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Payroll Services

New Zealand End of Financial Year Checklist

By February 20, 2017

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new zealand eofy checklist

Are you ready for tax time?

When it comes to payroll, there is no room for error. With the end of financial year fast approaching in New Zealand, it’s time to prepare, reconcile and report, just in time for the March 31st deadline.

Here are some key milestones to help ensure a smooth and compliant transition into the new tax year.

End February
  • Review Tax Year End information from your payroll vendor and/or IRD
Early March
  • If you have a payroll vendor, confirm that your IRD details are correct, along with business name and ACC rate
  • Confirm your final pay period for the tax year
  • Inform vendor of the reports needed for your organisation to perform end-of-year reconciliations
Mid March
  • Perform a pre-tax year end reconciliation to ensure data integrity for end-of-year tax reporting
  • Prepare to update employee records with minimum wage changes for the new tax year
  • Alert employees with Special Tax Withholding rate certificates to send in their certificates for the new tax year or to complete a new IR330 Tax Code form
  • Review and follow up any overpayments to employees. These need to be recorded correctly prior to processing the last payroll for the tax year or their YTD earning information will be incorrect
Mid- End March
  • Process and make payments for final payrolls processed in this tax year
 End March
  • Perform a final Tax Year End YTD reconciliation
  • Confirm that Tax Year End Processing can commence
 Early April
  • It’s the new financial year! Confirm the completion of Tax Year End processing so that processing for the new tax year can begin
  • Update minimum wage rates for applicable employees
  • Update Special Tax Certificate deduction amounts for applicable employees
  • Update employees who no longer have Special Tax Certificates in accordance with their new IR330 Tax Code form information
End March – Early April
  •  Hang tight and wait to receive the Tax Year End reports from your payroll provider, signifying process completion

The end of the financial year is always a busy time of year for payroll teams, so it is crucial to keep to a timeline to ensure a manageable, seamless and stress-free process.

When you’ve dotted your ‘I’s and crossed your ‘t’s, you know you can start the new tax year with a bang.