Brown & Associates Accounting Group Limited

24/05/2023

IRD UPDATE on 7-day payment processing for banks

From 26 May 2023, banks will process transactions 365 days of the year including weekends and public holidays.

IRD won’t change their payment processing:

Due dates for payments will still move to the following business day if they fall on a weekend or public holiday.

Working for Families Tax Credits payments early when they fall on a public holiday.

IRD won’t send funds to banks for processing on weekends or public holidays.

Payments to Inland Revenue will show with the effective date of the bank transfer. This date may be a weekend or public holiday if your bank processed the payment over that time.

17/01/2023

07/03/2022

Omicron Outbreak – Government Support -

With this latest outbreak of COVID-19, the Government has introduced support for impacted businesses. If your business has been impacted by the current outbreak resulting in increased staff absences and/or a significant reduction in revenue, you may be eligible for Government support.

16/06/2021

If you received an unexpected tax bill that you want to query give us a call. We can reassess and submit a tax return on your behalf or converse with the IRD for you for a small set fee.

Call us now or email [email protected] for more info.

The tax department can't say how many people may have been affected by an issue causing some to receive unexpected bills.

28/03/2021

Check out our March Newsletter for up to date information

21/03/2021

IRD Targeting Real Estate Agent claims.

Inland Revenue has announced a crackdown on real estate agents who under-report their income or overstate their expenses in order to pay less tax than they should according to

Breaking news and videos of today's latest news stories from around New Zealand, including up to date weather, World, sport, business, Entertainment, Technology Life and Style, Travel and motoring.

18/03/2021

Now is the time to ensure you are well aware and ready for the minimum wage rise 1 April.

Adult minimum wage rises from $18.90 to $20 per hour. Training & Starting out wage rises from $15.12 to $16 per hour.

• You will need to advise your staff members of the change.
• Provide them a letter or email of the variation of employment contract advising of the new hourly rate/salary.
• If you have any employees whose employment agreements are not current, now is the time to update them and ensure they are complete. This is a mandatory requirement by law before the employee starts work.
• You may want to consider relativity and potential impacts on other staff members with the new changes.
• Update your budgets/forecasts to include the new wage costs to ensure you take into account increased cost.

Note: Minimum wage does not apply to minors that are 16 years old or younger or where an exemption is in place due to a disability (permit holders).

02/03/2021

Many people have been asking about accessing wage subsidies for the latest alert level rise.

Applications can be submitted from tomorrow and will be paid from Monday, and covers 14 days. To qualify, you need to have suffered a 40% decrease in revenues in a 14 day period compared to typical fortnightly revenue in the 6 weeks prior to 14 February.

Contact us if you need any assistance.

08/02/2021

New $350 payments available for emplooyees taking leave when self isolating after COVID19 test. New Short-Term Absence payments for staff who can't work from home but need to self isolate while waiting on COVID19 test results start today.

Payments will go to employers with staff self-isolating after a Covid-19 test.

17/12/2020

Re Small Business Loan Scheme

Changes to the small business loan scheme were introduced on the 9th of November 2020.

• The interest free period has been extended to 2 years before interest is charged. If the loan is not repaid by the end of the 2 years interest free period interest will be charged from the date the loan was drawn down at a rate of 3%
• Repayments are not compulsory for the first 24 months of the loan but voluntary payments may be made at any time.
• After 24 months you will be required to make regular payments for both principal and interest.
• From 9 Nov the restrictions on what the loan can be spent on eased. The loan can now be spent on investments to help the businesses adapt to the impact of COVID19.
• Applications can now be made up until 31 December 2023

15/12/2020

Proposed Business Support Package Announced

A new support package has been announced to support individuals and businesses in the case of an Alert level escalation. Below is an outline of the support available at each alert level as well as the retained key existing financial support elements.
This support will be available late February or early March 2021 subject to the necessary legislation being passed.

ALERT LEVEL 2 and above
• Directly impacted businesses are able to apply for Resurgence Support Payment to provide support for fixed costs such as rent.
• Small Business Cashflow Scheme for cashflow support is available
• Bank lending including lending through the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme

ALERT LEVEL 3 and above
• Most affected businesses can seek the Wage Subsidy to help keep staff employed

ALERT LEVEL 4 and above
• Childcare for essential workers
• Freezes on tenancy rent increases
• Restrictions on tenancy terminations
• Short Term Absence payment will be made to eligible employers to support eligible workers who stay home while waiting for a COVID19 test result. This is also available to eligible self-employed workers.

30/11/2020

As Christmas approaches so do scams.

We wish to alert our clients to be vigilant and check the email address is full and ends in our standard "brownassociates.co.nz" . Some scams we have come across include .com being used and .co without the .nz. These emails are not from us.

If you are unsure please call our friendly office on 03 928 0529. We want to keep your personal details as safe as possible.

From all of us at Brown & Associates Accounting Group 🎄

Our Services Our point of difference is that we identify what you need, process your work and give you meaningful and easy-to-read reports in a timely and cost-effective manner. We also work with you to make sure you understand the reports & implement any recommendations to help you