Cuffs Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors

As we begin another financial year, we would like to thank all our valued clients for your continued support.
The team at Cuffs (and our photo bomber) wish you a safe and happy Easter.

From 1 April 2026, KiwiSaver contribution rates will increase from 3% to 3.5%. This change applies to both employee and employer contributions for all eligible employees enrolled in KiwiSaver.

Employees may apply through myIR for a temporary contribution rate reduction from 1 February 2026, allowing them to remain at the 3% rate for up to 12 months. Where an employee elects to do this, the employer is permitted to match contributions at the reduced rate.

Additionally, from 1 April 2026, individuals aged 16 and 17 will be able to voluntarily opt into KiwiSaver (previously available only from age 18). However, these employees must not be automatically enrolled.

Please also note that there are plans to further increase KiwiSaver contribution rates to 4% in 2028.

Employers who use a Total Remuneration approach should ensure that, following the increase in contribution rates, employees’ take-home pay does not fall below the minimum adult wage. Employer KiwiSaver contributions must not be deducted in a way that reduces an employee’s earnings below the applicable minimum wage.

From 1 April, the minimum adult wage will increase to $23.95 per hour. The starting-out and training rates (80% of the adult rate) will increase to $19.16 per hour.

Please ensure any salaried employees paid by automatic payment are updated accordingly. You should also confirm that salaried employees do not exceed their maximum hours per pay period; if they do, their salary must be topped up.

Note that the increase applies based on the date worked, not the payment date. This may require splitting a pay period across two rates. Many employers choose to apply the new rate to the entire week for simplicity.

Cuffs Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors Our motto is "together achieving results".
At Cuffs Ltd we like to think of ourselves as partners i

Congratulations to all the winners at the West Coast/Top of South - New Zealand Dairy Industry Awards. In particular we would like to congratulate Kauri Peters & Katrina Guiney, winners of the Dairy Manager Merit Award sponsored by Cuffs Chartered Accountants.

Congratulations again to the 2026 West Coast/Top of the South Dairy Industry Awards winners – Share Farmers of the Year Abbi Ayre & Frikkie Terblanche, Dairy Manager of the Year Preet Singh and Dairy Trainee of the Year Mark Ready! 🏆🏆🏆

Don’t leave bad debts hanging. If you’ve got unpaid invoices that you want to be written off in the 2026 tax year, you need to write them off before your balance date, which is 31 March for most. Finalising your bad debts now means you'll get a tax write-off for them in this financial year.

Merry Christmas from the team at Cuffs 🎁🎄🎅🏼

Check out our Christmas 2025 newsletter 🎄🎁

This is a good read if you are struggling to pay any of your taxes. We have certainly noticed the increased contact from IRD regarding late payments/overdue taxes in the last month. If you need any assistance with payment plans, please give us a call ☎️

Ignoring tax debt won’t make it go away If you’ve got GST or Employer Tax debt, Inland Revenue (IR) wants you to start repaying it now. Ignoring your debt will not make it go away.

Welcome to our Meet the Team series - we are starting off with Jeffrey Kay.

• What is your role at Cuffs? Chartered Accountant/Director🧮
• How long have you been working here? 20 years, started on 07/06/05 – an easy date to remember📆
• What do you enjoy most about your job? Solving problems 🙋
• What did you want to be when you were growing up? A pilot but I’m colour blind so am not allowed to fly a plane 👨‍✈️
• What’s your favourite way to relax after work? I have two preschool aged children so there’s not much relaxing going on after work 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦
• If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Burgers 🍔
• What is your favourite ice cream flavour? Sometimes I like to make my own ice cream, I like to make lemon & chilli flavour, my wife doesn’t like it so I don’t have to share 🍋🌶
• Do you work better early in the morning or late at night? Late at night (everyone at the office knows I don’t like early mornings) 🌜⏰
• Which celebrity was your childhood crush? Isla Fisher 👩
• What movie can you rewatch over and over again? Fight Club 🥊🤼‍♂
• What is your favourite sport to sit back on the couch and watch? Any sport but I go out of my way to watch cricket and league and if I can’t watch them on the TV then I listen to them on the radio 🏉🏏

Are you in business or starting a business? Join Inland Revenue's free seminar on Thursday 6th November 2025 from 10.30am to 12.30pm to learn about income tax and they will introduce you to their key tools and resources to help make it easier to manage our obligations including:

* Business structures
* Income tax
* Expenses you can claim
* Record keeping
* Working smarter with their online services

Click on the link to register

Seminar: introduction to business Are you in business or starting a business? Join our free seminar to learn about income tax.

Great to support the Westland Basketball Association who are working towards getting a half court hoop at Cass Square. They’d love to get it done for the summer so contact them if you’d like to join us in donating to this great cause 🏀

Huge shout out to Cuffs Accounting!
Thank you for your incredible support and contribution to the Half Court Hoop at Cass Square. Your generosity and belief in this awesome community project have helped bring us closer to achieving it — creating a space for connection, activity, and fun for everyone.
We’re so grateful to have you behind us. Thanks for backing something that makes a real difference! 🏀🙌

Last weekend our team headed down to Glacier Country and supported some of our clients. We highly recommend the Franz Josef Wilderness Tours off-road quad bike tour, lots of laughs were had. We finished our day off with a delicious dinner at the Betsey Jane Eatery & Bar in Fox Glacier.