Welcome to another edition of Take Note.
Janet Crook has now retired from Liddell and Crook and is enjoying a more relaxed lifestyle. We thank her for all her amazing work over the last ten years, and wish her a well-deserved and happy retirement.
Rachel Liddell is now the owner of Liddell and Crook and will be the go-to person for all your technical accounting and Xero questions. Phia Venter is also a Chartered Accountant and able to help with those tricky questions. Heather will still be the cheery voice on the end of the phone and will be at reception.
Rachel can be contacted at rachel@liddellandco.nz.
Phia and Rachel will take turns in the Amberley Office on Wednesdays, so please feel free to drop in and meet them if you haven’t already.
Changes to Sick Leave
As from 24 July, all employees are entitled to 10 days of sick leave.
- Existing employees receive the increase in sick leave from their next sick leave entitlement date.
- This is six months after their employment date and every 12 months after that not from the employment date.
- A maximum of 20 days can be accrued
- The 10 days applies to all employees including part time.
Low Value Assets
Last year Inland Revenue bought in a temporary increase to the write off assets under $5,000. From 17 March 2021, this value has permanently reduced to $1,000.
Cheques
I’m sorry to say that our bank BNZ will no longer accept cheques. If you aren’t able to use internet or phone banking, we have a Payclip in the office which accepts eftpos cards, debit cards and credit cards.
PIE Income
From the 2021 year, any investment income an individual has earned from a PIE is required to be added to their tax return. If the PIE rate is too high or too low, there will be a PIE tax adjustment in your tax return.
Residential Rental Interest Deductions
From 27 March 2021, if you buy an existing property to use as a residential rental (including B & B), the interest will not be deductible from 1 October 2021.
For existing residential rental properties, the percentage of interest to claim will reduce over the next few years.
Vehicle Expenses
This is an area that Inland Revenue have said they will be looking at more.
The Inland Revenue mileage rate is now 0.79c per km for 2021 year, if you keep a track of all the business kms you do.
Another way of claiming vehicle expenses is to keep a log book for three months every three years, to work out the business and private portions of the vehicle use.
If you have a vehicle in a company, we will be reviewing these this year, to review whether FBT needs to be accounted for, or if a log book can be used instead.
