Are you NZ tax ready for 2020?

2020 Xero Tax webinars

We’ve been busy updating Xero Tax for 2020. Join Jason Langworthy, Product Manager for Xero Tax, as he takes you through the changes in a series of interactive webinars starting 23rd March. Click here to register.

ALERT – Inland Revenue shutdown  

Inland Revenue will be offline from 3pm on Thursday 9th April until 8am Thursday 16th April – a period that covers Easter holiday weekend and the two working days after that.

During this time Inland Revenue’s myIR Secure Online Services, as well as their customer service offices, will be closed. For more information on exactly how this will affect you as a Xero user, read What you need to know: Inland Revenue shutdown period in NZ.

Check client list 

It’s a good time to make sure your client tax details are all up-to-date. Also check that they’ve also been assigned to the correct tax agent.

If you’re sending out tax returns for your clients to eSign, make sure your clients’ email addresses are up-to-date. Make sure you also check client email addresses if you’re emailing out tax payment letters from XPM.

Stay on top of provisional tax 

In addition to reviewing your client list, check your clients’ provisional tax settings and make sure they’re set up on the correct basis.

Cut off date 

Don’t leave it to the last minute. E-File as many tax returns as you can prior to the 31 March 2020 deadline. Make sure you E-File all tax returns on time and successfully, by E-Filing before the due date.

Time to speak to your clients about AIM

AIM is a great provisional tax option for clients who find it hard to forecast income and want to control their cashflow. Take a look at Inland Revenue’s website explaining all the benefits with detailed comparison examples. 

Preparing an AIM return is easy using Xero Tax, you can do so at any time by following these simple steps. 

Check your templates

From the 1st March, Inland Revenue are no longer receiving cheques as a payment option. This is a great time to revise any payment templates you have set up in XPM. 

Check out Xero Central to download our latest templates and customise.

Student Loan

Unfortunately we cannot guarantee the integrity of our 7 May Student Loan interim payment reminders. This is due to Student Loan transactions being migrated to START during the shutdown period. This means all Student Loan calculations will need to be recalculated using START data.

We strongly recommend that all 7 May Student Loan interim payment reminders are finalised and sent before Thursday 9th April to ensure minimal disruption.

Get ready for the new year

You can start preparing 2020 tax returns shortly. We’ll keep you posted.