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| Thread ID: 60747 | 2005-08-12 00:15:00 | gst and tax help needed | lance4k (4644) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 380391 | 2005-08-12 00:15:00 | If u own a internet dating service like nzdating.com which provides a server where u pay only a membership fee, how would you go about paying tax and gst for this type of business? What records will you need when you fill out a tax return and gst return? Do u just need ur bank statements showing the membership fees you received? Theres not receipts as its a dating service where no physical goods changed hands. |
lance4k (4644) | ||
| 380392 | 2005-08-12 00:43:00 | Go see an accountant | Rob99 (151) | ||
| 380393 | 2005-08-12 03:12:00 | Or ring IRD - they'll tell you what you need. | pctek (84) | ||
| 380394 | 2005-08-12 04:54:00 | If someone is paying for your service, and it is ongoing, then you should expect to have records for each subscriber. Including a GST invoice. Simple enough. | Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 380395 | 2005-08-12 05:08:00 | If someone is paying for your service, and it is ongoing, then you should expect to have records for each subscriber. Including a GST invoice. Simple enough. More than that, IRD will EXPECT you to have records for each subscriber, and if their analysis of your business suggests that you have more subscribers than the GST you are paying, (they can access your ISP reords, bankings, the lot) they will assess the shortfall and bill you for it. Merciless is not strong enough to describe their approach to tax defaulters so either do it right or be very careful where you bury the bodies. When I started my business they sent an inspector out after the first six months and he spent half a day going through everything with a fine-tooth comb. This for a two man startup enterprise that had done hardly any sales at that stage. He argued every flaming dollar!! Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 380396 | 2005-08-12 05:38:00 | Hi Lance. IRD's Small Business Advisers are great. I had one call on me once and he spent the afternoon talking about his lack of access to his two children via the estranged wife - his, I might add. Also gave me great advice and left me with a good selection of literature to support his advice. Left me his personal details and advised me that if any other IRD type made contact I should refer them to the notes he would prepare. All in all, a nice guy. | Scouse (83) | ||
| 380397 | 2005-08-12 05:54:00 | Have a look at www.ird.govt.nz That site is good and so long as you can read you can find out anything you need to know. As already pointed out you MUST do things right. IRD is not noted for is sense of humour. Talk to their small busness people before you start up. They are are most helpful. You must keep careful and complete records of all your business accounts. This is not difficult but if you have any doubts at all keep in mind that is a lot cheaper to pay an accountant to help you get things set up than it is to fight the IRD through the courts if you stuff things up |
CliveM (6007) | ||
| 380398 | 2005-08-12 09:09:00 | All good advise so far. Talk to IRD they will tell you what you need to Know. To give you an idea what may be involved You will have to register for GST if you do more that $30,000 worth of transactions pa. If you are acting as a sole trader you will have to fill in and file an IR3 and a IR10 form each year and probably you will have to pay provisional tax and GST instalments through the year. | tutaenui (1724) | ||
| 380399 | 2005-08-12 09:35:00 | All good advise so far. Talk to IRD they will tell you what you need to Know. To give you an idea what may be involved You will have to register for GST if you do more that $30,000 worth of transactions pa. If you are acting as a sole trader you will have to fill in and file an IR3 and a IR10 form each year and probably you will have to pay provisional tax and GST instalments through the year. Correction: That should be $40000 turnover p.a. |
techie (7177) | ||
| 380400 | 2005-08-12 12:55:00 | 16 years ago when we set up in business we had to do it the hard way - work it out ourselves through things like night school accounting classes. Recently my daughter set up a business with my help on the accounts. When she registered for GST she asked for and got great advice from the IRD. At it's simplest you need a spreadsheet set up like a bank statement with extra columns. Income is relatively easy. First you put it in the Credit column and then show it again in another column - "Subscribers", "Bank Interest"... If it has GST then the GST is split off into a further column "GST income" eg Date Item Credit Sub Interest GST 12/8/5 ABC subscriber $11.25 $10 $1.25 12/8/5 Interest $10 $10 At the end of your GST period - eg 2 months you total the columns for that period. Debits are harder as you have far more columns for things like "Office Expenses", "Vehicles", "Withholding Tax", "Telephones", "Rent"... You also need to know what you can claim, which bits have GST on them etc. For a few years I ran a spreadsheet with lots of lots of clever features in it. - If GST=y then split the GST, if no then don't. - and a list in a cell saying which column to use. - 2 months to a page - calculations saying how much GST to pay (and how much tax and ACC levies to put aside) These days I use Quickbooks. Something like 7 out of 10 start up businesses fail in the first two years - often due to failures in the accounting systems. Before starting a business it would be a very good idea to find a mentor who can help you with it, talk to the IRD, read basic business books and see what your local high schools offer in the way of night classes. |
Mercury (1316) | ||
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