Tag Archive for: IRD

Changes in GST record keeping

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Good news for the trees, the planet and your storage cupboard!! IRD are introducing changes in GST record keeping in two stages that will reduce the amount of paper storage required for businesses.

There have been some smaller changes regarding GST effective 30.3.22

Buyers of goods had to keep a physical tax invoice to be able to claim GST for anything over $50. With the changes, a bank statement, contract, supplier agreement or electronic tax invoice is sufficient for expense claims.

Sellers still need to produce tax invoices over $50.

There are also changes to Buyer-created invoices (where the buyer determines the price perhaps by weight of the goods etc.) and also shared tax invoices. These are more detailed, and do not apply to many, so if this applies to you, click on the link above.

More changes are coming….

Many more changes are coming in April 2023, these changes mean no more invoices for purchases under $200. You can use a bank statement line to show who you paid and when. However, remember to note on your payment what it was for.

For purchases between $200 – $1000 you will need to keep a record as before, but an electronic record is sufficient. For those who use Xero, there is already provision to store your invoices in Xero. No more printing out! The buyers details are not required.

Over $1000 a full copy of the supply with all details are needed. No paper required.

Of course these are all proposals. IRD have yet to fully explain all the changes, so we will keep you up to date as changes are finalised.

These changes in GST record keeping are a step in the right direction in reducing paperwork and compliance. Let’s face it, the trees on the planet can be used for better things than tax invoices.

Trust Tax Return Rules

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The rules have changed for information required when filing a Domestic Trust tax return.

At the time of filing a trust tax return we are now also required to provide detailed information (name, address, IRD number etc.,) to IRD on the following:

  • “Settlors” (people contributing to the Trust assets)
  • “Beneficiaries” only if they have received funds from the trust in the financial year
  • “Power of appointment” persons – Details of the person/s able to appoint trustees
  • Details of the amount and nature of settlements made in the financial year
  • Details of monies put in/taken out through the Beneficiary(ies) Current Account
  • For assets in the trust such as land and buildings, the method of valuation e.g. cost price

This means we need a lot more information from you and if you don’t know these details for the above, we, or you will need to contact your lawyers for the information because we MUST have this information when we are filing tax returns.

Obviously, if you are able to supply this information to us directly, you will save yourself some lawyers’ fees.  If you cannot provide all this information, it may lead to increased fees from us and the lawyers to obtain the information.

Click here to go to IRD’s website

IRD changes – Free seminar & webinar in March

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Chamber of Commerce Seminar

The Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce is hosting an IRD seminar at NMIT on the 12th March on the IRD’s business transformation and further changes to be implemented in April. This includes changes to payroll, Kiwisaver and Student Loan accounts in myIR.

It will be a great opportunity to learn more about the changes and how to get ready and to ask IRD representatives any questions you may have. It is open to both members and non-members and is free to attend.

Follow this link to find out more and to register

IRD Webinar

IRD are also running a webinar suitable for Employers and Not-for-Profit organisations on Wednesday the 18th March. This webinar will help you prepare for the upcoming changes.

To find out more and to register click here

Residential Loss Ring-fencing

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From the 19/20 year onwards losses from a residential rental property can no longer be offset against other income such as salary, wages or other business income.

The loss from one rental property can be offset against other residential rental income if you choose to use the portfolio basis (if you own more than one property the rules can be applied to all your affected properties as a single portfolio).

If you have unused losses at the end of the year they will need to be carried forward and can be used to offset future income from residential rentals including taxable income on sale if the bright line rules are triggered and depreciation recovered (if you owned the property before 2010). In some situations, any remaining losses can be released from the ring fencing rules, but more often than not they will need to be carried forward until the day you receive surplus residential rental income again to offset the losses carried forward against.

Certain properties are excluded from the ring-fencing rules including your main home, farmland, property that the mixed-use asset rules apply to, business and commercial premises, to name a few.

If you are a client of ours holding residential rental property you will hear from us over the next few weeks with more specific information.

If you have any questions, please contact anna@savage.co.nz

Residential rental loss ring-fencing

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Many of you will have heard about the ring-fencing of losses made from residential rental properties which applies from 1 April 2019.

Deductions for residential properties are now ring-fenced so they can only be used against income from that property, or sometimes a portfolio of properties.

Deductions that exceed the income from that property/portfolio of properties will need to be carried forward, to offset future income from that property/portfolio of properties.

This means that losses from a rental property, that you in the past would have used to offset against your other income, is no longer available for that purpose. They can only be used to offset future profits from that property/portfolio of properties.  

The rules apply to all entity structures, ie sole traders, partnerships, trusts, LTCs and ordinary companies.

Family homes, farms, commercial rental and business premises are excluded.

We will send some detailed information including going over different scenarios, to those of our clients who have residential properties in the new year.

Inland Revenue to probe hospitality sector for businesses hiding cash sales

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First published in Stuff 4th October 2019

This serves as a word of warning to anyone who owns a business where cash is regularly received as payment for goods and services

Four members of the Thai restaurant family have been sentenced to prison or home detention after a $2.3 million tax evasion case brought by Inland Revenue, and another was convicted but discharged.

They were also been ordered to pay more than $2.2 million in reparations by the High Court in Wellington over tax evasion carried out through 21 “Thai House Express” restaurants around the country.

The five – Boonrouen Thongskul, Sirirat Kampeng, Anchalee Minwong, Chanaratt Thongskul and Anuchit Tongskul – originally denied the charges but entered guilty please five weeks into the trial that had been expected to last ten weeks.

They were accused of having been part of co-ordinated tax evasion effort over a seven-year period which involved not reporting cash sales to the taxman, and distributing the cash directly to family members.

The charges related to the filing of 366 false income tax, GST and personal tax returns evasion relating to their own tax affairs and those of their 11 companies.

“Once they’d heard much of the Crown evidence against them, these five entered guilty pleas in relation to the GST and income tax returns of the businesses for which they were responsible, and their own income tax return,” said Inland Revenue spokesperson Richard Philp.

“By their guilty pleas the brothers and sisters acknowledged they knew their returns were false and were a deliberate ploy to evade tax. Cash sales were deliberately suppressed to pay less tax.

“An aggravating feature of the offending for Chanaratt Thongskul and Anuchit Tongskul was that their declared income was low enough to qualify for Working for Families Tax Credits in some of the years charged.

“The case followed an extensive investigation into the family group with searches of private properties disclosing business records, luxury goods and cash in some instances.

“The general allegation was that the family distributed the cash amongst themselves, as part of a deliberate practice of not reporting or recording cash sales and diverting the cash to private use.

“This is not trivial tax evasion. At one point in the trial the cash deposited in personal bank accounts was said to be more than $9 million. For these five defendants the sum is more than $5.2 million.”

At the High Court in Wellington today Chanaratt Thongskul was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison and ordered to pay $900,000 in reparation.

Sirirat Kampeng was sentenced to 12 months home detention and ordered to pay $600,000 in reparation.

Anchalee Minwong was sentenced to 10 months home detention with $400,000 in reparations.

Anuchit Tongskul was sentenced to nine months home detention and must pay $300,000 in reparations.

Boonruen Thongskul was convicted and discharged with $5000 in reparation to pay.

Moving on from cheques

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IRD recently announced their decision to no longer accept cheque payments for any form of tax from 1st March 2020. We will be in touch with those who for one reason or another (ie no rural broadband) can’t pay online to help you identify other payment methods.

Here’s what IRD had to say in their news release:

Cheque usage continues to decline every year. Last year cheques only accounted for 5% of payments to Inland Revenue and some people who used cheques also used other payment methods.
From 1 March 2020, Inland Revenue will no longer be accepting cheques if customers have an alternative payment option available. This includes post-dated cheques (cheques dated after 1 March 2020).

Around 90% of the cheques we receive come from clients of tax agents. If you or your clients use cheques you will be instrumental in the transition to alternative payment methods. There’s plenty of time before next March for people to explore their options and find a convenient and secure way that works for them.

There are many different ways to pay – electronically or in person.

Ways to pay

Here’s a summary of payment options:

  • myIR: You can pay by direct debit and make debit card and credit card payments securely through myIR online services. Visit our website (ird.govt.nz) and login or register for myIR.
  • Online banking: You may be able to make payments using online banking. Contact your bank for more information.
  • Credit or debit card via our website: Use your credit or debit card to make online payments through our website. Visit ird.govt.nz/pay.
  • In person at Westpac: Pay by EFTPOS or cash at a Westpac branch or Smart ATM.
  • Money transfer: If you are overseas you can pay us using a money transfer service. Search for “make a payment” on our website for more information.

Charges may apply for some payment options.

We are soon going to start contacting cheque payers (and their tax agents) to let them know about this change and alternative ways to pay.

In the meantime, if you would like more information visit our website at ird.govt.nz/pay.

International Automatic Exchange of Information

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New Zealand has signed up to the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) – a global OECD initiative to combat tax evasion.

Inland Revenue has been running an AEOI awareness campaign since 9th June 2018 with a primary focus of this campaign being to generate awareness among New Zealand tax residents most likely to have offshore accounts or financial interests, so they can take steps to determine if their tax affairs are in order and disclose if they identify issues. New Zealand tax residents with complex international tax affairs should contact us for support or advice.

This awareness campaign has included online advertising on relevant websites and via Facebook. These ads include a link to IRD’s campaign landing page.

As part of AEOI financial institutions will provide Inland Revenue with information about foreign tax residents with financial accounts in New Zealand, in line with the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

IRD are now exchanging information with many other countries so it is vital you tell us about any income or assets you may have in other countries, if you don’t then chances are IRD will find out about it and that may cause you a few problems, something no one likes happening with IRD

The requirement of New Zealand Tax Residents to report world-wide income hasn’t changed, but IRD are now more likely to find out about it even if you don’t declare it. Please make sure information regarding ALL overseas income, bank accounts or assets is provided to us for your tax return preparation, even if you think it’s non-taxable income!

AIM Method of Calculating Provisional Tax

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Many of our clients may have seen or received information from IRD about the AIM method of Provisional Tax calculation

This method will become available for use on 1st April 2018. We are not recommending it to our clients for the following reasons:

  1. Most SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises) qualify to use Standard Provisional Payments without any Use of Money Interest
  2. Depending on your business you may have to do things such as a physical stock take every two months
  3. While IRD are promoting that this is an easy method to use in fact, in our opinion, it is not and also the option is not available through Xero and MYOB for clients to use – it is only available to firms such as ours to use.

If you want to discuss the AIM option please give Sari or Anna a call.

Get the IRD payment dates right

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We would like to remind everyone to make sure that when you are making tax payments to IRD they check that you have selected the correct tax type (e.g. INC for Income Tax, GST for Goods & Service Tax, DED for employer Deductions that include Kiwisaver contributions as well as PAYE etc).

Also, it’s very important that you select the correct period and year that the payment is going to. Most banks have a ‘Pay Tax’ or ‘Pay IRD’ tab in their on-line banking facilities so we suggest you follow the steps using this rather than setting IRD up as a regular payee.

Potential consequences of getting it wrong:

For example, if you are a company and you accidentally pay 2018 provisional tax to the 2017 year, and your 2017 annual accounts have not yet been completed, IRD will not allow this payment to be transferred to the 2018 year unless we fill out additional paper work, it will be applied to the 2017 year and that means it will show as overdue in your 2018 income tax account.  So please chose the year carefully.