Over the last few months, we’ve shared lots of information to help employers around New Zealand get ready for payday filing.
All employers need to be payday filing from 1 April 2019, but if you think you’re ready to start payday filing now, February is a great time to opt in. It’ll give you time to get used to payday filing ahead of it becoming mandatory, and IRD will be in a good position to help you iron out any issues – we think April is going to be a busy month!
If you opt in before March, it means that you’ll start payday filing electronically from 1 March.
So, if you’re ready to start payday filing electronically via file upload or onscreen in myIR, here’s what you should do:
- If you use payroll software, double check that it’s payday filing-compatible
- Opt in to payday filing using the I want to menu in the My Business section of myIR
- Review your myIR delegations and access roles – the ‘Owner’ may need to set up other users, and
- Start payday filing in myIR from the start of the next month using the new Payroll returns
Want more information? The payday filing website has plenty of resources to help, including downloadable guides, how-to videos, checklists, and links to on-demand webinars.
Remember, payday filing means IRD will be receiving more timely information to better calculate individuals’ tax obligations and entitlements – making tax more straightforward for all New Zealanders.
Register for free webinars
Through 2018, IRD held a series of webinars to help you get ready for the upcoming changes are being rolled out.
If you’re an employer, register for a new webinar on 11 February about payday filing without using software. This will focus on the on-screen and paper filing methods for payday filing.
If you’re a tax agent, why not register for our next webinar on 18 February? It’s all about the next round of changes to myIR happening in April.
Changing for You
IRD are working on some proposed changes to make the tax system more straightforward for you. The changes are currently going through Parliament and are designed to simplify the end of year tax process for everyone.
If the law changes, these are some of the things you need to look out for:
Income Tax notifications
If your only income is from salary or wages, or investment income, you will receive an end of year Income Tax Assessment between mid-May to mid-July. This will tell you how much you’ve earned and how much tax you’ve paid.
If you have additional sources of income, such as from business, rental property or from overseas, you will still need to provide IRD with more information and file an income tax return (IR3).
Automatic tax refunds
If you’ve paid too much tax during the year, and your details are up to date in IRD’s system, you will automatically have a refund paid into your bank account.
If you haven’t paid enough tax, IRD will let you know how much you owe and when you need to pay.
We recommend that you check if your contact and bank account details are up to date with IRD, which you can do via myIR.
Helping you stay on track
As a result of payday filing, IRD will be receiving more regular information from employers, which will help prevent people paying too much or too little tax.
If it looks like you are on the wrong tax code, or are paying too little or too much tax, IRD can let you know.
Visit the Changing for You website to find out more about the proposed changes and what they could mean for you.