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Need to pay Fringe Benefit Tax on your car?

November 10th, 2011 | Posted by Accountants Auckland in Fringe Benefit Tax | Motor Vehicle Fringe Benefit Tax - (0 Comments)

Think you don’t have to pay Fringe benefit tax on your company car because you only ever use it for business?  Well think again because the crafty law makers created the rules with that little excuse very much in mind.  Instead the rules look at whether your car is actually available for personal trips so even on those days when the car’s sitting at home completely unloved and unused it’s very much available and, in the eyes of the Inland Revenue, up for Fringe Benefit Tax.

Thankfully there’s a way out and that’s to store the company car (more…)

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Ten Tricks for breezing through an IRD audit

November 8th, 2011 | Posted by Accountants Auckland in Dealing with the IRD | IRD Audit - (4 Comments)

With the government currently pumping cash into IRD audits it’s what we call AUDIT SEASON so here’s some things you can start doing right now to help you breeze through an IRD audit if you’re ever unlucky enough to be targeted (and if you happen to be wondering why you were targeted then check out our Idiots Guide to getting an audit):

  1. Never ever throw away your bills or invoices and better yet store them in your xero accounting software.  It’s free off-site storage which we absolutely adore.  If that’s too ’techy’ for you then keep them in a dusty old box somewhere safe for at least 7 years because that’s how long the IRD’s got to get you!
  2. Don’t even bother trying to claim personal things like (more…)

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Fringe-Benefit-Tax and your Truck, Ute or Van

November 1st, 2011 | Posted by Accountants Auckland in Fringe Benefit Tax | Motor Vehicle Fringe Benefit Tax - (2 Comments)

You may’ve heard an exciting little rumour about not having to pay Fringe Benefit Tax on trucks, utes, and vans and the good news is that the rumour is actually partially true.  You definitely don’t have to pay Fringe Benefit Tax on trucks that weigh more than 3500 kilograms but that’s pretty chunky so if you’re thinking about buying a Hummer, for your trendy inner-city firm, it’ll probably have to be a pretty serious military Humvee with the warheads still intact to weigh more than that! (more…)

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Look through company traps (LTC)

October 19th, 2011 | Posted by Accountants Auckland in Look through company (LTC) and Qualifying Companies - (4 Comments)

If you’re the proud new owner of a look-through company (LTC) then this advice is especially for you because we’re going to chat, in a down-to-earth way, about the super important stuff you need to know.  Hopefully you’re up to speed by now and realise that your look-though company is a little different from a normal company.  The key difference is of course that a look-through company has ’special-powers’ which in theory let you use the company losses in your personal tax return to hopefully give you a tax refund.  However, it’s incredibly easy to lose those ‘special-powers’ and cease being an LTC so make sure you talk to us first if you’re thinking about doing any of the following: (more…)

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