Client Year End Checklist
1. How have you sent in your source documentation? (select one or more)
o Information already sent for GST preparation
o Bank export (http://kellett.co.nz/Insider-Client-Tips-Section/Exporting-bank-statements/)
o Bank statements
o Spreadsheet or document summarising information
o Receipts and invoices
2. Does the information above include items paid with cash, credit card and from personal bank accounts?
o If yes, and bank records have been provided, please keep the other items separate to assist in making sure nothing’s double counted.
o If no, please either provide either a list of the items paid with cash or from accounts not provided, the relevant statement(s) or the receipts.
3. Please review the information you’ve sent through, and if anything isn’t self-explanatory based on the information provided, please add a description or note to assist me in treating it appropriately. (Particularly but not exclusively cheques; if no information has been provided I will assume that expenses are personal (not tax deductible) and deposits are taxable income).
4. Did you receive any business income in cash that wasn’t banked? Please give me an exact a figure as you can for this. It needs to be included in your taxable income; it’s the number one issue that the IRD is hard on when auditing taxpayers.
5. Have you identified all business-related entertainment (food and drinks) in your records? If not, approximately what percentage of these expenses (in your home town, travel for business is different) would be business?
o 100%
o 0%
o 50%
o Some other percentage (please state percentage).
6. What are the balances of your business bank account(s) and credit card(s) as at year end (31 March 2016)? Please use OD to identify overdrawn bank accounts and credit cards with balances owing.
7. Did you have any debtors at 31 March 2016 (people who you’d sold products or services to before 31 March who paid you after 31 March)? If yes, what is the total GST inclusive amount, or please provide a list of the debtors balances owing (incl GST).
8. Did you write off any debtors during the year?
9. Did you have any business creditors as at 31 March 2016 (Businesses you owed money to for goods or services received before 31 March but paid after 31 March)? If yes, please provide a breakdown of the creditors, with GST inclusive amounts.
10. Did you have any stock intended for sale at 31 March 2016? If yes, please provide a stock list and/or the dollar value of the stock. This should exclude obsolete (unsaleable) stock, and the price used should be the lower of the price you purchased the goods for or the price you expect to be able to sell them for. This should be exclusive of GST.
11. Is your business GST registered?
o Are you registered on the payments or invoice basis? (delete one)
o Did your GST registration status change during the year?
12. Are any of the people you made regular payments to NOT registered for GST? Please provide a list of these. (You only need to do this if your business is GST registered).
13. Did you purchase any fixed assets during the year that you use partly or completely for business? If so, please fill out the details on the fixed asset sheet. Please also add any assets that you’ve owned for more than the year, but which you started using for business purposes in this year.
14. Did you sell, scrap or stop using any fixed assets during the year?
15. Did your business/private use of any fixed assets change during the year?
16. Did you take out any business loans, hire purchases or leases during the year? Please provide copies of the documentation to ensure this is accounted for correctly.
17. Did you pay any wages to anyone? Did you pay PAYE on this?
18. Home office claim: did you use some of your home for business (office, meetings, storage etc)?
o If yes, what rooms did you use?
o Unless yoy provided this information last year, please provide:
o The measurement of each room used for business. (If you provide this room by room, it’s easier to adjust the calculation if you change the areas you use in the future).
o The total area of the house excluding the garage.
o If you have a garage, what is the area of the garage?
o Is it a double or single, and how many cars are parked in it?
o Is it also used for storage?
19. Home office expenses. Please ensure you have provided all of the applicable following items:
o Rent expense
o Interest on mortgage (not the total mortgage payments unless you have an interest only loan)
o Rates
o Water rates
o Power and/or gas
o House and contents insurance
o Repairs and maintenance including cleaning, lawns, gardening etc
o Major improvements or renovations (these may change the area calculations mentioned in point 18 above)
o Legal expenses relating to house changes etc
o Moving expenses
o Alarms, security etc
o Storage
20. Vehicle expenses:
o Is the vehicle owned by a company or trust?
o If yes, has FBT been paid on it?
o Has a log book been kept of the split between business and personal travel? (The log book needs to be kept for 90 days and the resulting percentage will apply for three years)? What period did the log book cover and what was the resulting business percentage? (If you want to send me the log book, I’ll calculate this for you.)
o If no log book has been kept, you can claim the lesser of 25% or your estimated business usage. What would you guess would be the percentage that you use your vehicle for business?
o Have you given me details of all car related expenses? (Petrol, insurance, repairs, wof, rego, cof, road user charges, lease, interest on financing etc?)
o Mileage claim: if you haven’t kept receipts or a log book, and if you made a number of large trips (or made the same trip multiple times during the year), you may be better off making a mileage claim: 77c per business km travelled up to a maximum of 5,000 km per year. The downside of this is that there is no GST on a mileage claim. If you want to choose this option (or would like me to calculate both a mileage claim and the percentage of actual vehicle expenses, please advise, in kilometres, the total of your business-related travel in this tax year for each of your cars.
21. Please ensure you have provided details of all of the following that apply to you (the standard business percentage is in brackets; if you want to claim a different percentage, please advise what you think the appropriate percentage should be):
o Phone (landline) and internet (50%)
o Mobile Phone (50%)
o Computer expenses (50%)
o Parking for business purposes only (100%)
o Books / tools purchased for business (100%)
o Travel, within or outside of NZ (percentage depends on each trip’s circumstances)
o Training / conventions or events (100%), including food and drink while at these
o Stationery, both to order (business cards, personalised letterheads etc ) and general supplies (photocopy paper, envelopes, stamps etc)
o Meals / coffees / drinks with coworkers, staff, team members, customers and prospective customers (50%)
o Gifts given to customers (100%)
Information to go into your tax return:
1. I will get information on any wage/commission income you have that has had PAYE or RWT (resident withholding tax) deducted from it. However, please do review this when I send your tax returns for you to sign because the IRD and employers have been known to make mistakes (an extra zero in one month’s income, and a wrong IRD number in a PAYE return spring to mind).
2. Interest income on bank accounts etc: please provide details of the total interest income (from each bank) giving both gross interest income and the RWT (or NRWT if you’re based outside of NZ) deducted. Please also confirm whose name the relevant bank accounts are in (personal name, joint names or a company/trust).
3. Details of all dividend income: gross dividend, imputation credits and withholding tax for each dividend received along with confirmation of who the dividend was paid to. (This includes any power company dividend received).
4. Any other income:
· Cash Tips
· Maori Trustee income
· Income from Trust or private company
· Loss or income from private company (LAQC)
· Partnership income
· Any Income from overseas and details of any tax paid on that
· Royalties
· Rental properties
· Payouts from income protection insurance.
5. If you have a Kiwisaver account and/or any PIE investments, please provide their annual tax summary. In most cases these have already been taxed, however, if the rate they’ve been taxed at is too low, we may need to include it (the tax deducted will be included in the calculation)
6. Did you host any boarders during the year? If you had more than two at any one time, you may need to include some details on your tax return; please provide me with details.
7. Do you participate in any share purchase scheme (with your employer or anyone else) that involves you purchasing shares at a discount or buying shares and receiving more at a discount or free? If so, please discuss with me the details that I will need. The difference between the market value of the shares you received and what you paid is taxable income.
8. Did you pay any income protection insurance premiums? (This is often bundled with your life insurance, but only the income protection portion can be included in your tax return. If some of your insurance qualifies, your insurer will send you a letter each year advising how much you can claim).
9. Did you pay any other expenses that we might be able to claim (for example administration fees on investments (while these will usually be included in the annual summaries I’ll mention them as an example just in case). If you’re not sure if something can be claimed, please tell me about it; I can always exclude it, but it’s always worth checking out.
10. Did you buy or sell any property (land/buildings) this year. Please provide details as this information may be required as part of your tax return (this does not necessarily mean that you will have to pay tax on it, but the IRD requires more information than they have in the past).
11. Did you do any other income / asset building activities (like share or option trading, house flipping etc), or make any payments to learn about these or to set up an account for trading?
12. Did you receive any family assistance / child support etc from the IRD, WINZ or an ex-partner?
13. Did you receive any payments from anyone to help you pay your bills (not a one off gift, but if, for example, one of your family members gives you a certain amount each month to help with the bills)? This will not be taxable income, but may be relevant for family assistance calculation purposes.
14. Did you have any changes your family situation? This could include a change in the number of children you have, a new partner, separation from the partner you had last year, or the amount of time that you have your children for (in case of shared custody)? (Obviously, changes in your partner/spouse will only be relevant if you're living with that person).
15. If you’re due a refund, would you prefer that it be transferred to cover any other tax you may have to pay (in which case, which taxes) or would you prefer it be refunded (please advise your preferred bank account)?
Donations rebate:
You’re welcome to file your own donations rebate if you prefer. Be aware that since you can claim up to the amount of your taxable income, the IRD may not process your rebate claim until after your income taxes have been assessed.
You can claim any donations made to registered charities that are more than $5. You can also claim part of any school fees you pay (not stationery, trips etc). The school will usually provide you with a letter advising how much of what you’ve paid can be claimed.
I’m happy to file your rebate for you when doing your tax return (there’s no additional charge for this). One advantage of me doing it is that because I file it electronically, I don’t have to attach the receipts. This means that if you’ve misplaced one, I can still claim it. However, please be aware that if this is the case and you are audited, unless you can produce a receipt (you may be able to request a copy from the charity in question), that portion of your claim will be disallowed.
If you want me to file your donations rebate(s) for you, please provide me with either a list of all your donations, or just send the receipts through with any other documents you’re sending me. Please also advise the bank account you’d like the rebate paid into to or if you’d like the refund to be offset against your other taxes.