AGENTSanswers - 2005

AGENTSanswers Issue 69, May 2005

Contacting us?
Do you file your employer monthly schedule electronically?
Redeveloped forms, returns and calculators
New Income Tax Act 2004 comes into effect
A friendly reminder
Working for Families - family assistance rates have increased
Tax Agents Management report (AMBR 1002)

Contacting us?

As we are now in our peak season you may experience some delays when contacting us by phone. Here are some of the other service options available to you:

Website
From our website you can:

order stationery
send correspondence
request a personal tax summary
request a summary of earnings
file a number of returns
pay tax online
find out the rules for claiming for donations to the Asian Tsunami relief appeal

and a lot more - check out "Get it done online" for further details about the internet services we offer.

StationeryXpress
StationeryXpress offers a fast way to order printed products, especially if you require bulk stationery. To register, either telephone 0800 101 035 or go to our website for a StationeryXpress tax agent registration (IR 599) form.

INFOexpress
You can use INFOexpress to find out:

whether we have received a GST or income tax return
when you can expect to receive a GST or income tax refund.

You can request:

a personal tax summary (PTS) and/or
a summary of earnings for your clients.

You can also:

confirm your client's PTS
update interest and dividends
provide rebate information.

You can use INFOexpress to request:

a statement of account for any tax type for which your client is linked
a printout of your current clients
client linking or delinking
a new personal identification number (PIN) or a change to, or resetting of, your PINs
our publications, such as returns, tables, guides, forms and brochures. It will help if you know the name or stationery number of the publication you require.

Do you file your employer monthly schedule electronically?

Changes to registration process
In October 2004, we made some changes to the ir-File registration process. The new registration process allows you to apply for other online services on our website when you register for ir-File. This means you are able to use the same userID and password for all our online services.

If you have registered for ir-File prior to October 2004 and you require additional online services now, you can cancel your current ir-File registration online and re-register for a new online services account. You may then apply for all the services you require. This avoids the need for multiple userIDs and passwords to access our different online services.

Future enhancements to ir-File
In February we launched our new look website www.ird.govt.nz

We are progressively making improvements to this site to make the ir-File service consistent with the look of our other online services. We are also taking this opportunity to make some enhancements based on improvements suggested by a number of you. We'd like to assure you however, that these enhancements will not change the business processes or requirements for filing your employer monthly schedule electronically. We will update you in future editions of AGENTSanswers when these enhancements become available.

Redeveloped forms, returns and calculators

In November's AGENTSanswers we advised you that we were "in the process of improving our online forms, returns and calculators." We have now completed the first phase.

Of particular interest to agents will be the redeveloped sections:

Do you need to file an IR 3 return or receive a personal tax summary for 2005?
Personal tax summary calculation for 2005.
Request personal tax summary for clients.
Request IR 3A taxpack for clients.

Other forms going up are the 2006 PAYE calculator, tax on holiday pay and child support liability calculators.

The forms and calculators have been designed to make them easier to use. If you have any issues, questions or feedback please complete the online form at http://www.ird.govt.nz/help/site-use/frc-feedback.html

New Income Tax Act 2004 comes into effect

From 1 April 2005 the rewritten Income Tax Act 2004 came into effect for those taxpayers with a standard tax balance date of 31 March 2006. The new Act applies to income derived from the 2005-06 tax year and onwards. (The earliest non-standard balance date that the new Act will apply from is 1 October 2005.)

The new Act is the third stage of a programme to rewrite income tax legislation so that it is clear, uses plain language and is structurally consistent. We anticipate that in the long term this will allow taxpayers and agents to save time and resources, making compliance easier. The remainder of the Income Tax Act 2004 is being rewritten progressively. The projected timetable is for the rewrite to be completed during 2007.

Aside from a small number of intended policy changes listed in Schedule 22A of the Income Tax Act 2004, income tax law remains the same.

For more information about the new Act please refer to our Tax Information Bulletin (TIB) Vol 16, No 5 (June 2004) which is available on www.ird.govt.nz

If you wish to make a submission on a potential unintended legislative change resulting from the rewritten Act, or would like information on the submissions that have already been received please visit the rewrite advisory panel website at http://www.rewriteadvisory.govt.nz/

A standard practice statement setting out the treatment of penalties and interest for tax shortfalls arising from unintended legislative change issues has been consulted externally and is currently being finalised for publication in a future TIB.

A friendly reminder

We have recently introduced new data capture technology into our Upper Hutt Processing Centre. We will be introducing this technology into our other two processing centres during 2005. You can help us to ensure we process returns faster by remembering the following points when you complete a return:

Print your responses clearly and preferably in BLOCK letters.
Only one character should be entered in each box.
Use zeros instead of dashes.
If a keypoint does not require any data leave this blank.
When completing a "Nil" return leave the keypoints blank rather than writing the word "Nil".
Do not write anything outside of the boxes. If it is necessary to provide additional information please do so on a separate piece of paper, clearly showing the section that it relates to and attach this to the return.

Working for Families - family assistance rates have increased

A reminder that from 1 April this year Working for Families enhancements mean that you may now have more clients eligible for family assistance.

From 1 April this year:

income thresholds have been raised and almost all families with incomes below $45,000 will benefit
the maximum rate of Family Support has increased by $25 a week for the first child and $15 a week for subsequent children
a weekly payment option is available.

We encourage you to test your clients' eligibility for the 2006 financial year to ensure they receive financial support when they need it.

We understand that estimating annual income for many self-employed clients may be difficult, and we encourage you to work with them to determine the entitlement option that best matches their financial situation, eg weekly, fortnightly or as a lump sum.

Remember, clients may also be eligible for help with accommodation or childcare costs. To find out about all the Working for Families enhancements, visit www.workingforfamilies.govt.nz/

Tax Agents Management report (AMBR 1002)

Due to a system problem we were unable to produce the information related to your L EOT returns on the AMBR 1002 report. However the Client List report (AMBR 1000) which has been sent to you has the correct details of all your clients who have the L EOT status.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.