Posted 20/09/2010 Updated 10/03/2011 Tags: Business Claimable Expenses Depreciation Income Tax Tax Compliance Tax Returns  

People often ask us if it's a good idea to spend money to save tax. The idea is by creating additional expense the business can claim the cost as an expense in the business income tax return. This does work but it... more

Posted 9/11/2009 Updated 11/03/2010 Tags: Claimable Expenses Employing Income Tax PAYE Salary & Wages Vehicles  

If you are paying your employees a motor vehicle allowance as a part of their salary package this is taxed as a part of their wages. A better way would be for the employee to submit their actual expenses for... more

Posted 16/01/2009 Tags: Business Claimable Expenses Depreciation FBT GST Vehicles  

The benefits of leasing a vehicle are: Get to claim the lease as a monthly expense. May have an upgrade option after a certain period with keeping the lease payments roughly the same. Still get to claim running... more

Posted 5/01/2009 Updated 2/02/2011 Tags: Claimable Expenses LAQC Rental Property  

Important: from 1 April 2011 LAQCs will cease and a transition to alternative registrations and / or structures will need to happen. Question: What tax benefit (if any) there will be if I sold my rental property (which... more

Posted 7/10/2008 Updated 16/10/2008 Tags: Accounting Claimable Expenses Income Tax Tax Agents Tax Returns  

Using a tax agent to prepare your business or rental property accounts and returns will ensure your returns are correctly calculated and prepared and will make sure you are saving as much tax as possible. Also... more

Posted 7/10/2008 Updated 9/11/2009 Tags: Claimable Expenses Income Tax Interest Loans  

If you are in business and are unable to pay your tax bills out of your normal cashflow – borrowing money to pay tax entitles you to claim a deduction for the interest payable on the loan. So keep all loan statements... more

Posted 7/10/2008 Updated 24/03/2011 Tags: Business Claimable Expenses Income Tax Rental Property  

You are allowed to claim a proportion of your home costs for running your business from home. The percentage claimable is worked out based on the area of your office divided by the area of your home - for example say... more

Posted 7/10/2008 Updated 24/03/2011 Tags: Claimable Expenses Rental Property  

If you pay costs to advertise the sale of your rental property, these are not claimable as a cost but will come off the sale price once the property is sold. This is the same for commission paid to an agent when... more

Posted 6/10/2008 Tags: Claimable Expenses Income Tax Rental Property  

You are only allowed a deduction for repairs and maintenance where the expenditure is required to maintain an asset in the condition it was initially acquired. If you add something extra to the house – this is likely to... more

Posted 6/10/2008 Updated 2/02/2011 Tags: Claimable Expenses LAQC  

Important: from 1 April 2011 LAQCs will cease and a transition to alternative registrations and / or structures will need to happen. Some people have setup an LAQC company to own their own home and then pay rent back... more