Businesses & employers forums - top comments

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.

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.

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.

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?

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 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 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.

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.

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_...

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.

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?

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.

Inland revinue assumes that

og1858 — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 10:10:13 +0000

Inland revinue assumes that all taxpayers have access to computers and access to decient broad band.

Thre are a significant number of peple who dont.

To expect them to do their returns at an internet cafe with the dubious security involved and you information being laid out in the public domain for all to see is not good.

We are a Trust with 1 to 3

johntal — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:13:51 +0000

We are a Trust with 1 to 3 employees. As long as your system is simple to use and would integrate with our computer cash book it would be great if it would do away with keeping a separate payroll. However we need to pay manually as two signatures are required for any payment.

I want to take the

P Gardner — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:40:16 +0000

I want to take the opportunity to comment on the filing of PAYE returns monthly. Although I was originally advised that our Non profit organisation would be coded as irregular payer it never happened. In fact I went overseas and reminders were sent about non furnishing of returns. There has been no opportunnity to indicate this once a year payer status through the online service. We make one payment at the end of each year by way of honorarium and one PAYE payment but I must login 11 times to file NIL returns which is obviously a waste of my time. I also recieve 12 IR345 forms and 12 Return addresed envelopes - waste of resources/postage.

There must be some discretion to allow "employers" the ability to pre set when they will be making PAYE liable payments and request an IR345 on demand.

If the ability to request an irregular status already exists then it is an indictment on the web site that I could not find it.

I have used the electronic

nzjohn — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 03:26:43 +0000

I have used the electronic filling ever since its started, its great. But if you make it mandatory how long will you give telecom to get broad band to everybody!! will you allow greater deprecation of computers and software?

I decided today to try doing

Taniwha — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:57:45 +0000

I decided today to try doing my return online. It was a very difficult process.

I am self-employed with one employee, and each month I fill out an IR345 plus the monthly schedule. I expected to find a page which displayed the same information and I could fill in the numbers - and avoid writing them twice as I currently do.

There appear to be separate requirements for PAYE, Kiwisaver deductions and Kiwisaver employer contributions.

The same is true for electronic payments. Having filled out the paper form again, I went to the bank to pay electronically. I have to make three separate payments as opposed to the one cheque I send you.

So you have substituted three separate pages, and three transactions, for one paper one. Doesn't look easier to me.

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.

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.

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.