December 2015 Newsletter
Hello and welcome to our final newsletter for 2015. As Christmas looms, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support and we certainly look forward to working with you in 2016. We know it has been a busy year for many of our clients and we're sure you're all looking forward to a well-deserved break. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have referred our services to friends and acquaintances, and to let you know that we certainly do appreciate this.
We'd also like to say a special "thank you" to all of our awesome clients who got their October GST information to us in plenty of time for filing. It was a great help to us, as October is always an extremely busy time for us!
In this issue we look at:
- Christmas office closure
- Important upcoming tax dates
- Paying KiwiSaver if you're self-employed
- Per Diems
- Buying and selling of properties
Christmas Office Closure
The office will be closing for the Christmas break on Friday 18th December; however there will be a skeleton staff available if you need to get hold of us urgently in the week leading up to Christmas. If this is the case, please email office@tylerprice.co.nz
and we will endeavour to respond as quickly as we can.
The office will be re-opening on Tuesday 5 th
January 2016, again with a skeleton staff available until the 11 th
of January, when everyone is back on deck. Once again, if you need to contact us during that first week of January, please email the office address above.
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 2016. PLEASE DO NOT FORGET THEM! If you have any questions regarding these, please contact us before the office closes so we can assist you.
For those of you who pay GST two monthly, this will also be due for payment on the 15th of January. If you are heading away for Christmas, best to get your information to us well before you leave, so you'll know how much spending money you have available for your holiday!
And after that:
7 February 2016 Terminal tax due for taxpayers who do not have extension of time (non- complying taxpayers)
7 April 2016 Terminal tax due for taxpayers who do have extension of time.
Paying KiwiSaver if you're self employed
KiwiSaver is very flexible if you're self-employed and you can still enjoy all of the benefits except the employer contributions. If you are self-employed, you're not required to contribute a set percentage of your pay. Instead you can agree your contribution level with your KiwiSaver provider. Some providers may have minimum contribution requirements. You can either make lump sum payments when you choose, or set up regular payments.
Per Diems
Many of the film production companies are including per diems in the summary of earnings sent to Inland Revenue. This means that they will be subject to tax. So if you are receiving per diems, keep a record of the corresponding travel expenses so we can claim them against the income.
Buying and Selling of Properties
As you will all be aware, there's been a number of changes in relation to the buying and selling of property. Most of the publicity has been centred on the capital gains tax that you will have to pay if you sell a property within 2 years of purchase. A few other things to note:
- Capital gains tax will not apply if you sell a property which has been your main residence for the majority of the period owned. If you have both lived in the property and rented it out, capital gains tax will apply if it was rented out for longer than you resided in it and you sell it within two years of purchasing it.
- For capital gains purposes, you cannot have two main residences – so your bach is not exempt from capital gains tax if sold within 2 years of purchase.
- Transferring your property between yourself and your trust or company will start the 2 year clock ticking. So be very careful when choosing the entity that you wish to own your property under.
- A property owned by a family trust will only be exempt from capital gains tax if at least one of the settlors of the trust is one of the residents of it, and that settlor doesn't own another "main residence".
- When buying or selling a property, the purchaser and vendor must provide their IRD number on the sale and purchase agreement. We are aware that many family trusts don't currently have IRD numbers (as there has never been a requirement to have an IRD number if the trust has not been earning income). To save a bit of stress, if you suddenly decide to buy or sell property, we recommend that all trusts apply for IRD numbers as soon as possible. We are happy to help you with this, so give us a call if this applies to you.
Have you got a will?
We are often staggered to discover that many of you have not made provisions for the unlikely event of your demise. With many of us heading off on holiday breaks, it's probably a good time to make or update our wills to ensure that our wishes are followed when we are no longer around. This is particularly important for those of you running businesses who need a succession plan.
Annual Donation
At Tyler Price, we are always keen to support our clients where we can! In February 2016 one of our clients will be driving a tractor from New Plymouth to Auckland to raise funds for Hospice New Zealand. Such effort must be rewarded, so this year, in lieu of Christmas cards, we'll be making our donation to Hospice via the Tractor Trek appeal. Here's the link if you would also like to support this very worthy cause: www.tractortrek.org.nz
Finally, all of the team at Tyler Price would like to wish everyone a very safe and happy Christmas, and we look forward to assisting you in the New Year.
Tools & Resources
We offer a range a range of free, easy
to use online resources including
calculators, Key financial dates, tax facts and useful internet links.
Contact Us
Call us on 09 360 8425 or send us an email
