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It pays to get those employment contracts right and ensure minimum contractual requirements are meet when hiring staff. From the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment 5 April 2018 A Christchurch business owner has been banned from hiring staff for three years after he was found to have intentionally and persistently breached employment law. The former owner of Christchurch bar and eatery, Watershed Bar and Restaurant, and restaurant, Sequoia 88, and the…  Read more

Bookkeepers and business owners have been on pin cushions this last weekend with the IR being closed for the latest on the business transformation project.  On 17 April, improved myIR online services went live, “making tax simpler for you”.  The latest improvements are designed to make it easier to do business the Inland Revenue.    But change can be hard right? The Inland Revenue have created some quick tour videos of the…  Read more

Our journey started just over 15 years ago.  I was a solo mum with 2 wee girls aged 8 and 5, one of who had some pretty big health challenges.  I was working 20 hours a week for MFISH and doing the bookwork for a plumber as a second job.  What started as an idea to be able to work from home and be present for my kids morphed into…  Read more

The payroll landscape is constantly changing, and not just for businesses and staff, but those of us who have responsibility of ensuring employees pay is correct.  The Payday Reporting legislation is currently before parliament and proposes to change the way payroll information is reported to the IR. Currently reporting is done on a monthly basis by way of filing our PAYE returns (EMS and EDF schedules along with Kiwisaver forms).…  Read more

Pay-as-you-earn tax (AIM) – what does that mean for you? From April 2018, small businesses, sole traders and contractors can choose a new pay-as-you-earn option, rather than paying provisional tax in instalments several times a year. The IR are introducing the Accounting Income Method (AIM) so you can pay tax based on the profit in your business during the year.  This aligns with the GST monthly or two monthly periods…  Read more

MULTIFACTOR AUTHENTICATION – WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT? Sometimes called two-factor, sometimes multi-factor, sometimes sign-in, sometimes login, sometimes authentication…  whatever the name, you should be using it! Wikipedia explains: Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a method of computer access control in which a user is granted access only after successfully presenting several separate pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism – typically at least two of the following categories: knowledge (something they know), possession (something they have),…  Read more

Do you travel for work?  There are expenses you can claim against your income and there are those you cant.  Here business.govt.nz gives us the low down. What can you claim? In general, when you’re away from home you can claim for: flights taxis, or mileage if you use your own car for business travel accommodation meals and snacks. Accommodation If you’re attending a work-related meeting, conference or training course…  Read more

Entertainment – these rules create a huge amount of confusion don’t they?  In this blog we will try and clarify this for you. You may be able to claim as business expenses events such as Christmas functions or giving gifts to employees. However, you may not be able to claim all of the costs, and they may also be subject to fringe benefit tax (FBT). FBT is a tax paid…  Read more

Payroll is one of the most important tasks of running a business and can be pretty intimidating with the screeds of legislation to trawl through. For many NZ employers, organising it all can be a bit of a struggle – especially when trying to juggle complex government requirements, tricky leave calculations and Kiwisaver and paperwork. We have compiled a list of the top 6 payroll mistakes employers make when employing staff:…  Read more

Do you know if the information in your financial software is current and correct ?  A small business owner either does this themselves, or relies on someone else to do this ‘job’ for them.  There is a whole lot of faith and trust given that the processes are followed and the data is correct. So who in your business checks and confirms the accuracy of this financial information for your business?   Who manages this risk within…  Read more

If you’re a small business with simple job costing needs, projects is likely the perfect solution for you. It’s important to know which jobs that you do deliver the best return on investment, and which ones need to be reined in.  Xero have released their latest feature to help with this, Xero Projects.  This is a simple way to capture, track and report on the time and money spent on…  Read more

Payroll is one of the most important tasks of running a business and can be pretty intimidating with the screeds of legislation to trawl through. For many NZ employers, organising it all can be a bit of a struggle – especially when trying to juggle complex government requirements, tricky leave calculations and Kiwisaver. Regardless of the size or complexity of your business, Ontrack Payroll has you sorted work hard to make your payroll easy as possible for…  Read more

The last couple of months have seen me on a plane (or a bus….) more often than not, so it has been lovely to spend the last two weeks at home with my family. Sometimes work seems to take over and the ever elusive ‘work/life balance’ goes out the window. Are you ensuring you are looking after yourself and have balance in your life? September saw me attend Xerocon in…  Read more

Cashflow is the lifeblood of any business and is so critical to its growth.  Its all to do with timing and delays. Here are Di’s 10 tips below for cashflow made easy: Keep your eye on the cash – do a cashflow forecast and compare it to actuals regularly to ensure you are tracking in the right direction. Always have separate business bank accounts for each of your businesses.  Separating…  Read more

Talking about payroll and leave entitlements causes people to run and hide and brings on headaches of gigantic proportions. How on earth is the average business owner meant to understand what their obligations are?  Confused?  I am not surprised! Let me try and explain… 1. Annual leave accrues in weeks not hours The Act provides two dimensions for annual leave – time and money. The time dimension, 4 weeks, accrues at the end…  Read more

It’s that time of the year when every second ad on TV, the radio or the net is advertising tax refunds. Woohoo… show me the money, My tax refund… money on the mind… and many more.  The question always is “Which company do I go for to get my money back?”, then it’s “wait…what?? they’re charging how much??”. When these companies are charging upwards of 20%-30%, (or ‘ONLY $39″ with…  Read more

Do you feel like you drown in paperwork? I often get asked what is the best way to file receipts and invoices, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts with you. There is no right or wrong way on how to file your business invoices and receipts, except that in NZ they need to be kept for seven years.  How quickly and efficiently you would like to access them…  Read more

Contractor tax changes (Information courtesy of Business.govt) All contractors can have tax deducted from their pay at a rate of their choosing, and some MUST now do this. If you get it wrong, you might find your pay packet is 45% lighter than you expect. If their payer agrees, all contractors can now have tax deducted from their pay at a flat rate of their choosing.  All Contractors hired by…  Read more

I know, its a confusing topic right? There are so many questions! How does the average New Zealander figure it out? Well, hopefully we can help unravel the mystery of the Contractor versus Employee confusion. In a nutshell, an employee is said to have a “contract of service” with an employer, while a contractor is said to have a “contract for service”.     Why the difference is important An employee…  Read more

The end of financial year (EOFY) is zooming up so fast, its hard to get your head around how time just disappears. Now is the time to be thinking about the end of year requirements.   Preparation and some thinking around this now will ensure a smooth process for you.  Here are a few of the things you may need to consider:- Are you changing or implementing software come 31st March?  Are…  Read more