The new year is a new beginning. If you are a business owner, this is often the time of year when you reflect on where you are at and think about your business goals for the year ahead. Setting goals is an essential part of personal and professional growth. These could be lofty goals, or even setting out a plan to achieve some more mundane (but equally important) projects. Whether that is getting paid faster, reassessing expenses or bigger things like automation of processes and new markets. You may be looking to expand your business or create more time for yourself. Having a clear visi ..read more

  At Legacy Accountants, we pride ourselves on understanding the needs of modern businesses. Recognising the increasing trend of companies preferring to spread accounting fees across manageable instalments, we’ve found a solution that caters to this. Introducing smartAR Fee Funding – smartAR Fee Funding Brochure We are thrilled to introduce smartAR Fee Funding as a tailored payment option. This solution enables businesses to fund our service fees over flexible durations, be it 3 or 6 months or even longer. Why Choose smartAR Fee Funding? While we have complete confidence in our clients’ a ..read more

  Budget 2023 contained a few surprises, but the change to the tax trust rate wasn’t one of them. As had been hinted at a few times, Grant Robertson lifted the tax trust rate from 33% to 39%, bringing it into alignment with the top personal income tax rate. This change is from 1 April 2024. The change aims to make the tax system fairer – since the top personal tax rate increased to 39% there has been a 50% increase in the amount of money going through trusts. Which trusts will be affected? The Government says that “only a small proportion of trusts will pay most of the additional tax.” Th ..read more

  Here are some answers to common tax questions at this time of year. Is our Christmas work party tax deductible? Does it matter whether it is held on business premises? Expenditure on entertainment is only 50% deductible for tax purposes. This applies to deductions for spending on food and drink or celebration meals, whether they are on or off premises. There are exceptions — light refreshments for employees, such as afternoon tea, are fully tax deductible. How about hiring items for a Christmas party? The 50% tax limitation applies to any expenditure on hiring wait staff, crockery, glas ..read more

So you’ve created your company from nothing, put years of blood, sweat and tears into its success, and retirement is just around the corner. What do you do next? If you’re one of the lucky people who have an exit strategy, congratulations. If you’re unsure what will happen, it’s time to think about succession planning. Succession can mean a number of things: handing over the reins to a new generation or having someone in the wings ready to buy you out. Either way, you need a plan. Develop your succession plan First, ask yourself these two questions: What needs to be done to prepare your busin ..read more

  It takes approximately 15 minutes of undisturbed focus for your brain to move into flow state. And when this happens you’ll find: Feeling in tune with (and in control of) your emotions Increased satisfaction because what you produce during flow state tends to be its own reward Increased engagement in your work Feelings of increased creativity because you’re less self-conscious during flow state Increased focus in what you’re doing Confidence that what you’re working on is achievable But we can only enter flow state when there is zero interruptions. Even just one interruption is going ..read more

A new targeted COVID-19 support scheme has been released by the Government to help businesses A new COVID-19 Support Payment of a maximum of $24,000 will be made available for businesses struggling with a business downturn during the Omicron outbreak. Each COVID-19 Support Payment will be $4,000 per business plus $400 per full-time employee (FTE), capped at 50 FTEs or $24,000. This is the same rate as the most recent Transition Payment which the Government rolled out in December. Businesses will have to show a 40% drop in 7 consecutive days within the 6 weeks prior to the shift to Phase 2 of t ..read more

  Screens have become so omnipresent in our lives that internet addiction is recognised by the World Health Organisation as a mental health condition. Here are our top tips for switching off. 1. Resist FOMO It’s tempting to respond immediately to every ding or vibration alert from your phone but checking emails at three set times each day is enough. 2. Communicate Let people know about your plans to be offline at set times during the day. 3. Out of sight, out of mind Turn off your phone, or at least temporarily silence your email and social media alerts, and then get your devices out of y ..read more

  Getting ready for the Christmas rush, it can be easy to miss something in your new staff members’ contracts. To ensure your employees are treated fairly and according to the law, follow these three key rules. 1. All employees must have a signed employment agreement before they start work Give new employees time (three to five days) to read, understand and ask questions before they sign the contract. The contract must include certain clauses, including the type of employment (fixed-term, casual, or permanent), duties, pay, and other benefits, the place and hours of work, how problems ca ..read more

We know this is a very stressful time and that everyone will want to act as quickly as possible. COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment – What is it for? The purpose of this payment is to ensure businesses remain viable, keep people employed, and recognise the fixed costs associated with escalating alert levels. Basically, this is a subsidy to keep the business going, whereas the COVID-19 Wage Subsidy is meant only for wages. This is a one-off payment, however businesses can apply for the Resurgence Support Payment each time the scheme is reopened, provided they meet the eligibility criteria ..read more