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Lately I have been hearing of a large number of employees ending up with tax bills at the end of the financial year. Employees will end up with a tax bill if they have not had enough tax deducted from their income throughout the income year to meet their tax obligations. Unexpected tax bills can be really trying, affecting the health of your teams, placing stress on their finances, and…  Read more

Every public holiday that comes around brings a smile to the face of employees who normally work them, either because they get a paid day off, or extra pay for working on the day. Probably not so much for employers and payroll managers though…  as getting the pay right for employees is challenge for those that don’t know the rules.  This could mean you are overpaying your employees, or worse…  Read more

The Inland Revenue have published the mileage rates for business use of a motor vehicle for the 2022 year. Helpful for those doing income tax returns for the 2022 year, not so helpful for those of us who reimburse employees for using their personal vehicles in the course of their employment on behalf of the business. For those reimbursing employees, you can use actual costs, IRD mileage rates, or rate…  Read more

Most business owners are not aware of the rules around keeping the right records for payroll.  Employers must keep complete and accurate records of wages, time, leave and other details to comply with the Employment Relations Act 2000 and Holidays Act 2003. While all the record-keeping requirements may not seem necessary, they’re needed to show a clear picture of each day in an employee’s working year, that is, which days…  Read more

There’s a lot of concern amongst employers, with the Government’s increase of the NZ minimum wage to $21.20 per hour from 1 April 2022. This is a $1.20 increase from the previous rate. As a business owner, you need to be ready for the increase in minimum wage rates. If you have not yet talked to your accountant, payroll provider or your finance/HR teams now is the time. It is…  Read more

The COVID-19 Leave Support Scheme is available to employers, including self-employed people, to help pay their employees who have been advised to self-isolate because of COVID-19 and can’t work at home during that period. Workers may also be eligible if they need to support a dependent (eg children or a family member with a disability) who has to stay home because they’re waiting on a COVID-19 test result. The COVID-19…  Read more

The COVID-19 Short-Term Absence Payment is available for businesses, including self-employed people, to help pay their employees who cannot work from home while they wait for a COVID-19 test result. Workers may also be eligible if they need to support a dependent (eg children or a family member with a disability) who has to stay home because they’re waiting on a COVID-19 test result. There’s a one-off payment of $359…  Read more

This year, Waitangi Day falls on Sunday 6 February and is observed on that day OR Monday 7 February.  Here is what you need to know about rights for employees and obligations for employers. Mondayisation for Waitangi Day This year, Waitangi Day falls on a Sunday. This means the holiday is moved to the following Monday, which is Monday 7 February. Requirement to work on Waitangi Day If your employee…  Read more

Did you know that in some cases, employees are entitled to be paid for public holidays after their employment has ended? If you have an employee who has entitled leave owed upon termination – you need to extend that leave after their final day of work and determine if they are entitled for payment for any upcoming Public Holidays. For example – there is an employee Danny, he works 5…  Read more

Employees have rights under the holidays act relating to public holidays. There are 11 public holidays per year in NZ. All employees are entitled to paid leave on public holidays, when the public holiday falls on a day that would otherwise be a working day for the employee. Where an employee works on a public holiday that work should be paid at the rate of time and a half (at…  Read more

There is a new requirement for paid notice period when employment is terminated because of vaccination status The Government has passed legislation to provide a minimum four-week paid notice period when people have their employment agreements terminated because they are not vaccinated, and their work requires vaccination. This change will only apply to employees who do not have a notice period, or whose notice periods are shorter than four weeks.…  Read more

Payroll – one of the most important tasks in running a business, and let’s be real – it can be very intimidating! There is a tonne of information out there, legislations, minimum entitlements, Casuals vs Permanent vs Contractors, Kiwisaver, Tax Codes – this list goes on. We are going to share some of our top tips and tricks to help you feel confident in managing your payroll: Stay on top…  Read more

Employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT) is deducted from your employer contributions to your employees’ KiwiSaver or complying funds. Complying funds are superannuation schemes with similar rules to KiwiSaver. For example, members’ savings are locked in until they’re eligible for NZ Superannuation. You do not pay ESCT if your employee asks you to deduct money from their pay to put into a superannuation scheme. These are not employer contributions. There are…  Read more

There is confusion around the rules on jury service and payment for employees called for jury.   We thought we would share your obligations as an employer on this. If one of your employees has been summoned for jury service, here’s what you need to know. Talk with your employee about: when they need to go to jury service how long the trial might last. This information may be contained in…  Read more

Employees can ask to cash-up up to one week of their four weeks’ minimum entitlement to annual holidays each year. Employees can ask their employer to pay out in cash, up to one week of their four weeks’ minimum entitlement to annual holidays per year for each entitlement year. They can do this all at once, or can make multiple requests to cash-up until the entire one week is cashed…  Read more

The increase of the minimum sick leave entitlement from 5 days per year to 10 days per year will come into effect on 24th July 2021. What does this mean for you and your employees? For existing staff they will get the increase of entitlement on their next sick leave anniversary (not automatically on 24th July) For new staff they will get this on their 6 month anniversary The maximum…  Read more

Anyone with staff knows the frustrations that the complexities of the current Holidays Act legislation creates.  The Government set up a Taskforce to review the Holiday Act in May 2018, which was made up of employer, employee and government representatives. There was widespread non-compliance with the Holidays Act 2003 and it was generally accepted that this is due to issues with not only the legislation, but the implementing of the legislation…  Read more

At face value, it can seem like a great idea. If you’re a small business owner with just a few employees, you probably think that hiring a payroll specialist is an expense that you can avoid.  You feel that you can handle it yourself and you have the best intentions to keep your staff paid right and on time. What could go wrong, right?  Well, quite a lot can go wrong as…  Read more

Another end of Financial Year is looming up fast! And what a crazy year it has been. There are quite a few different updates that are due to rollout on 1st April, so we have summarized them here for you:   Minimum Wage Increase: From the 1st April 2021, the minimum wage hourly rates will increase to: Adult: $20.00 Starting out/training wage: $16.00   This will effect quite a lot…  Read more

This year, Waitangi Day falls on Saturday 6 February and is observed on that day or Monday 8 February. Here is what you need to know about rights for employees and obligations for employers. Mondayisation for Waitangi Day This year, Waitangi Day falls on a Saturday. This means the holiday is moved to the following Monday, which is Monday 8 February. Requirement to work on Waitangi Day If your employee…  Read more