St Andrews Accounting

Small Business Accountant

Trades

Winter 2021

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Annual information

The 2021 financial year has finished and I am in the process of completing tax returns at the moment. If I haven’t already been in touch regarding your information don’t stress! I will contact you shortly to make sure I have everything I need to get your tax return done.

Latest From IRD

IRD often target different groups of taxpayers to investigate. At the moment they are targeting real estate agents and those in the construction industry. Here is the latest update from IRD:

“We have identified that real estate salespersons/agents are claiming a high level of expenses relative to their income. We believe that people are claiming private expenses but not keeping logbooks or other business records to support a deduction.”

“As a tax professional, we’re writing to let you know about our construction industry education campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to engage with those in the construction industry to ensure they’re ‘getting it right from the start’ and support them in understanding their tax obligations if they undertake cash transactions.”

If you know any real estate agents or builders, ask them if they’re doing anything dodgy tax-wise. If they are, they could be in real trouble with the IRD and give them my contact details if they need tax advice.

Regards – 

Andrew

IRD targeting tradies

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I regularly receive e-mails from IRD outlining which areas of tax crime they are currently focusing on. Here is a passage from a recent e-mail I received from IRD:

We’re looking hard at tax crime in the construction industry.

We’ll be contacting tradies to encourage them to declare all of their income through their GST and income tax returns. While most people in the construction industry are doing the right thing, we’re reminding your clients that undeclared cash jobs can have negative consequences. They can result in tax penalties, a criminal conviction that could affect their ability to contract for work, and even prison time.

This is a serious warning to tradies in the construction industry that any cash jobs they are doing may be found out by IRD and punished. If this wasn’t enough of a warning, I received another e-mail from IRD one week later:

We’re emailing you again to let you know we’re looking hard at tax crime in the construction industry.

IRD mean business with this so if you have any friends or family members who are tradies and you know they are not declaring all their income, please make them aware that the IRD are targeting them. If they need help completing their tax returns, feel free to pass on my details to them and I can help them file all the relevant returns.