Businesses & employers forums - most controversial comments

Quality, searchable online

Brian. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:30:54 +0000

Quality, searchable online information is a great goal for IRD to strive for.

However hard copy guides and booklets are also essential for users to refer back to, highlight, bookmark, etc.

Phone contact with IRD is

Brian. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:25:32 +0000

Phone contact with IRD is essential for us to get 'immediate' response to problems or queries. Online information currently is often the trigger for us to need to follow up by phone. Paper reports from IRD are an audit trail for us.

I enjoy the ability to make

Taxpayer92 — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:46:20 +0000

I enjoy the ability to make GST filings online. However, if it was a requirement that I use an accounting package to make these electronic filings I would be strongly opposed, unless there was a barebones package made available free from the IRD.

Or should I just buy Xero stock now?

Definitely not as much

Trish Greenwood — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:34:59 +0000

Definitely not as much however you will should still be able to speak to someone in need - you can't just not allow phone access. Personally i probably won't need phone access but I am sure others will/may.

the question is about

clare hewitt — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 06:04:31 +0000

the question is about electronic filing for ALL tax payers. As a budget advisor I meet people who are such poor taxpayers they can't afford a landline let alone internet access and a computer. this would put another burden on the poor who already have to go and use a pay phone to call IRD because there are no local offices anymore.

The existing website can be

clare hewitt — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 05:55:19 +0000

The existing website can be very confusing and hard to find the information on. I sometimes do a search and then still have to ring up and ask how to get the information I need. if you are going to have all the information on line you need to make it easier to find.

I would still like to see

831519357@facebook — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:45:29 +0000

I would still like to see alternative options to the online channel, at least until the whole country has decent broadband access and as mentioned above IRD can provide tools to meet all taxpayers needs?

The answer in simple terms is

willy2212 — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 02:18:06 +0000

The answer in simple terms is yes.

The things that bug me now are:

- The online returns are not user friendly - you need to put too much information in. You know who I am, put that information in before I start and I can complete the return. A classic example of this is the GST return - the paper one you send me has all my details in it already.

- If I am in the online channel, keep me there - don't push me to paper or the phone line. Let me interact with you where I want to interact, not where you want me to

I would recommend purchasing

Judith Card — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:14:20 +0000

I would recommend purchasing payroll software such as ACE Payroll to manage your business payroll. Yes there is time involved in setting up the system to start with but you may be able to get help with this. I think that you would be amazed at how easy your payroll and tax compliance process would become. Tax compliance, Kiwsaver, Holidays Act compliance, student loans, child support, allowances, and the list goes on, are a minefield to navigate in this day and age. I have spent many years manually processing payroll and many years using various payroll software so have a good comparison. Even if I had only 2 staff I would still use purpose software!

Great idea, this would save

D Miller — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:01:22 +0000

Great idea, this would save time & cost at both ends. One thing that would be good is if you were able to file RWT returns online - unlike GST, FBT & PAYE, this cannot currently be done.

we have a small business with

clare hewitt — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 00:28:30 +0000

we have a small business with 1 employee. I have a basic accounting cashflow programme and don't want to have to upgrade and spend lots of money changing my system to comply with IRDs wish to make all tax business done online. It has already cost us thousands to get a reliable broadband service because dial up was so slow I couldnt do any online form filling. Will IRD be subsidising those who don't have internet access because of the antiquated telecominications system?

We prefer to be in control of

Judith Card — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:02:30 +0000

We prefer to be in control of processes that we are ultimately responsible for ie filing of tax returns such as PAYE and GST. For this reason we prefer not to use online software such as Smartpayroll, to manage or complete this process for our business. I also have to complete all of our accounting reconciliations at year end for audit so I like to know what's actually happened and not find errors or whatever 6 months down the track. Our business uses IMS payroll software to manage the payroll process, which takes care of all the tax deduction calculations, kiwisaver, all types of leave calculations etc, as long as everything is set up correctly to start with. This system creates electronic files for simply uploading online at the IRD website. There is still the option to manually edit these files if necessary. We use Moneyworks Gold (yes we love Macs!) accounting software. Again, GST compliance is simple and we now use the online GST form to submit to IRD rather than the paper form. These processes for us are quick and easy, whilst still maintaining a level of control over the process. I think IRD have done a great job at getting their online services up and running and coming up with improvements.

I run a small business (two

chris peace — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 21:41:57 +0000

I run a small business (two employees total) and would welcome being able to do a monthly reconciliation with software on my own computer and then file a tax return with IRD that covered PAYE, Kiwisaver and GST. They would therefore have a common date for PAYE and GST as opposed to different dates currently. Such a facility would ease cash flow for SMEs like us and, probably to a small extent, the Government.

Company tax would be a little more problematic due to fluctuations in income and expenses: I would prefer this to be an annual return based on the results for the whole year.

The reduction in forms would be of marginal benefit and I would still like the option of printing a return as a more permanent record.

As an employer of workers

cantaloupe — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:12:52 +0000

As an employer of workers on a kiwifruit (KF) orchard I would have to say that the whole system of employee tax has become quite painful. Initially I could get in companies to do thinning etc and like any other company they would sort out their own tax. With some changes a few years ago WT (Withholding Tax) was brought in to this sphere of operation to cause companies to be taxed WT by the orchard owner. This now means I have a montly load of crap to sort out for the IRD and they seem to want this information back very quickly. The painful aspect I see with this whole WT system is that the requirements for when it should apply are bizarre to fathom out.

Take as an example the IRD web site...

Company A provides services under a contract which involves a high capital outlay (ie large use of machinery). As this contract is deemed to have a high capital outlay and low labour input, payments made to Company A in this circumstance will not have tax on schedular payments deducted. However, if the use of the machinery was incidental, with the supply of labour making up most of the contract, then payments made to Company A for this contract would have tax on schedular payments deducted.

If you then look the recommended list of WT type payments from the back of the IR330 which is supposed to summarize the WT payments under Schedule 4 of the Income Tax Act 2007. On this list there is nothing about horticultural activities where a large capital investment has been made. Indeed the closest match would be...

Agricultural contracts for maintenance, development, or other work on farming or agricultural land - rate 15c if IRD number supplied or 30c otherwise in the dollar.

For a bobcat operator performing contracted work on agricultural land is he exempt or not fro WT (schedular payments)?

Where this is heading is that the intrepretation of rules generated by IRD are so loose at times that not even IRD can consistently respond with the same answer. This does not make the job of payroll, which I never wanted to be involved in in the first place, very easy. Rest assured that if you do get it wrong there will be at least 5 penalties waiting to be charged !

An excellent example of this is where WT needs to be taken out (now called schedular payments which is even more difficult to understand what it means). I have been in touch with IRD on several occassions for the answer where a person/company, falling under the category of needing schedular payments deducted, has a special tax deduction certificate. The IR330 indicates that the STC tax code should be used but elsewhere on the website the following is stated...

The tax code to use is "WT" even if they have a certificate of exemption or a special tax rate.

Again while IRD cannot figure this one out themselves Im sure another set of penalties apply when they figure out their own intrepretation of their own legislation is.

Before getting into computer software some basics need to be addressed to make payments by an employeer easier...

Geoffrey.

Its fantastic - I use an

Trish Greenwood — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:38:43 +0000

Its fantastic - I use an online payroll system now and this company now files all our EMS each month. Cost is minimal and so savings in time and not having to purchase payroll software is great!. I have authorised letter from IRD confirming that this Company is now responsible for our filing and paying. Huge time saving.

Matthew - absolutely. While

575479877@facebook — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:09:14 +0000

Matthew - absolutely. While many of the software vendors will see this as an opportunity to gain more custom, Government needs to look beyond those vested interests and ensure that all businesses have access to a basic set of tools that allows them to file electronically.

Otherwise this initiative is simply removing cost (in the form of time) and replacing it with another cost (in the form of quasi-compulsory software_...

I use a Payroll System that

Mayfield Engineering 2000 Ltd — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 02:01:36 +0000

I use a Payroll System that manages our payroll and I think it is really great because they file all the reports to IRD that they require without me having to worry about it each month. We are only a small company but it is one job I don't have to worry about. The cost per month for this service is very minimal and I don't have to worry about holiday pay workings etc.

Taxpayer92 - understand your

575479877@facebook — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:19:53 +0000

Taxpayer92 - understand your concerns but there is an aspect of the Government needing to force change here, the concept being that the time savings that can be made through e-filing are significantly greater than the cost of any software.

That said I would imagine that the IRD would provide some simple tools to meet the minimum reporting requirements and that these would be free (ish)

I guess this is just a tweak

Brian. — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:14:03 +0000

I guess this is just a tweak to the current payroll systems used by businesses. However, I find the current IRD ir-File system clunky and hard to use compared with other secure online websites (such as SOME banks websites). I hope IRD check out the competition and strive to be in the top layer for ease-of-use.

If the IRD want me to collect

NRGIZE — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 02:00:49 +0000

If the IRD want me to collect their taxes accurately then they must provide the tools. I do not always have access to the internet when I am doing work for the IRD. When I do have access to the IRD site I find it hard to navigate and dificult to find useful information.

I much prefer to have an Information booklet that I can mark with a post-it and highlight so that I can refer back to it next time.

I think it is very short sighted of the IRD to not make PAYE tables available. I agree that it is OK to have to phone and request them instead of a mass mailout, but they must be available for users like me who do their payroll on Excel and do not have tables available to them in the software.