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1 Employers Final update: April changes 18 March 2020 This content is correct as at 18 March 2020; it is subject to change
1
Employers
Final update: April changes
18 March 2020
This content is correct as at 18 March 2020; it is subject to change
Greetings everyone, and welcome our webinar.
My name is Rata Kamau and I’m a Transformation Account Manager at Inland Revenue working with Industry Associations, Professional bodies and Iwi across New Zealand. Over the last couple of years I have been assisting our Community Compliance staff across the country presenting the Business Transformation changes to employers which many of you may have attended.
Today’s webinar is all about the next round of tax changes that have occurred since April 2019 – many of which come into force on 1 April.
We appreciate that these changes affect you, so this webinar is designed to help you prepare.
For those of you who have seen our webinars, some of today’s content will be pretty familiar and we’ll recap some of the information. There is also some new content and screenshots.
There’s a lot to cover, and it may seem a little overwhelming. But we have a lot of support available to help you manage this change.
Just a quick note, the content of this webinar is correct as of 18 March. Some details may change.
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Rata Kamau,
Transformation
Account Manager
Welcome to our webinar
I’d like to run through what you should be seeing on your screen, and how to interact with us.
In addition to the presentation slides on your screen you’ll see a small control panel at the bottom of your screen that contains a few buttons. When you click on each of these buttons, you’ll see they either open or close some of the features which may already be open on your screen.
On the left of your screen you’ll see the slides box on which you’ll see the presentation slides.
You should also see a Q&A box on your screen. By clicking in this box – in the “enter your question” section, you can send through any questions. Other participants won’t be able to see your question but they will come through to us.
We will collate all questions, get them answered and send them out to all participants via email so it is important to send questions through.
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How to participate
Control panel
Slides
Presenter info
Submit your questions here
Before we start I just want to talk briefly about the recently announced business continuity package.
On Tuesday 17 March 2020 the NZ Government announced a Business Continuity Package to help those struggling with the economic impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. One part of that package proposes to give Inland Revenue the ability to remit use of money interest (UOMI) for businesses or individuals who are unable to make their payments on time due to the impact of COVID-19.
To find our more please visit www.ird.govt.nz/Updates/News-Folder/tax-relief-coronavirus
Our normal options for re-estimating provisional tax, setting up instalment arrangements, remitting late payment and filing penalties, and severe hardship debt write-offs are available. We encourage impacted businesses to take advantage of them. To find out more about further proposed tax changes to help businesses with the impact of COVID-19 go to https://www.ird.govt.nz/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/tax-relief/tax-relief-for-businesses
If you are struggling due to the impacts of COVID-19 coronavirus, we strongly encourage you to contact your tax professional to discuss how we might be able to help.
This leads us to, are we on track with our next round of changes?The answer is yes we are on track to implement our next round of changes in April.
We recognise that with the impacts of COVID-19, it is a difficult time for all New Zealanders. Inland Revenue will be working with all businesses and individuals to help them
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The Business Continuity Package
• The Business Continuity Package –
tax relief and income assistance
ird.govt.nz/Updates/News-Folder/tax-
relief-coronavirus
• Further proposed tax changes:
https://www.ird.govt.nz/covid-19-
novel-coronavirus/tax-relief/tax-relief-
for-businesses
• Our next round of changes are on
track to proceed.
through it.
Maintaining the pace of IR’s transformation is important, even in these times, as we currently need to manage customers’ information across two systems. Any delay increases the risk that we won’t be able to meet customers’ needs at this difficult time.
It is important to note, by moving to the new platform in line with our current plan, we increase our agility to respond swiftly to situations such as Covid-19.
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It’s important to remember that these changes are part of the broader transformation of our revenue system. So before we get into the detail, let’s just briefly revisit the reasons behind the transformation.
Some of you may have seen these next slides before.
Inland Revenue’s transformation is a major government investment to make tax and payments simpler for New Zealanders. Everything continues to be in the mix –government policy, streamlining our processes and re-organising Inland Revenue so that we have the right people with the right skills closest to the customer.
This transformation will make tax and payments simpler for New Zealanders by:
• increasing voluntary compliance by having a simpler tax system• reducing compliance costs for customers, particularly small businesses• making it easier and less costly for Government to introduce policy change.
The benefits we’ve committed to include:• customers will find it easier to meet their obligations and receive their
entitlements• there will be a reduction in compliance costs for our customers• the revenue system will be simpler and more resilient• time and cost to implement (policy) changes will be significantly reduced
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Why we’re transforming tax administration
Transformation has gone from being a high-level plan at the end of 2015 to reality.
It is being implemented in four broad, over-lapping stages – digital services, tax, social policy and a final wrap up. The systems, processes and legislative settings that support taxes and entitlements are being modernised in a series of releases within these stages.
Major releases are occurring every year from 2017 to 2021, each one aligning with the beginning of the tax year in April. This is now well underway, with the first three releases having been implemented.
The previous set of changes – Release 3 – went live a year ago. This was the largest BT release to date.
We’re are now implementing Release 4. It covers a range of changes including PAYE being fully administered in our new system; and changes to the administration of KiwiSaver.
We’ll talk about these, and more, today.
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Our transformation
2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
Release 1 – Feb
2017
Making it easier to
manage GST:
▪ file and pay at
same time
▪ amend previous
returns
▪ set-up instalment
arrangements and
direct debits
▪ NZ Business
Number
recognition▪ Digital registration
for migrants and
company entities
Release 4 – April
2020
Making it easier to
manage:
▪ KiwiSaver
▪ Student loans
▪ Investment income
information reporting
(mandatory)
▪ New R&D Tax
Incentive
▪ Short process rulings
▪ Income equalisation
Further changes for employers:
▪ Single employer
account
▪ Coordinated
approach to
notifications
Release 5 – April
2021
Making it easier to
manage:
▪ Child support
▪ Paid parental
leave
▪ Duties
▪ Unclaimed
monies
▪ Customers can
see all their info
in one place
▪ Changes for WfFTC
Stage 1
Enable secure
digital services
Release 2 – April
2018
Making it easier to
manage:
▪ withholding taxes
▪ fringe benefit tax
▪ gaming machine
duty
▪ Wine equalisation
tax (WET)
▪ AIM (provisional
tax)
▪ Automatic
Exchange of Information
▪ Payday filing
(voluntary)
Release 3 – April
2019
Making it easier to
manage:
▪ income tax
▪ provisional tax
▪ imputation
▪ Working for
Families
▪ Payday filing
(mandatory)
▪ Reduce PAYE
electronic filing
threshold▪ Changes to
investment income
information
reporting
(voluntary) and
KiwiSaver
Stage 2
Streamline taxStage 3
Streamline social policyStage 4
Complete the future
revenue system
We’ve broken the content into five sections. Here’s what we’ll cover:
1. Temporary shutdown2. Changes for employers3. KiwiSaver4. Other changes 5. Next steps and more information
During this we’ll be looking at changes to myIR.
There are a number of things we won’t cover in detail today but we’ll point you to some great online resources to help you, including previous webinars and web content.
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What we’ll cover today
1. Temporary shutdown over Easter
2. Changes for employers
3. KiwiSaver
4. Other changes
5. Next steps and more information
Firstly – as we’ve done with previous phases, we need to temporarily close down most of our customer facing systems while we implement our next round of changes. We have practised this closedown period so we have a good idea of how much time is needed. Our priority is to have a stable system for customers and staff.
Our temporary closedown starts at 3pm on Thursday 9 April. From this time myIR secure online services will be unavailable and our offices and phone lines will be closed.
Our call-centres will re-open at 8am on Thursday 16 April. myIR will come online later that day. Offices will resume normal opening hours on Thursday 16 April.
During the closedown, you can still pay your bill through your bank as you normally would and access our website.
We recognise that this is still an inconvenience, however we’ll endeavour not to disadvantage any customer as a result of the shutdown period.
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1: Temporary shutdown
All back online the morning of Friday 26 April
myIR, call centres and offices
o offline: 3pm Thursday 9 April
o online: Thursday 16 April
All back online Thursday 16 April
✓ Website will continue operating.
✓ You can continue to pay via online banking.
✓ We’ll endeavour not to disadvantage anyone.
Now we’ll look a bit more at what this means for activities during the closedown period
Please note: If you have draft returns or draft secure mail in myIR, these will be deleted. Be sure to complete these before 3pm on Thursday 9 April so you don’t lose them.
Filing due during closedown• Employment Information (EI) returns for payday filing that are due over the
temporary closedown need to be filed on Friday 17 April.• For returns due on 9 April note that our systems will unavailable from 3pm.
Weekly Working for Families payments• If you receive weekly Working for Families payments and are expecting a payment
on either Tuesday 14 April or Wednesday 15 April, you will receive your payment early, on Thursday 9 April or Friday 10 April.
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Preparing for Day 1
• If you have draft returns or draft secure mail in myIR, these will be
deleted. Be sure to complete these before 3pm on Thursday 9 April
so you don’t lose them.
• Employment Information (EI) returns for payday filing that are due
over the temporary closedown need to be filed on Friday 17 April.
• For returns due on 9 April note that our systems will be unavailable
from 3pm.
• Working for Families payments for Tuesday 14 April or Wednesday
15 April will be paid early, on Thursday 9 April or Friday 10 April.
There are a number of changes that will impact employers. In this section we will focus on PAYE related changes.
PAYE will be fully administered in the new system and will simplify and streamline employer obligations across deductions.
The next few slides will focus on this and some of the other key changes that affect you as employers.
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2: Changes for Employers
Employer transactions will look a little different in myIR as they are aligned with payday filing. Here’s some of the key changes you’ll notice:
• Transactions from payday filing and payments made will show up a lot sooner as we will no longer have the financials in our old system.
• You’ll notice a change in the account name from ‘Payroll (was ir-File)’ to just ‘Payroll’.
• The landing page of the Payroll account – shown here - has been redesigned, with a summary screen showing the account balance, registration details and any recent activity.
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myIR Employer transactions - Payroll
In our old system there were six employer related accounts to manage the components employers withhold from employees’ pay. One for each of:
• Pay as You Earn deductions • student loans deductions • child support deductions • employee KiwiSaver deductions • employer KiwiSaver contributions • employer superannuation contribution tax deductions
These are now combined into one Employer (EMP) or as you know it a Payroll account that provides a single view of all employment activities.
This means the current view of transactions split by PAYE sub-account headers will become…
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Single employer account Current view
…a single employer account.
This image is an example of the transactions in the consolidated payroll account for a small employer.
There can be up to seven transactions types (dependent on the deductions made by the employer). Each transaction will show as a separate assessment, based on due date.
Due to this single account for EMP, the $20 small balance write-off threshold and $100 penalty and interest threshold will be across the single account instead of across the six accounts.
Each time you file an Employment Information (EI) return the transactions will update (reverse and replace) to include the return you have filed. You can see the breakdown of each deduction type (e.g. PAYE, student loan deductions etc.) represented as different assessment transactions.
You will see the balance of each assessment component increase each time you submit an EI. In this example the first EI filed contained $718.64 of payroll deductions but after the second EI was filed, payroll deductions now shows $1,437.28. This makes it easier to see the balance to pay on the due date.
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Single employer account New view
2. Second EI filed for 28/05/20 payday which now includes Child Support deductions – other assessment transactions have reversed/been replaced.
1. EI filed for 14/05/20 payday, amount column shows total payable so far.
Clicking the link to the right of each transaction will show the split between each EI filed that makes up the transaction. Here you can see that both EI’s submitted included payroll deductions of $718.64.
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Single employer account
To quickly summarise the payment codes:
There will be a new code, EMP, which will allow employers to make one payment to cover all their employer associated deduction types. The codes for the remaining associated employer deduction types will be removed.
This means that customers will no longer be able to make payments using the following codes:• CSE – Child support employer• KSE – KiwiSaver employee • KSR – KiwiSaver employer• PAY – Pay as You Earn• SLE – Student loan employer • SSC – Superannuation Scheme Contributions
Customers will still be able to make payments using the employer deductions payment type (DED).
Other new codes have also been introduced to allow customers to make payments for Income Equalisation, Environment Restoration and Research and Development. • ERA – Environment Restoration• EQU – Income Equalisation• RDI – Research and Development Tax Incentive
We’ll talk more about income equalisation later.
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Summary of payment codes
EMP is a new code for Employer
Activities
DED - Customers will still be able to make payments using this employer deductions payment type
Other new codes:ERA – Environment RestorationEQU – Income Equalisation
RDI – R&D Tax Incentive
EMP replaces the following codes
which will no longer be available:
• CSE – Child support employer• KSE – KiwiSaver employee • KSR – KiwiSaver employer• PAY – Pay as You Earn• SLE – Student loan employer • SSC – Superannuation Scheme
Contributions
We will consolidate notifications to employers, reducing the number of notifications we issue:
• Where possible we will provide you with a single list of actions rather than separate notices.
• We will take a coordinated approach to correspondence by combining into one letter, notification, report or contact, information about:
• multiple employees requiring the same changes, or• a single employee with multiple changes
We’ll group our communications by ‘topic’. The 2 main groupings of letters will be:• Updates to an employer’s employment information to start or stop deductions for
employees• Updates to deductions employers are currently making for employees (for example
notification of a tailored tax code)
Based on feedback received, the letters will have one employee per page and display all updates for that employee. This will make it easier for you to align any correspondence received for their employees to their personal files.
You will now receive a letter when an employee’s student loan balance is expected to be repaid within three months based on repayment history. The letter will advise of the final repayments to ensure the loan is repaid in full, but not overpaid.
We may also contact you about errors you are making in your employment information returns.
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Consolidating employer notifications
• Single list of actions
• Coordinated approach to correspondence
• We’ll group communications by ‘topic’:
Start or stop
deductions for employees
Deductions
employers are currently making for
employees
Includes a new notification when an employee’s student loan is nearly paid off
Further changes to the onboarding process for new employees will reduce confusion and repetition of information, making it easier for you to maintain the details for all your employees.
Changes include:• The ‘New Employee Details’ (IR346) and the ‘KiwiSaver Enrolment’ (KS1) will be
combined into one ‘Employee Details’ form (shown here) both in myIR and on paper. You will only need to provide information for new employees once -currently you need to provide the same information twice: once for KiwiSaver and the other for general PAYE details.
• You will be required to supply an employee’s first and last name when completing an employee onboarding request, along with the name the employee will have displayed on the Employment Information return. If this information is not provided, the request will not be able to be submitted.
• The existing service to update employee details will be broken down into smaller sections, allowing you to update specific information as required.
• As a one-off, you will need to advise us of any income that will be received by a new employee that is exempt from KiwiSaver contributions.
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Improving employee onboarding
• Combined forms - IR346 and
KS1
• Supply employee’s first and last name
• Update employee details broken down
• KiwiSaver status for new employees, not existing employees
• Advise of income received exempt from KiwiSaver
contributions
A new Employment Information (EI) return has been designed to accommodate the additional fields for:• Employee Share Scheme (ESS) benefits, • extra compulsory deductions for student loans (SLCIR), • and extra voluntary deductions for student loans (SLBOR).
Previously employers had to add a new employee line for each of these deductions. Now they can use these new fields to record these deductions in the same employee line they are reporting gross income, PAYE and other deductions. i.e. they won’t need to have the same employee on multiple lines in their EI because of these deductions.
The new return version also has two new fields to capture adjustments to gross salary / wages and PAYE. You can use these fields to record changes made to salaries or wages and PAYE from past paydays in your next payday (rather than amending the original employment information return). There are specific rules about when you can do this.
The new return version will be available for customers who:• file on paper or onscreen in myIR and will use the new version of paydays from 1 May.• use the file upload service in myIR or file direct from their software once their software
providers have implemented the new version (sometime over the next 12 or so months). Until that time you can continue to use the old version.
You will collect more information from employees which will assist us to better administer social policies, for example hours paid. Reporting this information will be voluntary and only collected via digital channels – Return Service Gateway via software and myIR filing.
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Submitting employment information online
• New fields instead of using separate tax code on additional
line item:
• Employee Share Scheme (ESS)
• Extra compulsory deduction for student loans (SLCIR)
• Extra voluntary deductions for student loans (SLBOR)
Employers collect more information from employees including hours paid (voluntary and digital)
There will no longer be two periods showing for twice monthly filers; instead, a single period will be created. All payday information will be stored in the monthly period, with twice monthly payment details managed by due dates.
As you can see on this screen shot, up to and including, April 2020 there are two entries per month. From May onwards there is one.
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Payments – twice monthly filers
When we convert the financial transactions from our old system to our new system, some transactions will no longer show.
As we are moving to a single account view, payments that were applied to PAYE and then transferred out to the sub-account, eg student loan deductions, will no longer be visible. Instead there will be the single PAYE payment covering the full assessment amount.
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Converting Transactions for Payroll
• Before and after conversion
Current state
Future state
The PAYE calculator on the IR website helps employers and employees work out how much PAYE should be withheld from wages paid weekly, fortnightly, four-weekly or monthly. The calculator itself isn’t new, but it will now have an option to export what you’ve entered when calculating deductions for employees into an EI. This will be in CSV format to allow you to use the file upload functionality within myIR.
There is now an option to file and pay at the same time. You will be able to pay by direct debit at the time of filing (from your own bank account) as long as an authority for that bank account is already set up. Otherwise you’ll need to save the return draft, set up the direct debit bank account authority in myIR, and then go back into the return to complete the payment step.
The due date for payment isn’t changing, but employers can choose to file and pay together - if that works better for them.
I’ll talk more about direct debit changes later in this seminar.
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Other PAYE
• PAYE calculator - new option to export CSV files and file upload in myIR
• File and pay together
Paying and filing at the same time
Now we’ll look at the KiwiSaver changes and how they may affect you.
As KiwiSaver is a work-based savings plan, employers play an important role. You:• pass your employees' details to Inland Revenue to enable them to be enrolled if
applicable• deduct KiwiSaver contributions from employees' gross salary or wages• make a compulsory employer contribution to your employee's KiwiSaver account
or complying fund• calculate and withhold any tax on employer contributions.
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3: KiwiSaver
Just to recap, several policy changes for KiwiSaver have already been implemented which allow more people to join KiwiSaver and allow members to better tailor their KiwiSaver account to fit their needs.
From 1 April 2019:• Two new contribution rates – 6% and 10% – were introduced to KiwiSaver, giving members
more options. Members can now choose to contribute to their KiwiSaver from their salary/wages at either 3%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10%.
• The Contribution Holiday, where members can elect to temporarily cease contributing to their KiwiSaver account for a specific period of time, has been renamed as a Savings Suspension. The suspension also now has a maximum period of one year before a KiwiSaver member will need to renew it.
• The Member Tax Credit (MTC) was also renamed as a Government Contribution (GVC).
From 1 July 2019:• The KiwiSaver scheme was opened up to all ages. Customers over 65 years of age are now
eligible to join KiwiSaver. However, they will have no entitlement to receive government contributions, and any employer contributions will be at the discretion of their employer.
• New members will no longer be locked into the scheme for five years before they can withdraw funds. Changes were also made so that members between the ages of 60 - 64 inclusive, who enrolled on or after 1 July 2019 will be able to withdraw their KiwiSaver funds at 65. Although, once they turn 65 will have no entitlement to receive government contributions, and any employer contributions will be at the discretion of their employer.
From 1 April 2020:• KiwiSaver members who enrolled in KiwiSaver before July 2019, and were aged between 60
and 64 inclusive when they enrolled, can elect to opt out of the five year lock in period any time after they reach the age of eligibility for NZ Super (currently 65 years old). If a member opts out of the lock in period, they will not receive government contributions and their employer can stop their contributions.
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Recent KiwiSaver policy changes
From 1 April 2019:
• Two new contribution rates: 6 % & 10%
• Contribution holiday renamed to Savings Suspension
• Member tax credit (MTC) renamed to Government Contribution (GVC)
From 1 July 2019:
• KiwiSaver opened to all ages
• New members not locked in for 5 years before they can withdraw
funds
From 1 April 2020:
• Members who enrolled before July 2019 (aged 60 – 64) can opt out
of 5-year lock-in period
There are a number of changes coming up for KiwiSaver members and employers.
From April 2020, KiwiSaver will be fully administered in our new system. The way core KiwiSaver information is processed will become more streamlined, faster and more accurate.
There are some changes that will benefit your employees who are KiwiSaver members:• Voluntary member transfers between Scheme Providers will now be required to be
completed within 10 working days, instead of 35. This change will allow more visibility of where funds are and provide reassurance that their investment is being managed efficiently.
• The provisional period for new KiwiSaver members that have been automatically enrolled will be reduced from three-months to two-months. As many members are unaware of the current process, a banner will be displayed on the member’s myIR account for the duration of the holding period to explain to members what this means.
• Employer contributions (both compulsory and voluntary) will be government guaranteed, allowing contributions to be passed to Scheme Providers as soon as information from an employer has been filed (what is guaranteed is what the employer submits on the EI).
• Interest calculations on KiwiSaver employer contributions and employee deductions held by Inland Revenue will be calculated from the pay date the employer has reported.
• The three-month grace period for an individual to gain New Zealand residency after being invalidly enrolled in KiwiSaver will be removed. If a person does not meet residency requirements, their account will be closed immediately. However, they will have the opportunity to re-enrol if, and when, they gain New Zealand residency.
• People with qualifying life-shortening congenital conditions will be entitled to make a full or partial withdrawal of their KiwiSaver funds before the retirement age of 65, which they are currently unable to do.
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KiwiSaver
• KiwiSaver administered in our new system
• Voluntary transfer period reduced from up to 35 to 10 days
• Provisional period for new members reduced from 3 to 2 months
• Employer contributions government guaranteed
• Interest calculations calculated from pay date reported by employer
• Three month residency grace period will be removed
• Members can make full or partial withdrawal before turning 65 (life-shortening conditions)
So what does it mean for you as employers?
There will be improvements to the onboarding process for new employees which will reduce confusion and repetition of information:• You will be required to supply an employee’s first and last name when completing
an employee onboarding request, along with the name the employee will have displayed on the Employment Information return.
• As mentioned earlier, the KiwiSaver enrolment form (KS1) and the new employee details form (IR346) will be combined into one new ‘Employee Details’ section, therefore there will be less repetition of information you provide.
• We’ve changed the KiwiSaver status details you need to provide when you onboard a new employee to incorporate details you used to have to provide in the KS1.
• As a one-off, you will need to advise us of any income that will be received by a new employee that is exempt from KiwiSaver contributions.
You will see a change in how often we are contacting you to change an employee’s KiwiSaver deductions.
You will receive new notifications specific to KiwiSaver contribution rates and enrolments.
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KiwiSaver impacts for employers
• Improved onboarding process for new employees
o Supply employee’s first and last name
o KS1 (enrolment) and IR346 (new employee details)
combined into one “Employee Details” section
o KiwiSaver status collected for new employees, not existing
employees
o One-off, advise of any income received exempt from
KiwiSaver contributions (new employee)
• Frequency of contact with IR will be different
• New notifications
Before we finish, we’ll just touch on a few broader changes of interest to you.
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4: Other changes
Following feedback that the 'My details' tab in myIR is confusing, we’ve changed it back to ‘Names and addresses’. The registration details that currently sit in this tab will move to the Summary tab (this will be the same for all products and accounts).
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Other myIR changes
The existing service to update employee details will be broken down into smaller sections, making it easier to navigate the specific details you want to update. This is shown on the bottom image here.
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Other myIR changes
Direct debits in myIR• You can continue to pay us by credit card, debit card and online banking. But, after
Easter 2020, if you choose to pay by direct debit in myIR from a new direct debit bank account a direct debit authority will need to be set up.
• This replaces the current process where you confirm you have signing authority on a bank account by ticking a box when you set up the payment.
• Setting up the authority is a one-off process and will need to be set up separately for each new bank account before a direct debit payment can be made. You can set the authority up in myIR.
• Your tax agent will no longer be able to initiate a direct debit payment for you to approve in myIR. If you want to pay us by direct debit, you will need to set up an ‘authority’ for your own bank account in myIR.
• Your tax agent can continue to pay by direct debit for you if they have signing authority on the bank account being used (eg. it’s their own bank account) after they have set up the authority in myIR.
• These changes are taking place to ensure that direct debits are properly authorised by the bank account owner.
• When anyone is filing a return or setting up an instalment arrangement and wanting to pay by direct debit – they will be prompted to set up the authority if it is not already held – this will mean saving a draft of the return or instalment arrangement, completing the authorisation, before continuing the return or instalment request.
• Instalment arrangements can now be initiated without direct debit – this means you can set everything up in myIR and once the arrangement has been agreed by IR, you’ll receive a letter to advise all the details with your payment options and an AP form.
As summarised earlier, there have been some changes to 'My pay tax' on online banking.
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Payments
• Direct debits in myIR
• File and pay at the same time for PAYE
• ‘Authority’ required when bank account first added
• Instalment arrangement without direct debit
• Changes to “my pay tax” – banking online (new and
removed options)
• Refunds issued by direct credit – no more cheques
• Over the counter payments at Westpac
New payment options for:• EMP: employer payments• EQU: income equalisation• ERA: environmental restoration• RDI: research and development
At the same time we have removed CSE, KSE, KSR, PAY, SLE and SSC.
DED will remain.
Refunds will be issued by direct credit – no more cheques.
And on that note, you will have heard a fair bit about IR no longer accepting cheques from 1 March 2020. This is now well in place. There are also some changes to over the counter payments at Westpac:• Customers can choose to pay their taxes over the counter at a Westpac
branch/smart ATM even if they don’t bank with Westpac. From 1 July 2020, all payments at Westpac must be accompanied by a barcode. The barcode is a more reliable way of passing your details to Westpac and will prevent your payment going to the wrong place in the account, or potentially even the wrong person’s account.
• We are adding barcodes to notifications where we’re requesting you to make a payment. If you misplace your barcode, you can generate one using the barcode generator on our website. You will need your IRD number, the tax type and the period of the payment. You can then either print it off or show it to Westpac staff on your phone.
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We’ll just briefly look at how you add a bank account that you can use to pay by direct debit:
• Note: If the bank accounts requires multiple signatories before withdrawals can be made, you cannot use it to make direct debit payments.
• You can set up an authorised bank account for Direct debit payments under ‘Logon settings’>’Direct debit authorities’.
• Here it will show any direct debit authorities you have already set up to pay IR (screen shot 1)
• If you want to be able to make payments by direct debit, but the bank account is not showing here you will need to set this up. You will be asked to complete all your details including the bank account number and the name on the bank account.
• Before completing the direct debit authority you will need to read and confirm the declaration.
• Once the direct debit authority has been completed, you will be able to use this bank account to make direct debit payments to IR
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IN CONFIDENCE
Setting up Direct Debits
1. Under logon settings go to ‘Direct Debit authorities’ 2. Complete details under
‘Set up Direct Debit authority ‘
3. Confirmation and declaration
The income equalisation scheme is a mechanism used by eligible customers to even out fluctuations in income by spreading their gross income from year to year.
The types of businesses that are eligible for income equalisation include:• Farming, agriculture, and horticulture • Fishing, which also includes rock oyster farming, mussel farming and freshwater farming,
and• Forestry
Income equalisation was previously managed manually, but has now moved into our new system which will make it a lot easier for customers and yourselves to apply and access funds.
Some of the benefits of having it in our new system includes:
• You will have visibility of Income equalisation (EQU) accounts in myIR• Income equalisation will be automatically linked as part of being linked for income tax• You will be able to pay into your EQU account by direct debit• Withdrawals will be paid by direct credit instead of cheque• Deposits can simply be made – there are no forms• The paper IR155 (Income equalisation deposit/refund form) will be removed and replaced
with a digital request in myIR
So in a nutshell, income equalisation customers will find it much easier to deal with us, contribute and access money much faster.
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IN CONFIDENCE
• Visibility of Income equalisation (EQU) accounts in myIR
• Automatic linking with income tax
• Ability to pay by direct debit – no more cheques
• Withdrawals will be paid by direct credit – no more cheques
• Simpler deposits - no forms
• No more paper deposit/refund forms
• Register in myIR
Income Equalisation
This image shows what the summary tab looks like. You will be able to see your account balance, filing frequency and recent activity.
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IN CONFIDENCE
Income Equalisation
Before we finish, I’ll just quickly go over the next steps and where to go for more information.
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IN CONFIDENCE
5: Next Steps
We’re in the final stages of our journey to move all our web content to our new site. In the next few months, when this is complete, we will decommission, or turn off our heritage website.
KiwiSaver site to be decommissioned in April • Until now all KiwiSaver information has been housed on a separate subsite -
kiwisaver.govt.nz. Last September we started beta testing re-written KiwiSaver content on the core Inland Revenue website. We’re confident the material we tested meets the needs of our customers. As a result we’re looking to decommission the KiwiSaver subsite from 1 April 2020.
• We encourage you to visit the new content on our main website and set up new links or favourites to content you frequently use or visit. Redirects will also be in place once the old KiwiSaver subsite is decommissioned, to help you find the KiwiSaver content you’re after.
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IN CONFIDENCE
More information – website
• Moving all web content to our new site in time
for our heritage site to be turned off.
• All KiwiSaver content now on our core site.
KiwiSaver subsite to be decommissioned 1
April.
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IN CONFIDENCE
More information
• Watch webinars On Demand at ird.govt.nz/webinars
The 18 March webinar is about ‘preparing for go-live’
• Read IR updates and information to help you get started
• Connect with us on: Twitter, Facebook
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Thanks for your time
