Richard Ashby

Richard was born and bred in Waipu, a delightful country town about 30 minutes south of Whangarei. 

Leaving school at the age of 16 intending to study his accounting degree fulltime at Northland Polytechnic, he instead took up a position with the IRD in Whangarei. Four years later he transferred to the Henderson office and remained there for another three and a half years before deciding it was time to change sides.

He took an accounting position at a small CA firm, where he worked for 18 months before deciding he wanted more of a challenge, which brought him through the doors of Gilligan Sheppard.

Having spent the majority of his time at the IRD in the investigations unit, Richard’s passion for tax stuck and he eventually became Gilligan Sheppard’s tax partner. 

Richard has had over 30 years experience with NZ taxation, and particularly enjoys dealing with land tax issues and the GST regime. He deals with clients of all types and sizes and provides tax opinions on the appropriate treatment of items of income and expenditure, assists clients with IRD risk reviews and audits and can assist clients who are having difficulties meeting their tax payment obligations to make suitable repayment arrangements with the IRD. Richard also provides cross-border tax advice, both to existing clients looking to expand their operations offshore, and to offshore persons looking to either establish a NZ presence for their business or to relocate themselves personally to NZ more permanently.

Richard strives to maintain a good work/life balance and outside of the office enjoys spending time cycling or playing squash, or just hanging out with the family - Lisa and his four children.