Office News

Our office will close on Friday December 23rd and reopen on Monday January 9th. For urgent enquiries, we will be checking emails and the office answer phone on a regular basis so please leave a message.

Two new babies to enlighten the lives of Karyn Walters and Anna Davey were the only interruptions to the committed workload of the great team here at the office.

Kim Hancock has given notice that he will resign from his position with the firm at the end of March next year. We wish Kim well and assure his clients that our team of qualified and capable accountants are ready and keen to continue the excellent service that he provides.

Office Essentials

-       Wages

Reminders for the Christmas period

·         Employees may request to cash up one week of annual leave per year after the entitlement has arisen. The net payment will not be the same as a normal week, the PAYE will need to be calculated at lump sum rates and house rental (if any) is not deducted.

·         Be aware that even if your staff are rostered off on Christmas Day or New Years Day, these public holidays transfer to the Tuesday. Normal statutory holiday entitlements will apply if they work on the Tuesday instead of the Sunday. 

·         If you're employing relief milkers over the Christmas period make sure they fill out an IR330 and if we process your PAYE , please let us know about any staffing changes.

·         Contracts – ignore having these for employees at your peril, this can be an expensive lesson if you don't have one or the right bases covered. We are members of the Federated Farmers so if you are not and would like one of their contracts, please let us know.

·         Timesheets – we are now getting used to this as being good practice.

-       ACC

While you are checking your ACC bill, make sure that you are on the correct industry classification. If you are on the wrong classification, you could be paying too much. If ACC don't know what industry you are in, they default to industries with high levy rates. Making sure this is correct could save you money. If you are unsure, we can review this for you.

-       IRD due dates and payments

Trying to get IRD cheque payments to the right place by the right date is a continual stress point. Internet banking is the safest and best option and we encourage clients to use this method of meeting IRD obligations.  

-       IRD Numbers

If you need to give your IRD number out to anyone because you are about to receive an income stream (i.e. wages, super, interest) then please make sure you give out the correct number for the type of income. Personal income such as wages or national super require your personal IRD number, not that of your partnership or trust or company. Trying to get the data changed over to the correct number at IRD is a nightmare.

If you are unsure then give us a call, the information is literally at our fingertips.

Dairy Farmer Clients

In 1992 Queen Elizabeth described that particularly bad year as Annus Horribilis which is an apt description for the 2016 dairy season. Students of Latin will know that Annus Mirabilis means wonderful year and while it is unlikely that the farmers will yet see the current season payout in those terms, things are moving in the right direction.

Low income years give us the opportunity for tax planning options such as livestock valuation and fertiliser cost deferral to take advantage of the differential tax rates.

Economic Review – Where did the year go?

The mid year of the electoral cycle can often be described as "steady as you go" with no major economic changes to impact on business decisions. There were legislative changes put in place to reduce the hype in the property market and to a certain extent they have achieved the desired effect.

The often predicted interest rate rise did not happen and the cut to OCR softened rates further. The currency exchange rate with our major trading partners also did not move as far or as quickly as some had forecast.

In the last 12 months we have lost two great NZ captains McCaw and Key. In the case of McCaw there was an end of year blip and a settling in period, but as is common with us Kiwis, the next person stepped up to the plate and we carry on. I trust the same will happen in the political field.

However, on the global scene there have been enough happenings to maintain a degree of uncertainty and volatility in economic markets. The existing world order of politics and economics is under scrutiny and possible threat from a number of sources :

-       The war(s) in the Middle East leading to a substantial refugee outflow has brought a number of pressures to European countries.

-       The Brexit vote was a huge misread of the British sentiment in rural England by Cameron and the establishment.

-       The USA has just played its biggest trump card. While the big cities overwhelmingly voted for the status quo the "make America great again" obviously struck a chord with middle America. There are a significant number of overseas countries who are watching as to how the new administration attempts to convert that promise into reality with some trepidation and consternation.

Our Predictions for 2017

Our last year's predictions were appallingly bad, only Alan Candy's call on falling interest rates and Craig Taylors obvious flag choice bore any resemblance to reality. We can only improve.

-      Rate watcher Alan Candy               - Interest rates will not rise until after the election.

-      Tennis watcher Keith Earl              - Roger has one more grand slam left in him.

-      Weather watcher Craig Taylor       - The weatherman still has no idea.

-      Political watcher Sonia Hart           - Crusher Collins will have a big year

-      Cricket lover John Gillespie           - Kane will win the toss and bat.

-      Rugby Head Keith Rea                    - AB,s 2 Lions 1

-      Cocky upstart Ben Blackett             - I will be the firms best golfer by March

-      Staff watcher Brenda Hull               - Ben Blackett will be fired late February

-      Fashion watcher Heath Tapper        - Beards will be out (same as last year) eventually.

-      Newly wed Michael Candy              - Fatherhood is just around the corner

We wish all our loyal clients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.