The NZ Government has announced a further extension for the Small Business Cashflow (loan) Scheme (SBC).

COVID-19 rocked the boat for many small businesses in New Zealand. Business owners had to work hard to stay afloat. These three awesome Kiwi businesses hustled to help their business survive the storm of COVID-19.

The price increase to Xero Starter, Standard and Premium plans that was going to happen on 1 July 2020 is now delayed until further notice.

New Zealand now has no active cases of COVID 19. As of midnight last night the country has moved down to Alert Level 1. This means restrictions on gatherings, hospitality, transport and social distancing have now been removed. Border restrictions however remain.

As expected, the 2020 Budget has been a high spending one with a deficit forecasted to be $29.6 billion in 2021. We break down the expenditure and key initiatives.

NZ ALERT LEVEL 2 Our office will re-open with restrictions from Monday 18 May 2020. Whilst NZ is making slow but steady steps to return to ‘normal’, we are taking a leaf out of the Government's guidelines with our team returning to our own workplace. Client meetings can be held in person or via Zoom. Alliotts is adhering to the recommended guidelines to keep our workplace safe, clean and healthy during COVID-19.

The Prime Minister announced that New Zealand will stay at Alert Level 4 till midnight Monday 27 April. The team at Alliotts are continuing to work remotely and will reassess this on 11 May.

As we near the end of the initial four-week lockdown, the Government has released further Tax Measures to assist businesses including more complete information on what Alert Level 3 would mean. Yesterday the Government announced two further tax proposals - Tax Loss Carry Back Scheme and changes to the Tax Loss Continuity Rules.

The $1 billion BFGS scheme is available to all eligible New Zealand-based businesses with an annual turnover of $250,000 to $80 million that have been impacted by COVID-19.

At 4pm Friday 27 March 2020, modifications to the wage subsidy scheme were announced by the government.

The Government announced further modifications to the Wage Subsidy Scheme this afternoon.

We answer common questions about the NZ Wage Subsidy for employers.

The NZ Government has compiled Wage subsidy and Leave Payment available to support employers affected by COVID-19. The subsidy is being administered under a high trust model and employers will not be asked for verification before the subsidy is approved. However MSD will have the ability to check applications and verify information at a later date.

The New Zealand Government has announced a $12.1billion business continuity package aimed at assisting businesses through the COVID-19 situation. The largest element of the package is the delivery of $5.1billion in wage subsidies to businesses and the delivery of support for workers needing to self-isolate, delivered through the Ministry of Social Development.

Xero now integrates with the BP Fuelcard in New Zealand, keeping small businesses on the road without the headache of holding onto physical receipts.

Auckland Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers Alliott NZ Ltd have been named a New Zealand Top 30 accounting firm for the third year running!

​​​​​​​From 1 March 2020, the IRD will no longer be accepting cheques, including post-dated cheques (dated after 1 March 2020) from customers who are able to use alternative payment options. We outline the various other ways to pay your tax.

This year the Government is working to introduce a new tax incentive for businesses conducting research and development, the research and development tax incentive  (RDTI). The RDTI will give businesses a 15% tax credit if they spend a minimum of $50,000 per year on eligible R&D. Businesses spending less than $50,000 may still be eligible, so long as they are using an approved research provider to carry out their R&D. The Taxation (Research and Development Tax Credits) Bill is about to go before Parliament for its Second Reading. If passed into law, the RDTI will take effect from the beginning of a business’s 2019/2020 income year.

Alliott NZ Chartered Accountants is recognised as one of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand’s (CAANZ) Top 30 accounting firms in New Zealand for the second year running.

The strong global economy is feeding through into solid export prices and volumes in New Zealand. Though some timing issues were likely at play, merchandise exports in December were spectacular.