AGENTSanswers - 2002

Issue 36 August 2002

Inland Revenue's website - online services
New rules for financial relief
Contact phone numbers
IR 3s incorrectly showing as required on client list report
ACC employer invoices

Inland Revenue's website - online services

Did you know that our website contains "online services" that allow you to send certain information to us over the internet and to calculate various tax obligations? Here is more information about these services.

Register your clients using electronic forms
You can now register your clients for certain tax types by completing the following forms online and electronically submitting the information for processing.

GST registration
Employer registration
Resident withholding tax - interest payer registration
Non-resident withholding tax - payer registration
Approved issuer levy - payer registration
Gaming machine duty registration
IR56 payer registration

You can also use these forms to link your client to your agency list for the particular tax type you are registering them for.

Foreign exchange rates
Inland Revenue has previously published the currency conversion tables every six months in the April and October issues of the Tax Information Bulletin (TIB). You can find this under the Newsletter and Bulletin section of our website.

Available on our website is an interactive overseas currency converter. It provides the mid-month (Table A) exchange rates and converts investment income from most currencies to New Zealand dollars. This calculator is being updated each month as the rates become available.

See the Overseas Currency Converter under the Work it Out section of our website.

The foreign exchange tables (Table A--mid-month rates and Table B--end of month rates) for the income year ended 31 March 2003 are now also being updated monthly on the "Available services" page on our website.

Please note that we will continue to publish the foreign exchange rates in the April and October issues of the Tax Information Bulletin (TIB), available under the Newsletters and Bulletins section of our website.

Depreciation rate finder
Thank you to those who have provided feedback over the last 12 months on the depreciation rate finder. Many have found this tool useful but have suggested improvements that could increase its effectiveness.

You can now use our enhanced online depreciation rate finder, which has incorporated many of your suggestions. It's now faster, more flexible, with printable results. An advantage of using this tool instead of the Depreciation guide (IR260) is that we will update new rates as they become available.

See the Latest Depreciation Rate finder under the Work it Out section of our website. Please email your comments to agents.answers@ird.govt.nz

Are your clients entitled to PTS refunds?
Use our online calculator to work out whether your clients are entitled to a refund before requesting a PTS.

Request annual information and returns online
You can now request Indvidual Tax Return (IR3) taxpacks, summary of earnings and personal tax summaries through the Forms and Guides on our website. Returns and information requested this way will be posted to you within 10 working days from the date of the request.

Unable to access our online services?
We have been receiving reports of broken links and other queries from customers unable to reach our online services. Because these services require you to send confidential information, they are located on the secure part of our website to prevent unauthorised interception. If you are unable to access these services, your browser or operating system may need updating. Visit the Get it Done Online section of our website for further information.

We will continue to inform you about new services as they are made available.

New rules for financial relief

In the March 2002 issue of AGENTSanswers we advised that we are working on the proposed changes to debt and hardship rules that would be introduced on 1 July 2002. You can find this under the Newsletters and Bulletins section of our website. The Taxation (Relief, Refunds and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill that contains the taxpayer financial relief rules was not enacted before Parliament went into recess for the general election.

Due to the delay in the enactment of the legislation, it is not possible to apply the rules from 1 July 2002. The Minister has indicated that he would like the new rules to apply from 1 November 2002. We will inform you of the actual date as soon as this is confirmed. If you would like to discuss a client's debt payment options, please phone us on your tax agent's freephone number.

Contact phone numbers

We have a special tax agents' freephone number so that we can:

give your call a higher priority than non-tax agents, and
put your call through to staff with the right skills to answer your enquiry.

Use this number to contact us about any correspondence you receive, or to discuss a client's debt payment options including a pre-emptive instalment arrangement.

Please do not give your clients the 0800 number dedicated for tax agents. If people other than tax agents use your dedicated number, fewer specialised staff will be available for tax agents and it will take longer to answer your phone calls.

IR3s incorrectly showing as required on client list report

Some clients were incorrectly updated in our system as required to file a 2002 Indvidual tax return (IR3) return of income. This error resulted in them incorrectly showing on the Client List report dated 15-16 June 2002 as being required to file an IR3.

The cause of this error has been identified and a fix is now in place.

The next client list is due to be produced on 17-18 August 2002. This list will show the correct returns required. If you require an updated client list before this date, please call INFOexpress on 0800 456 678 or contact your agent account manager.

ACC employer invoices

Last month ACC began invoicing employers for their ACC levies.

The invoices are based on information supplied by Inland Revenue from employer monthly schedules for the year ended 31 March 2002. This article sets out what data we have supplied and how the components have been calculated.

The information supplied is the total for all employees for the 12 months (or less months if the employer started or stopped employing part-way through the year) consisting of:

total gross earnings
earnings not liable for earner premium
withholding payments
earnings in excess of the specified maximum.

Gross earnings
Gross earnings are the total gross earnings for all employees and include:

those employees who have not provided an IRD number, and
those employer monthly schedules that we are holding in error resolution (those that haven't been fully processed due to unresolved issues).

Schedules in error and other changes to the data will be reflected in a subsequent change tape as they are corrected.

Earnings not liable for earner premium
This figure has been reduced by the amount of withholding payments shown as earnings not liable for earner premium.

Withholding payments
The total of gross earnings for all employees with a WT tax code.

Earnings exceeding the specified maximum
This is the total of all earnings exceeding the specified maximum. The specified maximum for the year ended 31 March 2002 is $85,795. Earnings in excess of the specified maximum are calculated by:

totalling the gross earnings for each employee
reducing that total by any applicable earnings not liable for earner premium
applying the specified maximum.

Example

Employer ABC Ltd

Monthly schedules>	Tax code>	Gross ($)	Earning not liable for earner premium ($)
April 2001
John Brown	M	27,000
Tom Smith	M	2,000
Peter Young	WT	1,000	1,000

May 2001
John Brown	M	37,000	200
Tom Smith	M	5,000
Peter Young	WT	5,000	5,000

June 2001
John Brown	M	50,000
Tom Smith	M	3,000	100
Peter Young	WT	5,000	-

Totals		$135,000	$6,300

The information supplied to ACC would be as follows:

Total gross $135,000

Earnings not liable* $300 ($6,300 less withholding payments of $6,000)

Withholding payments $11,000 (Sum of payments with a WT code)

Earnings over maximum $28,005 (Sum of payments to Brown less earnings over maximum)

*In this case the employer failed to show the withholding payment to Young in June as earnings not liable.

Workings:

Sum of payments to Brown		$114,000
Earnings not liable	$200
Specified maximum	$85,795 -----------	$85,995 -----------
Earnings over maximum		$28,005 -----------

In its invoicing, ACC is showing each of these components as part of the calculation of the liable earnings. The liable earnings is the total gross earnings less the sum of the other components.