Hello and welcome to our final newsletter for 2018.   It's been a huge year with major changes for us and we are all looking forward to a relaxing break over Christmas.  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 2019.

In this issue we look at:

·         Christmas office closure and re-opening dates

·        Important upcoming tax dates

·        Staff Update

·        Bookkeeping Service

·        Payments to Inland Revenue

·        Anti-Money Laundering Legislation

·        Audit Insurance

·        IRD Scam Emails

·        GST Payment Arrangements

·        Increase in Per Diems

·        Make a Will!

Christmas Office Closure

The office will be closing for the Christmas break on Wednesday the 19 ^th December and will be re-opening on Monday the 14th 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 2019 .   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 2019 . 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 2019          Terminal tax due for taxpayers who do not have extension of time (non-complying taxpayers)

7 April 2019                 Terminal tax due for taxpayers who do have extension of time.     

Staff Update

After much anticipation we are very pleased to announce that Lichelle had a baby girl, called Nina, on the 25 ^th of October.   Lichelle is currently planning to return to work on 1 October next year.

Bryony, who left us to have baby Tess in December last year, will be returning to work on the 19 ^th of February, so she will be picking up the bulk of Lichelle's clients. Most of you will already know Bryony, as Lichelle was her replacement when she went on maternity leave!

Bookkeeping Service

For those of you who struggle to keep up with your paperwork, we are very pleased to advise that we are now offering a bookkeeping service at a very competitive rate.   If you are interested, please contact us.

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

We are now 2 months into the AML legislation requirements.   Thank you to all of you who have provided the additional information that we must receive in order to fulfil the requirements.   We are in the process of sending out letters to all of our clients asking for verification of identity and residential address.   We would appreciate your prompt response to these requests.   We understand that this is a frustrating process, but unfortunately it needs to be done.

Audit Insurance

We have noticed over the past few months that there has been significantly increased activity by Inland Revenue in the checking of information provided to them.   We have received a few letters and phone calls asking for back-up documentation for expenses and donations claimed.   In particular they are targeting rental properties with large repair bills, tradies and hospitality businesses.   But we have also had a review on one of our film industry clients so it appears that they are throwing their net quite wide.   Audit insurance pays for our time from the initial phone call or letter to resolution.   It's not too late to take out this insurance if you are concerned that they may come knocking.

IRD Scam Emails

We've also noted an increase in scam IRD emails, claiming that you are due a refund.   Please note that IRD will never send you a direct email with a link so if you receive one, delete it immediately. If you have a MyIR account, log into that and check to see if you have any outstanding matters.   If you don't liaise with the IRD directly, then check with us as to the validity of the email.

GST Payment Arrangements

For those of you who do not put enough GST aside to pay to Inland Revenue on the GST payment dates, there has always been an option to make an arrangement to pay by instalment.   It's not an option that we particularly encourage, because IRD charge a 1% penalty and interest on the balances owing.   However it can be handy when things go wrong.   However, many of you face the same issue for every GST return you file and so are continuously on payment arrangements.   IRD have now had enough of this and are refusing to make arrangements for repeat "offenders".   Without the payment arrangement additional penalties accrue very quickly.

So please be aware that GST is not your money and must be paid to Inland Revenue on the due date.   Either put the GST portion of your income received in a separate bank account (and leave it there) or pay it directly to Inland Revenue as soon as you receive it.

Rental Property Ringfencing

It now looks extremely likely that rental property losses will be ringfenced from 1 April 2019.   This means that if your rental property runs at a loss for the year, you won't be able to offset that loss against other income.   Instead, it will be carried forward for offset against future rental profits.   However if you have more than one rental property in the same ownership, you can offset a loss in one against a profit in another.

As large repairs and maintenance can often be the factor which pushes your property into a loss situation, we recommend you carry out any required repairs before 1 April 2019.

Increase in Per Diems

Finally, after 15 years, Inland Revenue have increased the daily Per Diem rate from $60 to $80.   This means that you can now receive up to $80 per day without the requirement to have withholding tax deducted or to keep receipts for the travel costs incurred.   Please note, however that many production companies include the per diems (even when they are less than or equal to the limit) in your earnings information filed with Inland Revenue.   When this is the case, you will need to keep a record of your travel expenses so you can claim an offset against the per diems which must be included as income in your tax return.

Make a Will!

We have become aware that many of you don't have a will!   Please aware that if you die intestate then Section 77 of the Administration Act 1969 determines who gets what.   As this may not be in accordance with your wishes we suggest that you pop along to your lawyer and get them to create a will for you.

Annual Donation

In memory of a dear client who passed away suddenly in June, we are making this year's donation to the Women's Refuge, whom she supported through her work.

  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!

  We would like to leave you with some words of wisdom, by Mary Holm, regarding happiness and money which you may wish to consider during the festive season:

·         Buy experiences instead of things.  Things get old, but experiences – concerts and shows, being out in the wilderness, travel, or just spending time with friends – stay shiny in your memory

·         Buy many small pleasures instead of a few big ones

·         Pay now and consume later.  Anticipation is part of happiness. Also, you enjoy it more when you know the bill is already paid

·         Spend on others instead of yourself.

Kind regards

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