CG Update March 2024

End of Financial Year:

• Businesses with a March balance date will receive a green questionnaire from us.
• Whilst providing a checklist for you, this questionnaire is also your instructions for us to compile your financial statements and tax returns.
• We are required to keep your questionnaire on file, PLEASE SIGN AND SEND IT IN.

Year end tips:

- Do your stock take, dispose of obsolete stock.

- Write off any bad debts.

- Bonuses and holiday pay: amounts payable to staff can be claimed as a deduction for the 2024 tax year provided the full amount is paid to the          employee within 63 days of balance date.

Staff News: Since our last newsletter we have welcomed two new staff to the firm.

Cara Jeffery has recently joined the annual accounting team coming from another Chartered Accounting firm in Hamilton. She has great experience with Commercial clients in xero and is now learning farm accounting and reconciling livestock. Having come from a farming background in Morrinsville, the farming terminology is familiar and she is picking things up quickly. Cara lives in Morrinsville and is currently building a new home.

Glen Jenkins has relocated his family from Wellington and is working in Keith Earl’s team. Glen worked for KPMG when he was fresh out of university but in recent years has been working in government departments. Glen is married to Bridget and has two young children with 1 due at Easter.

Wages & Payroll:

• The Minimum wage increases to $23.15 per hour from 1 April 2024.
• The “training or starting out” wage increases to $18.52.
• ACC and SL (student loan) rates also change from 1 April which will also change net payment amounts paid.
• If you have set up an Automatic Payment for net wages, this wage amount will need to change. Give us a call to work out your new net wages calculations.

Working on Public Holidays:

• Over Easter, the public holidays are Good Friday and Easter Monday.
• Easter Sunday is not a public holiday.
• If staff work on a public holiday which would normally be a workday (e.g. Good Friday), they are entitled to receive time & a half plus a day in lieu. Talk to us if you’re unsure.

Trust and the 39% Tax Rate:

• It is highly likely that from 1 April 2024 the effective Trust tax rate will increase from 33% to 39%, in some shape or form.
• This 6% increase will have an impact for you if your Trust generates income and it is retained in the Trust
• Note that we can continue to allocate income out as beneficiary income and will do so to utilise individuals lower marginal tax rates where we can.

IRD activity and phone calls:

With the cupboard pretty empty at the beehive, we have noticed that the IRD are currently more proactive chasing tax arrears and making phone calls. Payment arrangements are an option as well as using tax pooling to pay income tax arrears. Tax pooling may also be an option for you to finance your upcoming provisional tax obligations and preserve cashflow.