The Government intends to limit the ability to deduct interest to make residential properties a less attractive investment option and to help level the playing field for first home buyers.

The proposal is that, from 1 October 2021, interest will not be deductible for residential property acquired on or after 27 March 2021. For properties acquired before 27 March 2021, generally investors’ ability to deduct interest will be phased out between 1 October 2021 and 31 March 2025. Some properties are excluded from these rules and some exemptions are proposed.

This information sheet provides a quick overview of the proposals. These proposals will be considered by Parliament and may change.

The Government recently announced the following changes will be made to the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme:

They will increase the loan base to $20,000 (2 separate $10,000 loans), plus $1,800 per full-time equivalent employee (up to 50 employees)

Loan period remains 5 years

Applications open 21 March 2022 and will remain open until 31 December 2023 interest free period from one year to two years

The first 2 years of existing and new loans will be interest-free provided the loan is not in default. Interest will apply at a rate of 3% per year on the remaining loan balance from the first day of the third year of the loan period.

Minimum wage is set to increase to $21.20 per hour from 1 April 2022

If you are an employer, please take time to look at your employees current wage rates to ensure that they are or will be at least $21.20 come 1 April 2022.

Xero have been busy! They have also announced that as of 18 March 2020, Hubdoc will be included in the cost of all Starter, Standard and Premium plans (Xero plans that include invoicing).

Hubdoc is a great product to help with record keeping. If you are interested, please get in touch and we can help you implement it for your business.

ACC recently announced a change to the way they invoice those that are self-employed.

​The main change is that instead of a provisional and final invoice, those that are self-employed will now only get one invoice from ACC, after the levy year has finished and based on their actual earnings.

Some of you may have received an email from IRD advising that they will be contacting Tradies and encouraging them to include ALL income through their income tax and GST returns. This is a timely reminder to everyone that IRD is cracking down on ALL "cashies" and IRD has various ways of finding out about these jobs.

Undeclared cash jobs do have negative consequences resulting in tax penalties and/or a criminal conviction. You are required to keep all readable invoices and GST tax receipts for 7 years (80 years if you are a trust). This means that relying on the original is probably not an option. If you would like to discuss alternative record keeping options, please do get in touch.