Our Team

In 1978 Michael transferred to London where he pursued his passion for taxation, passing the UK ATI exams and being promoted to tax manager in Deloitte in London. During this time he was responsible for overseeing the tax affairs of a number of large UK SME’s and the review of tax provisions in connection with the audit of such well known groups as The Plessey Group.

After three years in London, Michael transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he worked in tax in tax for Deloitte. After a brief period at Deloitte he decided to set up his own practice in Vancouver which he ran for three years before returning to New Zealand.

After four years as tax manager at Staples Rodway in Auckland he set up his own tax practice in 1990 before joining Blackmore Virtue & Owens as tax partner in 2001. In 2009 Michael re-established his own chartered accounting practice that specialises in taxation in Auckland.

Michael has had in excess of 30 years specialist tax experience advising Chartered Accountants and cross section of businesses in Auckland and throughout the country on a range of taxation issues, including:

•     Mergers and acquisitions & due diligence
•     Structuring for inbound & outbound passive/ active investments
•     Structuring of domestic operations
•     Application of NZ’s trust regime, including establishing foreign trusts & pre-migration trusts
•     Residency issues for individual & corporate migrants
•     Advising on application of taxing provisions relating to Land transactions & associated persons rules
•     Cases stated to Taxation Review Authority
•     Representing clients during IRD audits & negotiating settlements
•     Advising on more complex GST matters
•     Application of Double Tax Agreements
•     Application of New Zealand’s tax rules relating to Financial Arrangements & Foreign Investment Funds
•     Advising Charities on tax treatment of gifts & application of Fringe Benefit Tax Exemptions

Outside of work Michael enjoys golf, travel and the study of theology.

Martina migrated to New Zealand in 2003. She started her New Zealand accounting career in Auckland where she focused on accounting and statutory audit. In about 2005 she diversified into taxation. She has held various roles with various well respected accountancy firms ranging from small second tier multi services accounting firm WHK and Big 4 Deloitte.

In 2007 she transferred to Malta with Deloitte, as a manager in international tax, where she was responsible for structuring of business activities for large multinational corporations in North Africa, Middle East and European regions. She has worked across numerous jurisdictions in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East, Africa, North and South and North America

Martina has extensive experience in the area of financial accounting (Local and US GAAP, IFRS and FIN48), statutory and forensic audit, domestic and international taxation, cross border structuring, corporate and individual re-domiciliation. She has broad accounting and tax experience across varying industries including but not limited to tourism, manufacturing, oil and gas  drilling and exploration, islamic finance, financial services, pharmaceutical and online gaming. She is well versed with offshore and onshore jurisdictions, the use of hybrid, reverse hybrid and special purpose vehicles including trusts.

Her clients ranged from small to publicly listed multinational corporations, high net worth individuals and high profile sports persons and entertainers.

Martina’s specific areas of expertise include:

• International & domestic direct taxation
• Tax planning and optimisation
• Corporate and individual migration
• Cross border business structuring for active and passive businesses
• Use of special purpose vehicles such as Trusts and other hybrid entities
• Advising Trusts with high net asset values

Martina speaks few languages such as Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, Russian, German and Spanish.

Outside of work, Martina enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, tennis, walking with her dog, beach and travel.

Shane’s main focus is on annual compliance, financial statements and reporting, accounting processes, trouble shooting, accounting system applications, due diligence and business restructuring for a broad portfolio of clients. His clients range from sole traders, partnerships, trusts, companies to New Zealand subsidiaries of foreign corporations. His specific areas of expertise and interest include:

• Business structuring, tax planning and optimization
• Financial Reporting
• Trusts
• GST and other indirect tax compliance

Most of Shane’s clients are small to medium size enterprises. In addition he had experience in providing accounting and taxation services to a large NZX listed corporate.

Shane is approachable, easy to contact and has a natural ability to provide pragmatic advice and explain things in simple terms. Shane is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Outside of work, Shane enjoys tennis and spending time with his family. He is also a member of a local Toastmaster club and held Club Treasurer and VP membership position.