Hello and welcome to our June newsletter.  It's been a pretty soggy start to the winter and it's hard to believe that the year is already half over!  We've turned up the heating in our office and, as always, look forward to seeing you when you pop in with your information or to sign off your accounts. 

It's been a fairly quiet quarter in terms of tax changes. The most significant change in the wind is the proposal to ring fence rental losses, which we discussed in the March newsletter.  No updates yet but we will keep you posted.  In the meantime:  

For those of you who are registered for GST 2 monthly, your GST return for the period ending 31 May is due to be filed with Inland Revenue by 28 June 2018 .   If you haven't already done so, please send us your information ASAP so that we can get your return filed on time. Please call if you need any help or if you are unable to get your information to us.

On 28 August 2018 , both July GST returns and the first instalment of provisional tax for those of you not registered for GST or registered for GST on a 2 monthly basis will be due.  As always, we will send reminder notices to pay this provisional tax 3 weeks before the due date.  Please ensure that we have your correct email address to which to send these notices.

Those of you registered for GST 6 monthly who pay provisional tax: your first instalment isn't due until 28 October 2018 - so don't panic if you don't receive a notice in August.

Just a reminder that the Government contributes 50 cents for each dollar you contribute to your KiwiSaver account, up to a maximum of $521.43 per year. To receive the full annual Government contribution, you'll need to contribute at least $1,042.86 between 1 July and 30 June each year and meet the eligibility criteria. You'll be able to receive the annual Government contribution from the age of 18 up until you're eligible to make a KiwiSaver retirement withdrawal as long as you live mainly in New Zealand.  If you haven't contributed at least $1,042.86 for the current year, we recommend you make your payment as soon as possible.

Student Loans and Working for Families Tax Credits

Please note that if you take out a Student Loan or start receiving Working for Families Tax Credits, we will not be aware of this unless you tell us.  IRD only gives us access to each tax type on an individual basis, upon specific request by us.  So if you don't tell us, we will not request access.  Knowledge of these is essential to us to ensure that we maximise your tax benefits. 

This particularly applies to children receiving distributions from trusts.  So please let us know if this applies to you.

Request for information from banks

New Zealand banks are warning that some customers could have their accounts frozen if they don't respond to requests for information.

As part of their regulatory obligations, banks are required to undertake due diligence on the foreign tax status of their customers.

To fulfil this duty, all banks have recently contacted customers requesting details on their status.  If you've been contacted, it's important that you respond to your bank, regardless of your tax status. If you don't respond, or if your response is incomplete, your bank will be required to freeze or close accounts opened from 1 July 2017 to comply with the law.

IRD Scam Emails

There appears to have been an increase in IRD scam emails being sent to taxpayers and many are getting caught out and being infected by computer viruses .  If you receive an email that appears to be from IRD asking you to click on a link, do not do this! If you believe that the email could be genuine, either contact us or  log into your MyIR and check your status there.

Providing your bank account details to us

Anti Money Laundering (AML) Legislation

From the team at Tyler Price – Isobel, Abbey, Anne, Bryony, Caroline, Karen, Tina, Virginia and Tilly