Industry Advice on Finance, Business & Tax for the New Zealand Market

Making savings with your FBT can save you a few thousand a year – and being smart around how you make available company vehicles to employees is one option. Graham Lawrence reports.

I like a good surprise as much as the next person, but a surprise cash shortage, unexpected changes in margin and unanticipated tax costs will make any business owner’s blood run cold. Preparing a cash flow forecast once a year is a good start, but it’s often not enough. Here’s why.

Becoming a Chartered Accountant isn’t the final stop in your career, in fact it’s more like the starting point where there are a variety of pathways to choose from. The question is, which one is right for you?

An effective way to attract, retain and incentivise your key people is by creating an employee share scheme. We introduce three popular employee share scheme options that every business should consider.

Armed with a favourable tax case the IRD embarked on a mission to tax overseas individuals who still had property investments in New Zealand. According to the IRD they were still New Zealand tax residents…so exactly what is a New Zealand tax resident in their eyes?

Managing profit and loss is all about managing the relationship between costs, volume and pricing. Breakeven is a tool that can help business owners and managers gauge the results of future changes to costs (expenses) or pricing.

Many businesses will soon be starting to assess all the non-cash benefits provided to employees to determine whether or not Fringe Benefit Tax needs to be accounted for in their March quarter FBT return (due before 31 May). Graham Lawrence provides a useful guide to Fringe Benefit Tax to help businesses avoid making mistakes that could hurt profitability.

Choosing to discount or raise prices is going to create a ripple effect that will impact other areas of your business. But how and to what extent?

The employee share-option route, whereby staff get an option to buy shares at a predetermined price is a popular way to get more buy-in, less churn from staff and hire people you might not otherwise be able to afford.

If you’ve been snared by the mixed-use asset rules, then it would be a fair to assume that you’re going to be paying more tax, repaying some GST if you claimed GST when you purchased the asset, and spending more on tax compliance costs.

Understanding whether you are a tax resident of New Zealand is crucial for compliance and tax obligations. Here we outline the key criteria and tests used to determine your tax residency status - helping you navigate the complexities of New Zealand's tax system.

Offering an innovative way to attract and retain talent, these schemes not only foster employee engagement but also align the interests of staff with business performance, promoting a sense of ownership.