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…
read moreMost 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.…
read moreThose 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 –…
read moreThere’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…
read moreResearchers 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…
read moreWhen you leave your local Mitre10 store with your new BBQ in tow, do you tell the cashier to invoice you on the 20th of the month? Have you tried that with New World, or PB Tech lately? It begs the question: Why should your businesses be any different? The ‘practice’ of paying invoices on…
read moreThere’s a so-called old piece of wisdom that says: “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” In reality, it is an old wives’ tale because it isn’t true – not for relationships and not for tax advisory businesses. If you want more business, if you want more referrals and more growth, you need to up your ‘visibility’…
read moreWith Inland Revenue (IRD) currently charging a penalty of seven percent interest, you would think that every single business owner in New Zealand would be highly motivated to get their tax issues sorted. Why then, is tax procrastination a problem? Tax is an obligation. We have no choice but to get on top of it.…
read moreA former economist at one of New Zealand’s largest banks has a warning for someone considering the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme: It could limit your future borrowing capacity. That’s because banks may decline lending to anyone who has this type of debt on their books, as IRD may have first collection rights as a…
read more“Why would IRD allow you to do this?” This is the reaction of some of Maria Anderson’s clients when they hear about how tax pooling can help with provisional tax payments for the first time. Maria is one of the Directors at The Tax Lady in Upper Hutt, north of Wellington. Their clients range from…
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