My Two Cents Accounting & Advisory

Today’s the day. Provisional tax and GST are due.

This is the first of the three provisional tax instalment dates, so now’s the time to make the payment and enjoy the tiny thrill of ticking it off.

If you haven’t heard from us about how much provisional tax to pay, call 09 431 3068 or email [email protected] and we’ll help you sort it before the day gets away on you.

One less tax-shaped task hanging around your to-do list.

Registering for GST is about more than claiming expenses back.

A few common missteps can leave you with more fixing than filing, including:

• Adding GST to invoices before you’re actually registered
• Treating the $60,000 threshold like it resets each financial year, when it’s based on a rolling 12 months
• Registering because someone said you could claim all your expenses back, without realising you’ve also signed up for filing and compliance

Our latest blog helps you understand what those rules mean for your business, so you can make the right call without relying on advice that suited someone else entirely.

Link below:
https://www.mytwocents.nz/post/should-i-register-for-gst-early-nz

Read it before you register, start charging GST or accidentally volunteer for more admin than you bargained for.

28 August is doing double duty.

The first provisional tax instalment of the year is due, along with GST for those who have a return and payment coming up.

Please make sure the funds are ready and payment is made by 28 August. Leaving it until the last minute tends to make the calendar feel even less friendly.

If you haven’t heard from us about how much provisional tax you should pay, please get in touch so we can check it for you.

Call 09 431 3068 or email [email protected]

Could registering for GST early work in your favour?

Our latest blog helps new business owners and growing sole traders work out what makes sense for their situation, without piecing together half-remembered advice and a late-night Google search.

By the end, you’ll have a clearer idea of:

• Whether early registration could benefit your business
• How GST may affect your pricing and cashflow
• What the $60,000 rolling threshold actually means
• Whether upcoming equipment or asset purchases change the answer

The goal is to help you make the call with confidence, without volunteering for extra paperwork before you need to.

GST registration is not one-size-fits-all.

Read the blog before deciding whether now is the right time:
https://www.mytwocents.nz/post/should-i-register-for-gst-early-nz

Your family pet? Probably not. A trained bat-detecting dog? Different story.

One of our clients claimed the cost of a very expensive dog, along with its training and related bills. Our first reaction was: Absolutely not. What is going on here?

Then we got the full story.

The dog was trained to detect native bats and went with the client to ecology and consenting sites. Suddenly, it made perfect business sense.

Most family pets cannot go through the business just because they keep you company or take their office supervisor role very seriously.

A genuine working dog such as a farm, guard or detection dog may be different. It comes down to the job the dog does and whether the business gets the main benefit.

Got an unusual expense you’re not sure about? Call 09 431 3068 or email [email protected] before you put it through.

It could save you from some creative accounting later.

Meet Phia, our go-to for the tax questions that need more than a quick answer.

Complex tax situations, dividends and tricky business structures are right up Phia’s alley.

She loves taking something that feels tangled and working through it piece by piece until there’s a clear way forward. What looks like a headache to most people looks suspiciously like a good puzzle to Phia.

A question she hears often is: “How can I pay as little tax as possible, and what will IRD think?”

That’s where Phia digs into the details, spots anything that could cause trouble later and works out what makes sense for the client’s business and future plans. Around our team, she’s also known for saying “it depends” and “technically speaking”, because tax is very fond of a technicality.

Originally from Namibia, Phia now lives in Rolleston with her family and their much-loved fur baby. Away from the numbers she enjoys good coffee, All Blacks rugby, Golden Bay camping trips and a braai with friends.

Got a dividend question, tricky tax situation or business structure that needs a closer look? Call 09 431 3068 or email [email protected].

Phia genuinely enjoys untangling this stuff. The rest of us are very happy to leave her to it.

AI might change the work. It won’t replace the value of good people.

AI comes up often in my business development sessions, usually with the same question: what will it change over the next five years, and what should we be doing about it now?

For us, bookkeeping is likely to see the biggest shift. Reconciliations, bill entry, GST preparation and parts of debtor management are already becoming less manual. No one will be mourning fewer hours spent matching transactions.

The role is not disappearing. It’s just getting a lot less copy, paste, repeat.

Our team is upskilling in advisory, reporting and client communication. Software may process the numbers faster, but it can't understand the full story, offer sound judgement or have the conversation a business owner actually needs.

The robots can handle more of the repetitive bits. We’ll keep bringing the advice, context, common sense and the occasional reality check.

Can I claim my boat? Our answer is usually: tell us more.

Boats are always a hot topic.

The key question is not whether your business owns it. It’s how the boat helps your business earn income.

A tradie using a boat to reach jobs around the Gulf Islands may have a genuine business case. A boat mainly used for family weekends with the odd client trip thrown in is a different story.

Private use, business use and who gets the main benefit all matter. In some cases, only the business-use portion or certain running costs may be claimable.

Thinking about buying a boat or another big-ticket item through the business? Get in touch with us at [email protected] or call 09 431 3068 before you buy.

It’s much easier to check the claim before the boat is sitting in the driveway.

Wondering what else you may be able to claim? Our latest blog covers plenty of other grey areas, including vehicles, home office costs, clothing, travel, training and content creator expenses.

Read the blog here:
https://www.mytwocents.nz/post/what-business-expenses-can-i-claim-nz

The answer often comes down to what your business does, how the item is used and who gets the main benefit.

A ute used for client visits may need records. A boat might make sense for island-based work, but not every business can float that one past IRD. A home improvement may help your workspace, but that doesn’t mean the whole house becomes a business expense.

Our latest blog walks through the grey areas, the “hmm, maybe” purchases and the questions to ask before you put them through the books. Plus it includes loads of examples.

Read it here: https://www.mytwocents.nz/post/what-business-expenses-can-i-claim-nz

Need help working out whether a purchase belongs in the business? Call 094313068 or email [email protected] and we’ll help you sense-check it before you buy.