AGENTSanswers - 2003
Issue 52 December 2003
- Season's greetings
- Family assistance registrations
- Inland Revenue services over the Christmas and New Year break
- Tax Agents' CD Rom questionnaire results
- Maori authority election
- More electronic services to make contacting us easier
- Correction to NRCWT article in November
- IRD number applications for companies and FBT elections
- Access to E-File
- 7 February payment date for clients without an EOT
Season's greetings
This is the last issue of AGENTSanswers for 2003, available under the Newsletters and Guides section of our website, so we'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope you and your families have a safe and enjoyable holiday break and we look forward to working with you again next year.
Family assistance registrations
You may have clients who have become eligible for family assistance if their taxable income has decreased.
Clients who have received family assistance within the last two years but became ineligible because their income rose, and who have since become eligible again, are able to reactivate their family assistance by phoning us on 0800 227 774.
If they stopped receiving any entitlement over two years ago, they will need to reapply.
Applying for family assistance
| If your client... | They need to fill in... |
|---|---|
| is a salary or wage earner | an FS 1 |
| the throughout payments receive to wishes and income business | an FS 1 and an IR 214 |
| earns business income and wishes to receive a lump sum after the end of the tax year | an FS 1 and an IR 215 |
These forms and more information about family assistance can be found on our website under the Forms and Guides section. The application forms can also be ordered by phoning INFOexpress on 0800 257 773.
Inland Revenue services over the Christmas and New Year break
E-File
Please note that the E-File system will be unavailable from midday, 24 December 2003 to 8 am, 5 January 2004. You will not be able to E-File during this period. This downtime is to allow annual maintenance to take place.
AMBR 1006 weekly activity reports
The last weekly activity reports to be issued before Christmas will be for the week ending 19 December 2003.
The next weekly activity report will be issued on 5 January 2004. This report will include any activity between 20 December 2003 and 5 January 2004.
| Call centre hours | |
|---|---|
| 23 December 2003 | normal hours |
| 24 December 2003 | normal hours |
| 25 December 2003 | closed |
| 26 December 2003 | closed |
| 27 December 2003 | closed |
| 28 December 2003 | Sunday (closed) |
| 29 December 2003 | 8.30 am to 5 pm |
| 30 December 2003 | 8.30 am to 5 pm |
| 31 December 2003 | 8.30 am to 5 pm |
| 1 January 2004 | closed |
| 2 January 2004 | closed |
| 3 January 2004 | closed |
| 4 January 2004 | Sunday (closed) |
| 5 January 2004 | normal hours |
| INFOexpress availability | |
|---|---|
| 23 December 2003 | normal hours* |
| 24 December 2003 | normal hours |
| 25 December 2003 | unavailable |
| 26 December 2003 | unavailable |
| 27 December 2003 | unavailable |
| 28 December 2003 | unavailable |
| 29 December 2003 | normal hours* |
| 30 December 2003 | normal hours |
| 31 December 2003 | normal hours |
| 1 January 2004 | normal hours |
| 2 January 2004 | normal hours |
| 3 January 2004 | normal hours |
| 4 January 2004 | normal hours |
| 5 January 2004 | normal hours |
* INFOexpress provides an automated response from 6 am to midnight and accepts messages from midnight to 6 am.
As other Inland Revenue systems that are used by INFOexpress will be unavailable during this period, there will be a delay in sending you requested items, for example stationery, summaries of earnings or tax returns.
Faxbacks, which detail client information, will still be available on the days that INFOexpress is available.
Tax Agents' CD Rom questionnaire results
Thank you to all tax agents who returned the CD Rom questionnaires that were included with the September issue of AGENTSanswers, you can find this newsletter under the Newsletters and Bulletins section of our website. We rely on your feedback to help us develop future versions of the CD Rom.
We're pleased to find that the CD Rom continues to be widely used. We've found that although respondents like the current layout of the CD Rom, some have trouble finding things. To address this we're investigating the possibility of a CD-wide search function to improve navigation for version 6 of the CD Rom, to be released next April.
Browser versions
Information you provided on the browser and Acrobat Reader versions used will help guide the testing of version 6. In the past we've tried to make the CD Rom compatible with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 for PCs and 4.5 for Macs and we always encounter problems. These are very old browsers so we won't be testing the next version on these. We recommend that users update to a later version, which you can do free at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/.
We also need to warn users that the CD Rom operates less well on Netscape Navigator. Unfortunately we can't do much to improve this as it has to do with programming inherent to Netscape.
Publication updates
The "Web updates" link on the CD Rom provides a link to an area of the Inland Revenue website where publications that have been updated since the current CD Rom was released can be downloaded. On version 6 we will be changing the name of the link to "Publication updates" because the current wording doesn't describe its purpose and causes confusion.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Many of the recurring issues that were raised in the general comments section of the questionnaire are covered in the FAQ section on the CD Rom. We'll be adding more information to cover new questions that have been raised. If you have specific issues that are not currently covered in the FAQs, please email us at agentcd@ird.govt.nz We will also be providing a small leaflet with the next version that will cover many of the operating issues you may have. We appreciate you advising us of errors you find on the CD Rom. Although extensive testing is done before its release, some minor errors do slip through. The errors that have been brought to our attention in this year's questionnaire will be addressed before the next release of the CD Rom.
If you wish to provide more feedback to help us improve the CD Rom, please email us at agentcd@ird.govt.nz
Maori authority election
Do you have clients who currently have Maori authority status and may be interested in becoming a Maori authority under the new rules?
If you do and they meet the eligibility criteria, they must make an election to Inland Revenue. An election form will be available in March 2004. You'll find information about the eligibility process on our website and it will also be on the back of the election form.
All existing Maori authorities will receive an election form from us, together with a letter informing them of the new rules.
If your client meets the new eligibility criteria and wishes to elect to continue to be a Maori authority under the new rules, they will have until the end of the 2004-2005 income year to make their election. The new rules will apply from 1 April 2004.
When we receive an organisation's election we will consider whether they are eligible and advise them if their application has been accepted, declined or whether we need more information. Other entities, such as companies and trusts, may also be eligible for Maori authority status under the new rules and may make an election.
Non-election
If an existing Maori authority advises us that it does not want to make an election, their tax treatment will be determined under the general tax rules, according to their entity type prior to becoming a Maori authority. Income tax returns from the 2005 and subsequent years will be filed under their new entity type.
Opting out of the Maori authority rules
Maori authorities may choose to opt out and re-enter the Maori authority rules at any time. Allowing Maori authorities to do this gives governing boards and trusts flexibility in managing any changes in the way the Maori authority operates. This also means that Maori authorities can avoid the costs associated with winding up the authority and reconstituting a new entity.
Maori authority cessation of election
An election will cease to be effective if:
- the authority gives written notice that they wish to cease, or
- they no longer meet the criteria to be a Maori authority.
Generally, the effective cancellation date will be the date advised by the Maori authority, unless there are special circumstances such as an investigation or liquidation.
Written notice should include:
- the election cessation date
- which entity type you will become in future tax years, eg a trust or a company
- the reason for cessation of election
- whether a distribution has been made up to the date of the cessation.
More electronic services to make contacting us easier
We've developed two ways you can contact us using the internet to ask us questions.
Online Correspondence
The Online Correspondence Service is a secure internet-based service that allows you to send us questions about your or your clients' tax accounts or technical issues and receive our responses securely and confidentially.
By using the Online Correspondence Service, you aren't constrained by having to ask your questions during business hours and you don't have to be in the country to ask a question. It is also often easier to give us detailed information in writing than by phone and you can be confident that we have received the information as you have set it down.
Once we have received your query, we will apply the same performance standard and turn around time as for regular mail. However, it's quicker than conventional paper mail because it cuts out the postal times on either side.
We'll email you directly to tell you when we've sent a response, so you don't have to log-on to the service every day to check for one.
You can't send attachments using Online Correspondence-if you want to send returns electronically, you'll need to use the online forms on our website or register for E-File, our electronic filing system. You can find out more about E-File or see our E-File (IR798) booklet, available under the Forms and Guides section of our website.
Online Correspondence is for queries only and can't be used:
- for disputing or objecting to an assessment or determination made by Inland Revenue, or
- as a method for the service of any legal or court documents.
Registering for Online Correspondence
You can register to use the service on our website. You'll need your tax agency IRD number to register. Staff in your agency can each have an Online Correspondence account by registering using the agency number but with their own name and contact details.
When you register, you will be issued with a user-ID immediately-just note it down or print the screen. A letter containing your password will be sent to you in the post. Once you have these you are able to start using your Online Correspondence account.
Note: If you use ir-File, you don't need to register for Online Correspondence-you can use your ir-File user-ID and password.
Conditions apply to the use of this service. A link to these can be found on the registration page and should be read before you register.
Once you have registered, you can access your Online Correspondence account from the tax agents' page of our website or by clicking Send/receive online mail on the left-hand side of the Inland Revenue homepage.
When you're writing about a client, remember to provide their name and IRD number. As with requesting any information about your clients' accounts, you need to have their written authorisation to act on their behalf for the tax type.
Online Correspondence helpline
If you need help, you can call the Online Correspondence helpline on 0800 473 249 between 8 am to 8 pm, Monday to Friday, and 9 am to 1 pm Saturday.
General enquiry web-form
Customers have been able to contact us by email for some years now. However, email isn't a secure method of communication. Instead you can use our secure general enquiry web-form to send us non-account specific questions.
The form can be found under Email on the left-hand side of the homepage of our website.
This form also asks for the tax residency status of the taxpayer you are enquiring about and whether the question relates to child support.
There are two options for receiving our response. You can:
- have it sent directly to an email address, or
- have a hard copy sent to a postal address. You will need to supply the name and postal address if you choose this option.
If you use the general enquiry web-form, you'll receive our response more quickly than for account-specific enquiries sent through Online Correspondence.
However, this service is only for general questions-if you want to ask about taxpayer-specific issues, you'll need to register to use the Online Correspondence Service.
Correction to NRCWT article in November
In the November AGENTSanswers, available under the Newsletters and Bulletins section of our website, we included an article on NRCWT simplified. In the final paragraph we stated:
"A further change will exempt payments for contract work subject to NRWT amounting to less than $15,000 in a 12-month period from NRCWT."
The reference to NRWT should in fact be "NRCWT".
Just to clarify, contract payments made to a non-resident contractor will not be subject to NRCWT, if the payments total less than $15,000 in any 12-month period.
IRD number applications for companies and FBT elections
If you are filling in a Non-individual IRD number application (IR596), available under the Forms and Guides section of our website, for a company, it will automatically be set up for filing quarterly fringe benefit returns. This is in case the company will be providing fringe benefits to shareholders.
If the company will not be providing any fringe benefits, you'll need to include a completed Fringe benefit tax election (IR414) form with the IR596 when you send it to us.
Access to E-File
In last month's issue of AGENTSanswers, available under the Newsletters and Bulletins section of our website, we mentioned there had been some access issues with E-File that arose when we implemented changes to the E-File system. The E-File system has always been very secure and these changes were intended to further enhance the security of the system to bring it in line with recommended industry best practice.
We are happy to report that there have been no further access problems.
7 February payment date for clients without an EOT
The 7 February end-of-year due date for clients without an extension of time is approaching again.
If you need details about a client's end-of-year liability or you would like to discuss payment options, please phone us on the tax agents' freephone number. Client account balances are also available through INFOexpress on 0800 456 678.
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Date published: 19 Nov 2004
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