Category: Blog
Lockdown Leave, Pay Cuts, Reduced Hours: What’s Allowed?
There are many questions during Level 4 & 3 lockdown about the responsibilities for employers. Luckily, the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) have set out all the required information. Two of the most commonly asked questions are: 1. Can I make employees take annual leave during lockdown? The...
Business Support Following Lockdown Announcement
The Government has announced that significant support for businesses and workers has been triggered following a rise in alert levels to combat COVID-19 in the community. The Government decided to move to alert level 4 for New Zealand starting at 11.59 pm on Tuesday, 17 August 2021, initially for 3...
Clean Car Discount Scheme
The Clean Car Discount scheme was introduced to make it more affordable to buy low CO2 emission vehicles. From 1 July 2021 until 31 December 2021, a rebate will be paid (on application) to the first registered person of an eligible vehicle (or to a lessor where the first registered...
Business Acquisition Expenses – Deductions Allowed
Businesses often incur expenses when acquiring business assets, even if the acquisition is abandoned and does not proceed. A recent review has occurred on the deductibility of these costs. In the past, an expense relating to the purchase of an asset that wasn’t successful could not be claimed as an...
Paying Tax On Your Shares
There’s been a boom in direct share investments since the lockdowns of 2020 with platforms like Sharesies, Hatch and InvestNow seeing thousands of Kiwis join up to buy shares. These straightforward platforms have democratised share market investment, helping New Zealanders grow their wealth and save for the future. One question...
Are New Zealand’s Interest Rates Set to Rise?
New Zealand’s economy is running hot at the moment. This is due to New Zealander's spending more money at home and still having a strong export sector, especially the dairy industry. Growth is strong, but the pandemic is still with us and still impacting financial markets. The Government and Reserve...
I Run a Motel/Boarding House – What Can I Claim?
I run a Motel/Boarding House - what can I claim? Inland Revenue have released an exposure draft on the deductibility of expenses incurred by hotels, motels and boarding houses. The release focuses on these businesses where the proprietor lives on-site. In short, the release clarifies how to account for private...
Self-Employed? Get the Full KiwiSaver Contribution
If you’re self-employed, you’re in charge of your KiwiSaver contributions. KiwiSaver is not automatically deducted from your earnings if you are self-employed. You will need to decide how much you want to commit to your retirement fund, if anything, and make these contributions manually each year. The contribution payments can...
Inland Revenue Target Real Estate Expense Claims
Recently Inland Revenue have started a Real Estate Sector Campaign to investigate the level of expenses agents are claiming against their income. Expenses that are directly related to your business include real estate licenses, advertising and marketing, ACC, wages and accountancy. Other expenditure relating to training conferences and seminars relating...
New FBT Rate
Time to review employee perks Along with a new top tax rate introduced on April 1st, we also had a new top fringe benefit tax rate come into effect. What is fringe benefit tax? Fringe benefit tax, or FBT, is a way of taxing employee benefits. It’s designed to ensure...