There is nothing quite like moving overseas to send your ‘life admin’ skyrocketing. Many of our clients have relocated here to New Zealand from all over the world – UK, Australia, India, China, Canada and even Hungary – and are making the most of the NZ small business lifestyle by setting up as a contractor, or starting their own business venture. And when you throw a business in the mix,… Read more
Sssshhh, can you hear that? That’s the sounds of the home office a.k.a mega productivity, peace and quiet, comfort and silence! Home (office) is where the heart is Studies show remote or home-based workers are more productive, better for the environment (no travel emissions), are happier and healthier (have less sick days and less time off) and churn out quality work because it is nice and quiet and un-interrupted. Best… Read more
In an effort to level the playing field between property speculators/investors and home buyers, speculators and investors are no longer able to offset tax losses from their residential properties against their other income (eg salary or wages, or business income) to reduce their income tax liability. This legislation is known as ring-fencing of rental losses. The new rules limit a person’s deductions for expenditure incurred in relation to residential land… Read more
If you run your own enterprise, there’s a good chance that going into business had a lot to do with money. But once you’re actually in business, finances can pretty quickly become overwhelming. So grab a notebook, and set aside a couple of minutes, because we’re starting with basics and breaking down everything you need to know. Here’s our Small Business Finance Management 101! Step one: know why finances matter!… Read more
In what was one of the largest data migrations undertaken by any government agency in New Zealand, around 20 million income tax records, representing around $5 billion in financial transactions, were moved from Inland Revenue’s legacy software to a new system during a seven day shutdown over Easter 2019. Inland Revenue began rolling out its business transformation programme in stages two years ago. The latest upgrade during Easter 2019, was… Read more
One small but important change that we have noticed recently is that Google has started charging GST for it’s G Suite (email, apps and storage products) and for advertising. You’ll need to revisit any rules that you have set up in Xero to make sure that you are claiming the GST on these payments. From the paperwork that we have seen it looks like this change took effect from 1… Read more
From time to time we get asked by clients about moving their rental property into a different entity. Usually when doing this, a property will be “sold” to a related party. The reasons for the request vary but usually relate to a change in the relationship of the people that own the property, a perceived tax benefit from restructuring the finance at the same time as the ownership or else… Read more
No business owner looks forward to a letter from the taxman requesting a closer look at the books. If you’ve received an audit letter – an official request by Inland Revenue to review your accounts and confirm your taxes have been paid to date – don’t panic. Prepare. These four steps will help you get through the process with minimal stress and the best possible outcome. Respond promptly If you file… Read more
UPDATE 11 April 2023 If you have a growing businesses or find cash flow difficult to manage under the standard provisional tax system, you may like to consider moving to the AIM system for provisional tax. We first tried this system ourselves when it came out in 2018 (see below). Since then we have been struck by how easy the management of cash flow has been for us compared with… Read more