Businesses & employers forums - recent comments

I am a treasurer for a

Jenny Lux — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:42:40 +0000

I am a treasurer for a non-profit early childhood education service. We have one employee, and our own rather unsophisticated software, but it does the job. Whatever new software requirements are introduced to be able to make PAYE and other tax payments more automatic (i.e. in sync with IRD website) need to take into consideration the needs of small NGOs. These entities work on volunteer labour and don't have huge budgets for buying software.

Paper guides and booklets

Jenny Lux — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:37:47 +0000

Paper guides and booklets need to be available, but not sent out to everyone as a matter of course. A lot of that material is wasted that way.

As a tax agent and despite

Kim Mayne — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:17:40 +0000

As a tax agent and despite being an avid advocate of online filing on IRD's website for PAYE and GST I am constantly disappointed with the lack of interest shown by my clients. Whilst a great deal of people are comfortable and confident using internet based systems we have to remember that the vast majority still struggle with it or prefer not to do so.

IRD's current PAYE and GST filing are currently extremely easy to use and it is a pity more people are not able to take the plunge.

I too do share some concerns with other comments read tonight that who holds the baby if IRD are missing a return? Recently I filed online and fortunately clearly had the receipt but it did not stop one of the usual mandatory bad boy letters arriving. Fortunately the evidence squashed it very quickly, but people do not always print receipts or remember to keep them!!

As this is (I believe) the

Kim Mayne — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:07:08 +0000

As this is (I believe) the closing submission date for this discussion and viewing the number of responses online I think the question of whether mandatory online filing would be acceptable to the general population speaks for itself. There are insufficient people confident with using internet transactions and in particular interfacing with Inland Revenue, which for many, raises many fears, most groundless, but instilled nonetheless.

Don't forget, those people

Litterarum — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:18:03 +0000

Don't forget, those people commenting on these forums are those with internet access and the know-how to use it. How is the rest of the population going to be consulted? The feed back you're getting from this "consultation process" is going to be biased towards computer users.

While electronic filing is

Litterarum — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:14:50 +0000

While electronic filing is more convienent I would have serious concerns about making it manditory for all taxpayers. There is still a reasonably large portion of the population who do not have the computer access or skills necessary to make this suitable for them. There are always going to be taxpayers who find it easier and quicker to use a paper form.

The tax agents now have the

Litterarum — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:09:10 +0000

The tax agents now have the ability to do some transfers online between tax years for credit balances, but this service is very limited, and I often find myself phoning to tidy up client's tax accounts, where the IRD have not credited the payment to the correct year or tax type, and leave it up to the agent to sort out that there is one in credit and one in arrears for the same amount because payments have gone to the wrong place.

I agree that the use of

Litterarum — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:03:52 +0000

I agree that the use of online banking for two signatories is possible for businesses, but not always viable for not-for-profits. I am a treasurer of a very small not-for-profit, and the fees that would be charged by our bank for changing across to a business account (which they require to do two signatures online), and additional fees for operating an online banking verification system are simply not worth while for our size of organisation.

I believe that the main

ronpen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:51:05 +0000

I believe that the main problem with on line input would be ensuring accuracy of the data. Having read through many of the posted comments in this forum, I detect a large proportion of poor typing (spelling, flow of idea, etc). I even note that the dates at the head of each group of subjects (presumably embedded there by the organisers of this forum), are all for the year 2012. If presumed intelligent computer operators cannot get the facts right, what hope is there for the less competent of us? During my working years, the comment was often made about computer operations, that 'garbage in, garbage out'. This is still true today, and I wonder how long it will take for a compulsory computer system of taxation to grind to a dead stop, caused by a gridlock of faulty data input from thousands of untrained operators.

For most of us we need to have confidence that the end result will be correct, and will be achieved with a minimum of effort and cost to each of us. We certainly do not wish to have more confusion as the end product. I am not certain at this time that IRD have a positive vote of confidence from taxpayers concerning this matter.

I do not think that this

ronpen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:00:49 +0000

I do not think that this would be a good idea, as it would probably be a chat line between taxpayers, as I do not expect that IRD will have operators waiting at monitors to join in at all times. It is also likely that the chances of having another taxpayer on line who could comment on any particular problem at a given time would be extremely very small. In other words it would be just as frustrating as the present telephone system.

While it may be possible to

ronpen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:47:11 +0000

While it may be possible to set up the service to have two signatories operate the on-line system, the fact remains that for many not-for-profit organisations, the signatories often do not live in the same town or city. Getting any two of them together to operate the on-line system is therefore probably more difficult than using the present manual system.

Anything that makes it easier

carol@racewell.co.nz — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:18:23 +0000

Anything that makes it easier and less stressful - but it has to work and if it doesnt it is not necessarily the employers fault. IRD systems and service are not good in my experience. Even something as simple as getting PAYE forms redirected has taken over 2 years and is still not correct

I would suggest that a large

ageman — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 21:41:59 +0000

I would suggest that a large proportion of not-for-profit organisations will struggle to meet on-line requirements as

they do not have the money to purchase the latest computer equipment and/or software.

The IRD will have to improve

NRGIZE — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:38:03 +0000

The IRD will have to improve their systems so that they work as well as Excel does in tracking payroll, deductions and vacation and sick days. Have a look at Westpac's banking site to see how easy it is to make a payment to the IRD and then compare it to how complicated it is to fill out the IRD PAYE form online. IRD is slow and complicated. Westpac has all the information on one page and proof on payment prints on one page.

The IRD should compare their website to any commercial website that entices customers to buy. This will show the IRD how far they are from normal commercial reality.

Security needs to be friendlier so that once you log on you do not have to enter your password again, just like a bank website.

My experiences with filling

NRGIZE — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:16:52 +0000

My experiences with filling in IRD forms on line are that they are much harder and more time consuming than completing paper forms or working in excel.

The IRD have no concept of how to write an easy-to-use application. Look at this website. They write applications in-house on mainframes and do not test on PCs running dial up connections.

Collecting tax is the IRD's job so if I have to do your job then let me do it the easiest way - for me that is a paper form.

How is the IRD going to get feedback from all its customers who do not use online access ?

My experience with the IRD's

NRGIZE — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:04:25 +0000

My experience with the IRD's websites are that they are clunky and slow. I prefer a paper based statement saying what is outstanding, so that when the IRD eventually disclose an error I can go back and reconcile the transactions.

Collecting PAYE is the IRD's job not mine. I am a small businss owner.Tthe IRD should improve their current processes to normal business practice and send a statement within 5 days at the end of a month.

I use Excel to calculate my

NRGIZE — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:45:19 +0000

I use Excel to calculate my payroll and fill in a paper form. I only have 6 employees so that is all I need in a system. I do not want to have to access a big IRD online database to do my wages, nor change my software to the IRD's software.

What about all the people who do their wages in a book - they do not want to start using an IRD application.

I do not want more online

NRGIZE — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:38:56 +0000

I do not want more online forms. My broadband is very slow (in central Auckland) and it is quicker for me to complete the forms on paper.

I want to be able to phone the IRD when I have a problem.

This is an online forum so only people interested in online filing will register. There are many people who are not computer savy who complete IRD forms and would not be able to do it on line, who you are not consulting.

Not doubting your comment

Ghostrider939 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:27:25 +0000

Not doubting your comment fannington old chap, BUT you were very very lucky and must have called

at exactly the most opportune moment.

I believe that the "majority"

Ghostrider939 — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:24:07 +0000

I believe that the "majority" of tax payers could be served adequately by an on-line service

BUT a fail-safe system MUST be available as well. Power outages/data corruption/misunderstanding could cause

considerable distress if there is no such fail-safe/back-up system in place.