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Automation may be the best time management solution of all time 1280 616 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

Automation may be the best time management solution of all time

The beauty of Xero is that the cloud platform introduced Kiwi business owners to the power of automation – remember those spreadsheets, the long hours and the need for painstaking detail? Now there are hundreds of different apps offering to make all kinds of things easier – but don’t make the mistake of confusing functionality…

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How can you attract an investor to your business? 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

How can you attract an investor to your business?

Some investors argue they are only interested in businesses that sell widgets rather than services – they want a product, not bodies. Others say that their investment is in the people leading the company. Either way, you can take hope because it’s clear that no investor is alike, and that means there are no hard…

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Image: ABC
Understanding provisional tax 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Understanding provisional tax

What is provisional tax? How’s it calculated? When is it paid? What happens if you don’t pay? If these questions are currently occupying space in your head, don’t worry – we’re about to provide some answers. A brief overview Provisional tax breaks up the income tax you pay Inland Revenue (IRD) so that it is…

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Image: Bart Taylor
Syncing provisional tax to cashflow 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Syncing provisional tax to cashflow

As a self-employed painter and decorator, Bart Taylor knows full well how business owners can get themselves into strife if they don’t plan for their tax obligations. He speaks from his own personal experience. That’s why Bart is happy to talk about how Tax Management NZ (TMNZ) enables him as a self-employed tradesperson to take…

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Image: Tax refund
Easy money for business not always the best option 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

Easy money for business not always the best option

Not long ago, one financial adviser was heard to lament the Kiwi habit of using the mortgage to fund the business. Others turn to bank overdrafts or their personal savings – all of which some might argue are easy choices to make but not necessarily the best. Putting one’s house on the line to help…

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Image: Cashflow chart
What is a cashflow forecast, exactly? 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

What is a cashflow forecast, exactly?

Most people nod in agreement when they hear the fable of the ant and the grasshopper – the ant worked all summer while the grasshopper lazed about, only for a starving grasshopper to come begging at the ant’s door in winter. However, it’s surprising how few business leaders apply the common-sense lessons the fable teaches.…

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Image: Flooded road
Cashflow relief for farmers impacted by flood or drought 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Cashflow relief for farmers impacted by flood or drought

Those impacted by flooding in Canterbury or drought elsewhere in New Zealand have another option to manage their cashflow. It’s called tax pooling. It lets taxpayers defer their upcoming provisional tax payments to a time that suits them, without incurring interest (currently seven percent) and late payment penalties from Inland Revenue (IRD). The service –…

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Bright-line test: Don’t get caught by ‘change-of-use’ rule fishhook 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Bright-line test: Don’t get caught by ‘change-of-use’ rule fishhook

Anyone who lives away from their main home for more than a year will be liable to pay income tax on any profit they make from the sale of a residential property sold within the new bright-line period. That’s because of the introduction of a ‘change-of-use’ rule that came into effect when the Government amended…

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Image: Bright-line property
Seller beware – IRD bright-line campaign update 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Seller beware – IRD bright-line campaign update

Inland Revenue (IRD) will soon begin issuing letters to taxpayers within a month of them selling a residential property. These will be sent as soon as the tax department identifies a transaction that potentially falls within the bright-line rules, to ensure people are aware of any possible tax obligations. IRD says initially there will be…

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Image: Pouting
Handling chronic complainers in the workplace 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

Handling chronic complainers in the workplace

When a leader in the financial sector is confronted by challenging behaviour – like a persistently complaining employee – it is best to avoid attempting to turn the ‘complainer’ around with ‘positive’ or ‘motivational’ speak. Negative complaining (an expression of dissatisfaction or annoyance about something) is not the same as reports of deviant behaviour. Complaints…

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Image: Question mark
Can AIM taxpayers use tax pooling? 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Can AIM taxpayers use tax pooling?

A taxpayer cannot use tax pooling to defer payment of, or settle, provisional tax instalments calculated under the accounting income method (AIM). However, Tax Management NZ (TMNZ) can help AIM taxpayers with terminal tax or when they receive a notice of reassessment. What does tax pooling legislation say about AIM? Legislation in the Income Tax…

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Image: Productivity
How hurry sickness is killing productivity in professional services 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

How hurry sickness is killing productivity in professional services

The fable of the hare and the tortoise and the wisdom of ‘slow and steady wins the race’ holds some deeper truths for those of us who work in professional services. Perhaps the real reason the hare lost the race was that it was suffering from ‘hurry sickness’ – much like many of us rush…

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Image: Process planning
How to set up processes that can help relieve your cashflow pain 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

How to set up processes that can help relieve your cashflow pain

There’s a parable about a man who built his house on rock and a man who built his house on sand. When the rains came, the latter lost everything. It seems evident that only a fool would build on sand, but you will be surprised by how often all of us resort to the easy…

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Make IRD interest, late payment penalties disappear 1024 683 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Make IRD interest, late payment penalties disappear

A missed or underpaid provisional tax payment often means a taxpayer is faced with a steep interest cost and potentially late payment penalties on top of what they owe. However, tax pooling can make that go away. A big frustration with Inland Revenue (IRD) is that it expects taxpayers to pay the correct amount of…

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Can social media work for accountants and service providers? 1200 630 Lloyd Evaroa
  • Lloyd Evaroa

Can social media work for accountants and service providers?

Tash Gate and Rory Wyatt talk about social media for accountants and service providers. How to get started, channel opportunities, and building trust with current and future clients.

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Image: Cashflow chart
How active observation of the world around you can help cashflow 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

How active observation of the world around you can help cashflow

Researchers in Italy have found that farm animals like dogs, cows and sheep can detect an earthquake up to 20 hours before it occurs. Perhaps it is ionisation of the air caused by rock pressures or that animals can smell gases released from quartz crystals before the quake. The lesson business owners can take from…

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Image: Big data
Audit claim data highlights level of IRD’s behind-the-scenes activity 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Audit claim data highlights level of IRD’s behind-the-scenes activity

Inland Revenue (IRD) is still actively reviewing taxpayers despite COVID-19 and the various business disruptions the pandemic has caused in the past 12 months, according to figures released by Accountancy Insurance. They saw a 31 percent increase in claims in all categories during the 2020-21 financial year compared to the 2019-20 financial year. In terms…

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Real-time data in the financial sector a threat or opportunity? 1200 630 Lloyd Evaroa
  • Lloyd Evaroa

Real-time data in the financial sector a threat or opportunity?

Some argue that technology and real-time data are intrusive and will allow the IRD access or potential access to client information that should private. Others say that real-time data is an opportunity for both the client and the advisor and ultimately leads to better business for both. We talk to Sue Pak, New Zealand Head of Accounting at Xero to discuss some of the opportunities and issues real-time data presents.

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Image: Person multi-tasking
How to build a business that can run without you 1200 630 Colin Kennedy
  • Colin Kennedy

How to build a business that can run without you

Are you micro-managing your team and, in doing so, ensuring your business can’t run without you?  All business owners, tax specialists included, pour their life and soul into the business and work hard to grow it. But at a certain point, even though it is hard to let go – and it is your expertise…

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Image: Timber supply
Working capital solution amid timber shortage 1200 630 Lee Stace
  • Lee Stace

Working capital solution amid timber shortage

For builders wanting to ensure they have enough materials to complete the jobs they have scheduled over the coming months amid the current timber shortage, there’s a source of funding available to them that they may have overlooked if they require working capital. It’s their provisional tax payments. And a service called tax pooling –…

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