BUILDING A POSITIVE BUSINESS COMMUNITY

Lockdown Update

Lockdown Update

The emails are coming a bit thicker and faster than expected. Sorry to clog up your emails during lockdown but there’s a lot going on and we need to let you know!!

There are a lot of links to information from the IRD site below – some services at the IRD site will be down from 3pm, 9 April until 16 April so if the link doesn’t work please try again later.

Firstly – we have been trying to call all of you to check in over the period of isolation. But it is a long process and we have been a little swamped with COVID queries, end of year tax and GST. It’s all going on! Sorry if we haven’t managed to get to you but its not because we don’t care. If you need to get hold of us urgently you can call Scott on 027 256 0511.

Employsure Webinar

There have been lots of questions regarding wage subsidies and employment restructuring. We have teamed up with Employsure to present a webinar on Tuesday 14 April at 12pm. Employsure provide workplace relations advice for employers.

The webinar will cover :

• Self-Isolation and the health of your employees
• Covid-19 Wage Subsidy’s
• Managing stand downs in your business
• Minimum Wage changes for April 1 2020
• Compliance around restructuring and redundancy’s

We are hoping to get through all the nitty gritty quickly and then open up to all the questions and answers you may have particularly around wage subsidies and employment restructuring.  You can email  questions you have to scott@numberup.nz and matthew.harris@employsure.co.nz before the webinar. You can also ask questions during the webinar. 

You can register for the webinar here

Public Holidays

Every day seems the same at the moment so Easter may have snuck up on you. I’d deliver some chocolate eggs to you if I could but unfortunately lockdown makes that tricky, especially when my wife won’t let me go to the super market (spoiler alert if you thought the eggs came from somewhere else). As well as the concern around getting your eggs, there are sure to be many questions regarding wage subsidies and how public holidays work.

That’s another good reason to attend the Employsure webinar. We will answer specific questions there as best we can. We have also attached a link from Anderson Lloyd

Public holidays always cause confusion. But the general rule is that employees are entitled to 11 public holidays per annum, provided the public holiday falls on a day that the employee would normally work. Even when we are in lockdown! We’ll be camping in our lounge – seems like the safest place to holiday in the current climate.

So if your employee would normally have worked on the Friday or Monday they are entitled to a paid day off on that day. The amount they would get paid depends on your how your business is currently operating. Different scenarios will produce different outcomes. But as a minimum – if your business is closed and just passing on the subsidy of $585 to your employees – you would be required to pay $117 for the day. The payment would be paid from the funds your business has received for the wage subsidy.

We have attached links for SmartPayroll and Xero payroll to explain how this is administered. It is likely that all payroll providers will operate similarly but you can always contact your payroll provider to confirm.

Wage Subsidies

Most of you guys who are entitled to wage subsidies have got your applications in. Good job. If you haven’t got your application in and need to know what to do please let us know. Remember that this is administered by Work and Income, not IRD, so we cannot do this on your behalf or see how your application is going. But we can assist you if you need help.

Wage subsidy support details are changing all the time so you should stay up to date.

IRD Site Down

The IRD site is down from 9 – 16 April so we may not be able to process any returns or correspond with IRD on your behalf over this period. So please be aware that we may not be able to resolve any issues with the IRD for you over that period.

Tax Arrangements

If you are struggling to pay your taxes on time please let us know. We have been in touch with IRD for many clients and IRD have been very prompt and favourable with agreeing to arrangements. Nice eh? You do still have to pay your tax in most cases but this can help to spread the cost over time.

Please click here to find out how IRD can help.

Kiwisaver

You may be thinking about Kiwisaver holidays or withdrawals. The IRD provides information regarding this.

IRD Support For Families

If you have concerns over family support from IRD please click here .

ACC

You might be wondering what happens with ACC payments around this time. Here is some brief info:

During the Next 3 Months

CoverPlus Extra Clients

  • Payment plans will be paused
  • Customers may have one further instalment deducted prior to the payment plan being paused
  • Payments for outstanding balances will not be pursued
  • Cover at the agreed cover amount will remain in place

ACC will later advise when 2020/21 Cover Plus Extra invoices will be issued and payment plans will resume. 

Other ACC Invoicing

  • Invoices will continue to be sent
  • Customers will have options available, these will be outlined with their invoices
  • ACC will not be actively collecting at this time

You can find out more here.

Easter Trading Hours

Well the IRD are shutting their site down so we might as well take a holiday. We will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday. If you have any URGENT questions over this period you can text or call Scott on 027 256 0511.

And Finally…

The last email didn’t have any jokes and I copped some flak for that. So here goes two crackers to make up for it:

Psychic Humour:

Q: What do you call a fat psychic?

A: A 4 chin teller.

Bar humour:

A cheese roll walks into a bar and orders a beer. The barman says, “Sorry, we don’t serve food here.”

Well you asked for it. Right then……back to lockdown.

Scroll to Top