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Business valuations
We offer expert valuation advice in transactions, regulatory and administrative matters, and matters subject to dispute – valuing businesses, shares and intangible assets in a wide range of industries.
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Capital markets
You need corporate finance specialists experienced in international capital markets on your side if you’re buying or selling financial securities.
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Complex and international services
Our experience of multi-jurisdictional insolvencies coupled with our international reputation allows us to deliver the best possible outcome for all stakeholders.
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Corporate insolvency
Our corporate investigation and recovery teams can help you manage insolvency situations and facilitate the best outcome.
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Debt advisory
An optimal funding structure for your organisation presents unprecedented opportunities, but achieving this can be difficult without a trusted advisor.
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Expert witness
Our expert witnesses analyse, interpret, summarise and present complex financial and business-related issues which are understandable and properly supported.
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Financial models
A sound financial model will help you understand the impact of your decisions before you make them. Talk to us about our user-friendly models.
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Forensic and investigation services
We provide investigative accounting and litigation support services for commercial, matrimonial, criminal, business valuation and insurance disputes.
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Independent business review
Is your business viable? Will it remain viable in the future? A thorough independent business review can help your organisation answer these fundamental questions.
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IT forensics
Effective ESI analysis is integral to the success of your business. Our IT forensics experts have the technical expertise to identify, preserve and interrogate electronic data.
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Mergers and acquisitions
Grant Thornton provides strategic and execution support for mergers, acquisitions, sales and fundraising.
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Raising finance
Raising finance - funders value partners who can deliver a robust financial model, a sound business strategy and rigorous planning. We can guide you through the challenges that these transactions can pose and help you build a foundation for long term success once the deal is done.
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Relationship property services
Grant Thornton offers high quality independent advice on the many financial issues associated with relationship property from considering an individual financial issue to all aspects of a complex settlement.
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Restructuring and turnaround
Grant Thornton’s restructuring and turnaround service capabilities include cash flow, liquidity management and forecasting; crisis and interim management; financial advisory services to companies and parties in transition and distress
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Transaction advisory
Our depth of market knowledge will steer you through the transaction process. Grant Thornton’s dynamic teams offer range of financial, commercial and operational expertise.
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Virtual asset advisory
Helping you navigate the world of virtual currencies and decentralised financial systems.
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Corporate tax
Grant Thornton can identify tax issues, risks and opportunities in your organisation and implement strategies to improve your bottom line.
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Employment tax
Grant Thornton’s advisers can help you with PAYE (payroll tax), Kiwisaver, fringe benefits tax (FBT), student loans, global mobility services, international tax
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Global mobility services
Our team can help expatriates and their employers deal with tax and employment matters both in New Zealand and overseas. With the correct planning advice, employee allowances and benefits may be structured to avoid double taxation and achieve tax savings.
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GST
GST has the potential to become a minefield and can be expensive when it goes wrong. Our technical knowledge can help you minimise the negative impact of GST
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International tax
International tax rules are undergoing their biggest change in a generation. Tax authorities around the world are increasingly vigilant, especially when it comes to global operations.
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Research and Development
R&D tax incentives are often underused and misunderstood – is your business maximising opportunities for making claims?
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Tax compliance
Our advisers help clients manage the critical issue of compliance across accountancy regulations, corporation law and tax. We also offer business and wealth advisory services, which means we can provide a seamless and tax-effective offering to our clients.
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Tax governance
Mitigate tax risks and implement best practice governance that will stand up to IRD scrutiny and audits.
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Transfer pricing
Tax authorities are demanding transparency in international arrangements. We businesses comply with regulations and use transfer pricing as a strategic planning tool.
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Audit methodology
Our five step audit methodology offers a high quality service wherever you are in the world and includes planning, risk assessment, testing internal controls, substantive testing, and concluding and reporting
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Audit technology
We apply our audit methodology with an integrated set of software tools known as the Voyager suite. Our technology has been developed to produce quality audits that are effective and efficient.
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Financial reporting advisory
Our financial reporting advisers have the expertise to help you deal with the constantly evolving regulatory environment.
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Business architecture
Our business architects help businesses with disruptive conditions, business expansion and competitive challenges; the deployment of your strategy is critical to success.
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Cloud services
Leverage the cloud to keep your data safe, operate more efficiently, reduce costs and create a better experience for your employees and clients.
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Internal audit
Our internal audits deliver independent assurance over key controls within your riskiest processes, proving what works and what doesn’t and recommending improvements.
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IT advisory
Our hands on product experience, extensive functional knowledge and industry insights help clients solve complex IT and technology issues
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IT privacy and security
IT privacy and security should support your business strategy. Our pragmatic approach focuses on reducing cyber security risks specific to your organisation
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Payroll assurance
Our specialist payroll assurance team can conduct a review of your payroll system configuration and processes, and then help you and your team to implement any necessary recalculations.
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PCI DSS
Our information security specialists are approved Qualified Security Assessors (QSAs) that have been qualified by the PCI Security Standards Council to independently assess merchants and service providers.
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Process improvement
As your organisation grows in size and complexity, processes that were once enabling often become cumbersome and inefficient. To maintain growth, your business must remain flexible, agile and profitable
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Procurement/supply chain
Procurement and supply chain inputs will often dominate your balance sheet and constantly evolve for organisations to remain competitive and meet changing customer requirements
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Project assurance
Major programmes and projects expose you to significant financial and reputational risk throughout their life cycle. Don’t let these risks become a reality.
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Risk management
We understand that growing companies need to establish robust internal controls, and use information technology to effectively mitigate risk.
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Robotic process automation (RPA)
RPA is emerging as the most sophisticated form of automation used to help businesses become more agile and remain competitive in the face of today’s ongoing digital disruption.
Checklist: Maximise your tax efficiency
18 Mar 2019Key considerations and actions for year-end
A business expense is generally deductible in the tax year it is incurred i.e. when you have a specific commitment to pay the expense.
Prepaid expenditure
Prepaid expenditure is expenditure that relates to a future period which has been paid in the current period. Generally, the unexpired portion of prepaid expenditure is not deductible, however, there are exceptions where the expenditure has been claimed for financial reporting purposes and the unexpired portion meets certain thresholds with respect to prepaid amounts and time periods. Examples include:
Repairs and maintenance
The total cost of a service contract can be deducted if it has less than three months to run at balance date and costs less than $23,000 for a full year. Consider expensing short termservice contracts.
When buying a fixed asset with a warranty or service contract, ensure the warranty or service contract is separately identified, as that part is deductible.
Stationery
Prepaid stationery is deductible when purchased. If you are intending to restock at the beginning of the financial year (i.e for most of you, from April), consider bringing this forward from now to pre 31 March.
Subscriptions
Prepaid newspapers, journals and periodicals are deductible.
Prepaid association memberships are deductible provided they extend no more than 12 months after balance date and the subscription is no more than $6,000.
Travel and accommodation
Advance bookings for business-related travel and hotel or motel accommodation are deductible provided they are not more than six months in advance and not more than $14,000. Consider pre-paying your planned travel.
Insurance
Prepaid insurance premiums under an insurance contract are fully deductible where the total premiums incurred in the income year in respect of the contract do not exceed $12,000 and the prepayment is not more than 12 months.
Advertising
Prepaid advertising costs are deductible provided they are prepaid for no more than six months after balance date and the amount prepaid is less than $14,000. Consider pre-paying your planned advertising.
Rent
Prepaid rent is deductible provided it is not prepaid for more than six months and the amount prepaid is less then $26,000.
Consumables
Consumables used in conjunction with but not forming part of the final product (e.g. lubricants) can be deducted in the year purchased provided total stock at year end does not exceed $58,000.
Rates
Rates that have been invoiced on or before balance date are fully deductible.
Bad debts
Debtors that turn out to be bad are deductible. The timing of the deduction depends on the year the bad debt is actually written off. Therefore, during the final month of the current income year, the following steps should be taken:
1. Review all debtor balances
2. Identify all problem balances
3. Form a judgment on whether a debt will be collected. If you judge a debt will not be collected, call it bad. Factors to consider:
- Receiverships and liquidation
- Business ceased
- Length of time outstanding
- Disputed accounts
- Recovery action taken
- Commercially worth pursuing?
4. Write off those which are “bad”:
- Remove them from your debtors ledger.
- Process journals to the general ledger if running an in-house computer system.
- If you are a company, prepare a directors’ resolution to write-off.
- Don’t forget the GST adjustment for bad debts.
Note: Just because you have written off a debt does not mean you cannot still take recovery action or send statements, provided statements are not generated by your main debtors ledger.
Employee leave provisions
Amounts accrued at balance date for holiday pay, long service leave and sick pay are only deductible if they are paid out within 63 days of year end. Encourage staff to take annual leave within that time if appropriate.
Bonuses
If accrued staff bonuses are not paid within 63 days of year end, they are not deductible until the following tax year. Where possible, accrued bonuses should be paid out within this timeframe. If your balance date is 31 March, the 63rd day will be 2 June.
Warranty and discount provisions
If you offer a prompt payment discount to debtors, you can deduct a provision for the potential discount at balance date. A deduction may also be available for a provision for warranty costs provided the liability exists at balance date and can be reasonably quantified.
Fixed assets and depreciation
Depreciation is claimed monthly i.e. for each month the asset is used or available for use in the business. Depreciation can be claimed for the entire month even if the asset is not purchased until the end of the month.
Confirm that the correct depreciation rate is being used for tax purposes.
Assets costing less than $500 (excl GST) can be expensed rather than capitalised to fixed assets.
If you are contemplating disposing of an asset (sale or scrap) at a loss, consider doing it before year end. If you are contemplating disposing of an asset for more than its book value, consider doing it after year end to defer deprecation recovered.
For any assets purchased with a warranty or service agreement, ensure the warranty or service portion has been separated as this amount is fully deductible.
Imputation credit accounts (companies)
Have there been any shareholding changes during the year? If so, please discuss these with your Grant Thornton adviser before year end if you have not already done so.
Are dividends to be paid before year end? Imputation credits could result in a refund for low income shareholders.
Are tax payments needed before balance date to clear a debit balance in the imputation credit account? A 10% penalty will apply to any debit balance at 31 March.
Losses (companies)
If there have been shareholding changes and your company has tax losses and you have not already discussed these with your Grant Thornton adviser, please do so before year end.
Group loss offsets and subvention payments for the previous financial year must be completed by 31 March this year. By this date, the loss company must have filed an election notice with Inland Revenue and any subvention payment must have been paid.
Income splitting
Have any family members (including children, spouse and civil union partner) on a lower tax rate carried out unpaid work for you?
Consider paying them before year end for work carried out. If considering paying wages to a spouse, sole traders will need prior approval from Inland Revenue.
Alternatively, if you have a trust, this can effectively be utilised to allocate trust income to beneficiaries on a lower tax rate potentially saving you thousands every year.
Fringe benefit tax
We remind you that the “square up” of FBT for the current year for employers wishing to use alternate rates will occur in the March quarter return. Please contact your Grant Thornton adviser if you would like assistance or advice on this calculation as there are often FBT savings when using the alternate rate calculation.
If you provide car parks to employees and have been paying FBT on the value of these benefits, you should get in contact with your Grant Thornton adviser as the Inland Revenue have changed their interpretation on this matter. When the relevant criteria are met this enables a recovery of previously paid FBT, potentially covering the previous 4 years.
Trading stock provisions
Generally, provisions for stock obsolescence or stock write downs are not deductible for tax purposes. Prior to the year end stock take, all obsolete stock should be physically disposed of where appropriate or these items should be valued at their net realisable value.