap). However, New Zealand is not a regulated market. In addition, it seems that whilst at one point CasinoRewards.com casinos were accepting NZD$ deposits, they stopped accepting NZD$ when New Zealand introduced consumption tax.
Hang on a minute. Didn’t the Rewards Affiliates program coordinator claim they’ve been paying NZ consumption tax since 2017? Yes she did. And, yes I have this in email.
Well… Well… Well…
It sure looks like someone has been making up porky pies, again.
Seems, CasinoRewards.com, ITSM.Digital, RewardsAffiliates.com, ITS Management et al stuffed up again. But as always, instead of making amendments and paying back what seems was unlawfully taken, they instead, terminated my affiliate account, and in doing so, stole all my tagged players and future commission earnings.
The notification of this closures, didn’t com from Rewards Affiliates, Casino Rewards, or ITSM Digital. No , it came from an Israeli Law Firm.
Say what? Yes, an Israeli law firm. But RewardsAffiliates.com, CasinoRewards.com are operated from the Darlinghurst NSW offices of ITSM Digital, right? Yes.
NB – That bespoke casino for the German Market, well it never came to fruition. Of course nothing more was said about it. Stranger than fiction though, the new offices of ITS Management, who seemed to have changed names to ITSM.Digital, well their new Darlinghurst NSW offices, received approval for a total gut and refit, very close to the date, that this NZ consumption tax was dumped onto Affiliates of RA.
- The German casino was a fizzer.
- New Zealand consumption tax, has valid doubts to its legitimacy.
- Absurdly increased tax % garnished is wrong.
A cynical person may see far-fetched stories told here.
Frankly it all seems like a HUGE NZ TAX RUSE!