Hello and welcome to our final newsletter for 2017.   The year has flashed by at an alarming rate as we have settled in to our new premises.  As always, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you again in 2018.  

In this issue we look at:  

·         Christmas office closure and re-opening dates

·         Important upcoming tax dates

·         Xero Promotion

·         Staff changes

·         Payments to Inland Revenue

·         Anti-Money Laundering Legislation  

Christmas Office Closure  

The office will be closing for the Christmas break on Wednesday the 20 ^th December and will be re-opening on Monday the 15th January.  The office@tylerprice.co.nz email will be periodically monitored throughout the closedown period, so if you do need our assistance during this time, please email this address and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

    Important Tax Dates  

Provisional tax payment notices have been sent out to those of you required to make a payment on the 15 ^th of January 2018 .  PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO PAY THIS TAX!   If you have any questions regarding this please contact us before the office closes for the Christmas break so we can assist you if need be.  

For those of you who file GST two monthly, your November GST will also be due for payment on the 15th of January 2018 . If you are heading away for Christmas, it would be best to get your information to us well before you leave.

  And after that:

7 February 2018          Terminal tax due for taxpayers who do not have extension of time (non-complying taxpayers)

7 April 2018                 Terminal tax due for taxpayers who do have extension of time.     

Xero Promotion

For those of you considering moving to Xero: they are currently offering a 50% discount for the next 4 months, so now could be a really good time to make the move.  Please let us know if you are interested in taking up this offer.

Staff Changes  

Those of you who are looked after by Bryony will have noticed her expanding stomach over the past few months!  Bryony headed off on maternity leave on the 1 ^st of December and is now patiently awaiting the birth of her third child, due on New Year's Eve.  We look forward to welcoming her back later next year.  

In November Lichelle Schofield joined the team and she will be looking after the majority of Bryony's clients.  Many of you will have already been in contact with Lichelle.  Lichelle comes to us with a broad range of skills and experience and we are delighted to have her on board.

Payments to Inland Revenue  

We've noticed that a few of you have a habit of rounding up payments to Inland Revenue to the nearest dollar.  Please do not do this!   Inland Revenue don't write these overpayments off – we have to manually transfer them to other periods or tax types.  This takes time which we must charge you for.

Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Legislation  

Those of you who have tried to invest money or open bank accounts in the past couple of years will no doubt have been put through the wringer by the banks – all in the name of AML legislation.  The bad news is that, from 1 October next year, accountants will also be required to carry out additional checks on clients to satisfy ourselves that none of you are laundering money, drug trafficking or doing cash jobs.  The legislation is still being finalised: however, our understanding at this stage is that we will be required to incorporate AML checks into our work and, should we become suspicious that a client is carrying out illegal activities, we will be required to report this to the relevant authority.  We will be under the scrutiny of the Department of Internal Affairs and failure to perform the relevant checks will result in huge fines – so we must comply. Over the next few months we will be updating our procedures to incorporate these checks, including an addendum to our terms of trade and a questionnaire that you will all need to complete.  We apologise in advance for the inconvenience that this will cause, but unfortunately, we have no choice in this matter.

Needless to say, that if any of you are laundering money, drug trafficking or doing cash jobs, this may be a good time to consider ceasing these activities!

Annual Donation  

Many of you will remember Karla, who was our receptionist in 2012/2013. Karla was an amazing person with a heart of gold.  She had no kidneys and every second night went home to spend her evening on her dialysis machine.  She couldn't drive and could only go on holiday if she could make arrangements with a nearby hospital to receive dialysis treatment while she was away.  Karla left our team when her husband's workplace moved out west, meaning she had no mode of transport to get to work.

It was with much sadness that we learnt of Karla's death in August this year, aged 35.   Karla always knew that her life would be short: however, we are still finding it difficult to comprehend that someone so young and full of life can now be gone.

In memory of Karla we are splitting this year's annual donation and giving half to the Kidney Foundation and the other half to Radio Lollipop, which was a charity close to Karla's heart and one in which she invested a large portion of her limited spare time.

Finally, we hope you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas/New Year break.  We look forward to being of service to everyone in 2018!

Kind regards  

The team at Tyler Price: (Isobel, Bryony, Caroline, Karen, Lichelle, Tina, Abbey, Virginia and Tilly).