It is hard to believe that it’s that time of year again. As my Dad used to say the only certainties in life are death and taxes. I guess in our world that translates to GST, month end and end of financial year. So, here we are again and the instructions for dealing with EOFY are still pretty much the same as they are every year.
The following is an overview to help you keep up to date:
Minimum Wage Increase
Effective 1 April 22 the minimum wage rate will increase from $20.00 to $21.20 per hour.
The starting out and training minimum wage will increase from $16.00 to $16.96 per hour.
Depending on which payroll software you are using this will either need to be updated manually or your software will prompt you. Either way you need to ensure that from 1 April on you’re paying your staff at least minimum wage.
Student Loan changes
Student Loan repayment threshold – this is to increase from $390 to $409 per week, so in theory that means you will have more income before paying off the loan.
ACC Earners Levy
From 1 April 2022 the employers in NZ will be taking a little more out of employees wages to cover the ACC Earners Levy. ACC Earners levies will increase from $1.21 to $1.27 per $100. With GST this new rate is effectively 1.46%
Time to Check Your Payroll System
While most of the changes should take place automatically in your payroll system (depending on the software and the setup) now is a great time to review all your settings in your payroll software to ensure all is up to date. Other things to check in addition to the above include emergency contact details, employee work patterns, check the ESCT rates for each employee and depending on which payroll software you are using you may need to print Certificates of Earnings
End of Financial Year Process
With EOFY only a few weeks away, now is a good time to write off any bad debts your business may have. If there is anything that it is unlikely, you’ll be paid then write this off before 31 March.
Do you have stock – have you got a stocktake planned. Don’t forget about writing off any obsolete stock.
Finally – bank recs. Make sure your bank reconciliations are all up to date and any queries sorted so then when it gets to 31 March you are all good to go.
Also, a reminder that tax payments are due 7 April and 7 May.
Finally, now is the time to prepare your home office claim also – if you need help with this you can download a template from our Bookkeeping page or feel free to reach out to the team by calling 04 232 9199
As always, we are really aware that there is a lot going on at this time of year for everyone. If there is anything we can help with, please feel free to call Sue on 021 812 112 or email Sue@3rdArmAdmin.co.nz or leave your details below and we will be in touch. We are here to help!!
