Top Tips for Saving on Tax
Minimising your tax bill is on most business owners’ minds and is something we get approached about a lot. Reducing income tax can be implemented in a number of ways, and we would always encourage any business owner to first discuss tax minimisation with his or her accountant or tax agent.
As a rule of thumb, tax minimisation is about lowering your taxable earnings, while still acting within the law.
Our top tips for tax minimisation are:
1. Good record keeping.
Part of good record keeping is to ensure all business-related costs are paid for out of your business bank account(s). Expenses paid out of personal funds will likely be missed, and too many personal expenses going through the business account can muddy the waters. In addition to having money flowing through the right accounts, it is also important to keep receipts and invoices (for anything over $50) and attach them to your transactions in Xero so that both you and your accountant can see what each expense relates too.
2. Home Office adjustment
If you are a business owner who completes some work from home, your business can claim a portion of those cost as your ‘home office’ allowance. Home office expenses are traditionally calculated based on the total space used to total house size (usually anywhere between 10-40% depending on your home and business), which is used to claim that portion of your rates, home insurance, interest on mortgage/rent, and power. You can also claim up to 50% of your home telephone and internet bills.
3. Motor Vehicle and Travel Claims
If you own a business, or are self-employed, and need to get around for work, then it’s likely you will be able to claim motor vehicles expenses (petrol/diesel, WOF’s, rego’s, insurance). As motor vehicles are generally used for both business and personal reasons, it is important you keep good records to differentiate between the two. For example, if you use your vehicle 80% for business, and 20% for personal use, your accountant will need to make an end-of-year-adjustment, to remove the personal portion.
The best way to track what to apportion is to keep a log-book (required for 3 months every 3 years).
Companies also need to take into consideration that vehicles owned by the company, but used by employees, including shareholder-employees, are subject to the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) rules, and therefore you are best to talk to your accountant to get a full understanding of the implications before you make any new vehicle decisions.
4. Minor Assets < $1,000
From the 17th of March 2021, the minor asset threshold increased to $1,000. This means that if you purchase new equipment, and they cost less than $1,000 exclusive of GST, we can automatically ‘write-them-off’ in the financial year they were purchased. In other words, you claim 100% of the cost in year one, unlike depreciated assets that have the cost spread over multiple years.
5. Depreciation on Property, Plant and Equipment
By depreciating your assets at the highest rate allowed, it will mean you will increase your overall expenses for the year and lower the business’s taxable income.
6. Obsolete Plant and/or inventory write-off’s
Another key tip is to review your depreciation (or fixed asset) schedule at least annually, to ensure all of the items listed on the schedule are in working order and haven’t become obsolete. If an asset has become obsolete before it has been fully depreciated, it means we can ‘write-off’ the balance, which adds to your tax-deductible expenses for the year.
7. Interest Deductibility
The interest deductibility tax rules in NZ are largely dependent on the business structural set up you have, and it is an area you will need to get specific advice on. As a general rule of thumb however, for any lending your business receives, the interest portion of repayment will be a tax-deductible expense for your business.
8. Donations and Sponsorship
If an individual makes a donation of over $5, to a registered donee organisation, the individual will be able to claim 33% of the donation back in the form of a donations rebate. If donations are made by a company, any donation will create a tax-deductible expense, and will lower the businesses overall taxable earnings.
For business sponsorship costs to be tax deductible, you will need to show that there is a relationship between the cost of the sponsorship, and your businesses income earning activity. E.g. you may sponsor a local sports team and in return, have your business logo on their sports uniform, as a way of advertising your business to the local community.
9. Entertainment and Business Development Costs
Business doesn’t have to be all work and no play. While trying to run and grow a business, it is likely you will have entertainment, and other business development costs, for things such as entertaining potential new clients, showing your appreciation to existing customers, and to also keep your team happy.
A lot of entertainment costs have a business and personal element, and the IRD have set clear rules on what is 50% deductible, and what is 100% deductible.
Some example of expenses that would be 50% deductible include; corporate boxes, recreational boats, food and drinks both onsite and offsite, and gifts of food and/or drinks.
Entertainment costs that are 100% deductible include meals an employee buys while travelling for work, food and drink provided at a conference or similar event, light meals provided in management/board meetings, or freebies promoting your business (such as stationery).
Just to note that some of the above entertainment costs may also be subject to FBT.
10. Staff Vouchers/rewards
A common way to reward employees (including shareholder- employees) is through providing gift vouchers. Gift vouchers are subject to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) however will be exempt of FBT if your business stays within the threshold of providing up to $300 per quarter per employee, so provide an easy bonus/reward option.
11. Accounts Receivable and Bad Debt expenses review
If there is ‘no reasonable likelihood’ that you will receive payment for an overdue invoice, it’s quite likely that you will be able to write the invoice off as a bad debt expense (e.g. this contra’s off the revenue created that remains unpaid), however the onus falls with the business owner to show that it is in fact a bad debt.
When considering whether your business has any bad debts, you should consider the effort you have gone too to collect the debt, the amount of time it has been outstanding, and matters/information about the business that is out of your hands – e.g., has it gone into liquidation.
All bad debts need to be physically written off before the end of the financial year.
12. Accounts Payable and/or Income Received in Advanced
As well as accounting for your account’s receivables or debtors at year end (i.e. services or goods sold during March which are generally paid the following month), it is also equally important to capture any costs that occurred in March, that aren’t required to be paid until April – your Accounts Payables, also known as your Creditors.
In addition to creditors, your business may have also received some income in advanced.
Income in advanced is often when your customers might pay you a deposit in advanced, before they have received they goods and/or services. In this scenario, the revenue will be delayed and captured in the next financial year, at the time the work was completed.
13. Effective business structure and Related Party salaries and wages
Not all business entities pay the same income tax rates. While companies pay tax at a set rate of 28% (currently), the individual tax rates increase incrementally as an individuals overall income increases. Your accountant or tax agent will be able to advise you on how to best take advantage of different business structural options while acting within the law.
Final thoughts to tax minimisation -
The flip side of trying to lower your taxable earnings (i.e., net profit), is that it might affect your credit ratings when you want to seek finance (e.g. to purchase a house) or even reduce the value of your business (when you are ready to sell or take on new shareholders). So, although no one likes parting ways with their hard-earned cash in order to pay the tax man, we always remind our clients that if they are paying tax, it means they and their business are successful, so maybe it isn’t all bad.