October 1st will mark thirty years since GST became a part of every New Zealander’s life.

We like to tell ourselves that it’s a very fair tax because it applies to everything in equal measure.

New Zealanders are proud of our sporting heroes and now Eliza McCartney has reached for the sky and grabbed a bronze medal at the Olympics.

But high jumping in the marketplace is not a great way for Australians running Kiwi businesses to go for gold.

The advent of cloud computing is rapidly influencing all aspects of small business operations including the traditional paper trails of accountancy practices.

You live in a time of very rapid change and as small business owners, you need to evaluate what these changes mean for your business practices and how to adapt and benefit from them.

Inland Revenue has warned taxpayers to be wary of telephone callers who identify themselves as Inland Revenue Department employees and go on to ask for personal information.

This is a type of scam known as “phishing”.

Inland Revenue’s latest changes to New Zealand’s GST rules will certainly impact on Australian businesses who transact with New Zealand customers via the Internet.

The rules come into play from 1 October 2016 and impact on Australian businesses who provide any sort of online service to customers who reside in New Zealand.

The New Zealand government continues to forge closer links with other governments when it comes to the sharing of tax information.

To this end it has announced that New Zealand will assign up to the global Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI). The agreement comes into effect from the 2018 tax year.

Inland Revenue has advised of another change to the Use of Money Interest (UOMI) rates charged on underpayment and overpayment of New Zealand tax.

Despite the comments we hear from many the many business that get hit with UOMI (use of money interest), is not actually a penalty.

As at 11:10 this morning the average Kiwi worker stopped working for the government and everything they earn for the rest of the year is their’s to keep.

That’s based on a very tongue-in-cheek statistic based on OECD figures that show government expenditure is around 40% of the annual economy but, hey, any excuse for a party!

Inland Revenue has released a draft Standard Practice Statement relating to the notification of an upcoming audit or investigation.

So why is this important?

Inland Revenue has updated the regulations that impact on low-interest loans made by companies to employees and shareholders.

There is new legislation being enacted in New Zealand that comes into effect in April aimed at reducing the “work” toll in New Zealand workplaces.