May 2012 E Newsletter

Welcome

Welcome to the May issue of Focus. Our late summer has turned a little murky, with more indoor-type weather on the way. It looks like many of you have already taken advantage of a few wet days to get your paperwork up to date for the 2012 financial year.

For those of you who are employers, this newsletter contains a reminder about your tax obligations on behalf of your staff.

Did you know that you can use tax pooling if you have terminal tax to pay? This will save you interest - check out our article for more information.

While many workplaces have a comprehensive manual covering every aspect of administration, there are many that don’t. Consider this a reminder that emergencies can happen, and it is useful to have a checklist of some key information to minimise disruption.

Making Employee Deductions

Employers must deduct PAYE, ESCT, student loan repayments, child support and KiwiSaver contributions when required, from any payments made to employees. Failure to do this is a serious offence and can result in penalties and fines being imposed by IRD.

Anyone who knowingly fails to make deductions can be fined up to $25,000 for a first offence and $50,000 for subsequent offences. Shortfall penalties may also be charged.

• Note: If you can't make the student loan, child support, KiwiSaver or PAYE deductions, contact IRD straightaway. You must still file your Employer monthly schedule (IR348) and Employer deductions (IR345) or Employer deductions ESCT (IR346) by the due date.

Tax Pooling

You can easily save more than 25% of IRD’s interest cost on your provisional tax. All with the seal of approval of the IRD.

If you don’t pay the correct amount of tax on time the IRD charge you interest. Up to the 7th of May 2012 the rate was 8.89%. This has dropped to 8.40% from the 8th of May 2012.

Tax pooling is a service introduced by Inland Revenue in 2003 that allows provisional taxpayers to reduce their exposure to IRD interest costs.

Prepared for a Management Emergency?

If an important team member were suddenly unavailable, would you have instant access to vital business information?

Below is a brief checklist of the types of information you should document to minimise potential disruption. Regularly discuss and update your important information ‘log’ to suit your needs, and keep it in a safe place.

Consider reviewing your will (and asking your business partners to do the same) agreeing on specific clauses for business continuation in the event of a serious accident or death.

Current business online banking, payroll system and accounting software details and login information
Documents relating to insurances, lease agreements, employment contracts, client/customer contracts
Spare keys to PO boxes, safes and storage facilities
Client/customer database username and password
Information on current business accounts: Stationery? Website provider? Stock? Security Company?
Who acts as the firm’s lawyer? Banker? Accountant?
Where does off-site system data backup take place?

Tracking your traffic with Google Analytics

Ever wonder how well your website is really working for your business? Google Analytics can show you. It’s a free web analytics tool designed to integrate with your website and track usage. It shows how people find your site and navigate through it, to help you optimise your web presence.