Briefly:

Quicker refunds

One Covid concession by IRD is to allow people who do their GST returns six monthly to switch to one monthly so they can get their GST back faster. You have, of course, to have had your business materially affected by Covid-19. If you do this, you will continue to have to put in monthly GST returns to 30 September 2021. After that you can switch back to 6-monthly. You have until 31 March 2021 to notify Inland Revenue if you wish to change the frequency of your GST returns.

Debt hibernation

The business debt hibernation scheme is another Covid-19 concession. If your business is in financial trouble, this could help you. The scheme runs to 31 October 2021. It doesn’t apply to sole traders. Roughly, if you are trading as a company, for example, you could make an arrangement with your creditors to pay them a small percentage of the debt for six months.

Kilometre rate

On 14 December IRD announced a small increase in the kilometre rate for the 2020 financial year. Tier 1, for example – 0-14,000km – has increased to 82c per kilometre. If your tax return has already been filed for the 2020 year, you can apply to IRD for a reassessment. Unless you have very high business running costs, it probably isn’t worth your time to make a claim.

Part-timer sick leave

A part-timer who works say 3 days a week, is still entitled to 5 days sick leave after six months of employment. For details go to business.govt.nz

Make sure your links work

A merchant sent emails to his customers offering a special deal for Black Friday, one day only. Purchases had to be made through the website. The only problem was the email did not contain a link to the website.
Make it easy for your customers to buy. If you want them to go to your website, make sure they can do it with one click.

Target returnees for a business sale

Have you considered people wanting to come back to New Zealand as potential buyers for your business?
With New Zealand considered a safe haven and so many Kiwis selling up overseas to get home, they are pushing up house prices. Many are also looking for a business to buy and being cashed-up, they have money to spend. If you’re selling, think about marketing internationally and target returnees as well as potential buyers in New Zealand.

Parental Leave Entitlement

Some people who were on paid parental leave had to return to work for various reasons due to Covid-19. In normal circumstances, they would lose their parental leave entitlement. However, there are some circumstances in which the entitlement won’t be lost. If you are
affected, go to employment.govt.nz for details