Westpac will continue to accept cash or eftpos payments over the counter after 1 October 2014 but they will no longer accept any cheque payments, returns or other documents.

We were alerted to a news article warning of hoax phone calls, supposedly from an angry IRD employee who aggressively asks for payment. The call display is masked to show the IRD’s 0800 number. If you are ever in any doubt about the validity of a caller, do not respond and do not continue to talk with them. Simply advise them you can’t talk at this time and you will call the IRD back. You are welcome to call us; as your agent we can usually deal with the issue on your behalf, or you can call the IRD on 0800 227 774. As the IRD states in its media release: “Just to be clear, Inland Revenue will never call customers from our 0800 number or demand payments to be made through NZ Post, a Prezzie card or within 30 minutes.” The same goes for email correspondence asking for bank accounts or for you to make payments. Some emails look amazingly realistic; however, if you have even the slightest doubt, do not click on any links and do not provide bank account or credit card information. Again, you are welcome to contact us or you can contact the IRD. Remember, the real IRD already knows your IRD number and, in the case of payments due, knows when you are to make the payment(s) and the amount. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Here’s a good Stuff article by Richard Meadows about managing your credit card debt. It pays to keep an eye on a transfer to a low-interest card, as that low rate might only be for 6 months.

From 1 October 2014, you will need to ensure Inland Revenue receives your cheque payment and return on or before the due date. If they are received after the due date you may incur penalties and interest. This means you will no longer be able to post cheques on the due date. However, you can make payments online up to and including the due date. To make a payment online or find out more, go to www.ird.govt.nz/makepayment.

Here is an interesting article published on Mashable.com, with suggestions on rewriting business rules from some of today’s successful entrepreneurs. Rewriting business rules (PDF)

From 1 October 2014, you will no longer be able to drop off your returns or forms at a Westpac branch. However, you can continue to make cash or eftpos payments at Westpac. You can file returns and make payments online, and the service is available 24/7. To make an online payment or find out more about making payments, go to ird.govt.nz/makepayment

Clients with a 2013 terminal tax date of 7 April can still purchase tax – but must do so by 16 June 2014. IRD will not accept the use of tax pool funds to settle these liabilities after 75 days from your terminal tax date. To meet this deadline, 16 June is the last day on which you can make a tax purchase for the 2013 year. Please contact us immediately if you have yet to settle your 2013 tax liabilities.

Cheque duty will be repealed from 1 July 2014, as part of recently enacted legislation announced in Budget 2014. This special report provides early information about the changes to cheque duty. The Government recently decided that cheque duty should be repealed, as:

• the duty no longer raises substantial revenue and the revenue raised is in decline; and
• cheque duty is easy to avoid, since closely substitutable transaction types (such as cash, EFTPOS, internet banking and credit card transactions) are not subject to any duty. It is therefore inefficient and has a small distortionary effect.

As all the commentators have said, there is not much in this budget for businesses or first-home buyers. The government has delivered a centre-left budget, which depending on your point of view is a vote catch, or has taken the wind out of Labour’s sails.

For the first time in 6 years, the Budget posts a forecast surplus – $372 million isn’t a lot, but it is a start.

So what are the nuts and bolts?

• Free GP visits and prescriptions for children under 13.
• Research and Development: new measures take effect from the 2015/16 year to provide better tax breaks for tax losses and some presently unusable (“black hole”) R&D expenditure.
• From 1 April 2015, paid parental leave will go to 16 weeks (presently 14 weeks) and then from 1 April 2016 will be extended to 18 weeks.
• Paid parental leave eligibility will be widened to include some people presently excluded by the seasonal or casual nature of their work.
• The parental tax credit will increase over the same period.
• Inland Revenue has been given an additional $48 million to boost tax compliance activity (jargon for “audit”).
• More funding for early childhood education and support for at risk children.
• Cheque duty has been abolished. Regrettably this will not represent a major saving to most of us.
• Duty free limits for tobacco brought in by passengers, or sent as a gift from overseas, have been reduced.

 

Unlike the Australian budget the day before, increased funding has been put in to health, education, budgeting services, and transport infrastructure, particularly rail. The government has foreshadowed possible reductions in ACC levies and personal tax rates, as future options. A further commitment has been made to the Christchurch rebuild.

That’s pretty much it, folks. If you have any questions you would like to ask us about the budget, feel free to call or email us.

There has been a strong reaction across the board to the Australian budget from 14 May.  Quoting from the NZ Herald , here are a few of the key points as we see them:

• Prime Minister Tony Abbott has chosen a high-risk path.  In the Senate, Labor, the Greens and mining magnate Clive Palmer’s Palmer United Party – which will hold the balance of power there after July – will also vote against key measures.
• Abbott’s claims that the Government was faced with a budget and debt emergency have been dismissed almost universally.  Commonwealth debt is among the lowest in the OECD, the deficit is considered a medium-term problem rather than a crisis, and all three major international credit-rating agencies have given Australia an AAA pass.
• The Budget has also been slammed for cuts to family benefits.  Labor frontbencher Jenny Macklin said that, combined with GP charges and the fuel excise hike, a single-income family with two children earning less than A$50,000 a year would have almost A$5000 slashed from their income.
• The housing industry and the poor will be hit by the end of Labor’s national rental affordability scheme to provide cheap housing. Real fears are held for the young unemployed – already facing high jobless rates – by changes that will restrict or deny dole payments.
• Finance Minister Hockey has made it clear this was just the start, with more cuts to come.

For a concise and user-friendly way to see the main points, visit the Australian ABC news site .