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Get Your Invoices Paid Faster

We know the hustle is real when it comes to running your own show. Amidst all the excitement and challenges, there's one thing that can make or break your business: getting those hard-earned invoices paid on time. So, let's dive into some nifty tips and tricks to help you crack the code and get your customers paying faster, with valuable insights from an accountant.1.     Set Crystal-Clear Terms of TradeIt all begins with one essential tool in your credit control toolbox: sol...

Demystifying the Money Talk for Non-Accountants

Welcome, fellow entrepreneurs and fearless financial adventurers, to a captivating journey through the enchanting world of numbers and financial mastery.From balance sheets to profit margins, we unravel the mysteries behind 22 commonly used accounting and bookkeeping terms, and gain a clearer understanding of the language of money. So, fasten your seatbelts and let the magic of numbers unfold before your eyes!1.     Balance Sheet: Imagine a balance sheet as a snapshot of your...

Meet the Team: Lisa Collier

What do you do at My Two Cents?A bookkeeper – ensures your books are kept up to date and balanced.How long have you been with My Two Cents? January 2023What do you love about being an all female team? This is my first experience working in an all-female work place,  I’m looking forward to getting to know the ladies as we are all from different backgrounds and have different experiences which we all bring our own uniqueness to the team.  If you weren't doing your current job, w...

Extreme Weather Events: Recovery Grants and Funds

Applications are now open for business recovery grants for businesses, individuals and community organisations who have been affected by recent weather events.NORTHLANDNORTHLAND INC’S CYCLONE RECOVERY FOR BUSINESSESBusinesses in Taitokerau Northland affected by recent weather events can receive support to recover their cashflow.Twenty five million dollars in recovery support is being offered by the Government to businesses affected by Cyclone Gabrielle in seven regions of the North Island, inc...

The 101 on Claiming Deductible Expenses for New Zealand Businesses

A tax-deductible expense is an expense that can be deducted from a business's gross income in order to reduce its taxable profit. But it’s not always easy to get your head around. If you are new to business here’s the basics on tax-deductible expenses.Why can businesses deduct expenses from their income?By letting businesses deduct certain expenses from their income, the government is effectively reducing the amount of income that is subject to tax. This helps to make it more financially via...

Key Tax Dates for 2023

If you haven't already, it's time to add some entries to your calendar so you don't miss any vital tax dates.Click here to view IRD’s detailed list or scroll down to find your applicable dates.30th JanuaryGST due for the period ending 31 DecemberAIM installments due if you file GST monthly and have a March balance date7th FebruaryTerminal TaxEnd-of-year income tax and Working for Families bills are due, unless your tax agent has an extension of time to file your income tax returnYour FBT ...

Meet the Team : Zoe Reilly

What do you do at My Two Cents?I am a tax accountant, I prepare/review year end accounts and help clients manage their business to lower their overall tax bill. I also support our other staff members with day to day matters and questions.How long have you been with My Two Cents? Three years and counting!What do you love about being an all female team?The support and shared understanding of what we are all feeling or going through. We care and look for each other like the best girl gang!&nbs...

The Cost of Christmas

Christmas parties, end of year work lunches or dinners, gifts for staff and clients – December can certainly be a busy and sometimes expensive month.    Do you know what you can claim and how much? We have put together answers to some of the most frequent questions we get asked.  Staff Christmas Parties If the party is held onsite or offsite the treatment is the same – food, drink, venue hire, and entertainment are only 50% deductible. If you are taking staff out for a Ch...

Are You Payroll Ready for Christmas & New Year?

In a little over 3 weeks the silly season will be here!  If you have not already started planning for your payroll over this period now is a good time to start.    To help you we have put together some of our top tips and some handy guides to help make sure your payroll runs smoothly and your employees get paid correctly and processed on time.  Our top tips:  If you are closing down over the holidays make sure you have given your employees at least 14 days' notice i...

Meet The Team: Tiffany Jackson

What do you do at My Two Cents?Certified Bookkeeper & Xero Training SpecialistHow long have you been with My Two Cents? I have been with MTC for 18 months.What do you love about being an all female team?The support that we all give each other both professionally and personally, oh and the laughs! Our team is very much like extended family.If you weren't doing your current job, what would you like to do?I love my job but if I wasn’t doing that I would maybe travel around our ...

My Two Cents End of Year Update

It's been a busy few months since my last update. The Team have been head down bums up working hard to get as much work in progress completed as possible before we go on a much deserved break at Christmas. We have family catch ups, Xmas parties and plenty of summer camping missions on the cards - can't wait!2022 Filing:If you're still waiting on your financials and tax returns for 2022 - please touch base with Zoe. The bulk of returns are in progress, some we are still waiting for info...

Meet The Team - Natalie Fronczyk

What do you do at My Two Cents? Here at MTC I prepare tax returns, client advisory and some internal trainingHow long have you been with MTC? Since November 2021What do you love about being an all female team? Haha - I do not really think of it like that although I would go as far to say we all speak the same language!If you weren't doing your current job, what would you like to do? Prior to joining MTC I spent 4 years 'doing what I wanted to do' running my own market garden business so am now j...

Meet The Team : Jeannie Davis

What do you do at My Two Cents? BookkeeperHow long have you been with MTC? I’m a newby, started in March 2022What do you love about being an all female team? I love the group chat - the female humour and banter, but most of all the support and encouragement everyone shows to each other.If you weren't doing your current job, what would you like to do? Would be quite cool to be a racing car driver Have you learned anything interesting through your work at My Two Cents? Still early days, and ...

Meet The Team : Mackyla Worsell

What do you do at My Two Cents? Bookkeeper, GST extraordinaire, haha, Moving into the basic tax side, Funniest Employee and most often the employee of the month.How long have you been with MTC? 4 years this AugustWhat do you love about being an all female team?How much we support each other, and enjoyment we all get seeing one or more of our team members kick butt. Also the understanding we all have for each other and our familiesIf you weren't doing your current job, what would you like to...

Meet The Team : Maris Holt

What do you do at My Two Cents?   Business advisory How long have you been with MTC?  Since start of May 2022 What do you love about being an all female team?  Love the banter, support, & female energy we have in the team.   If you weren't doing your current job, what would you like to do?  Teach surf lessons on a tropical beach somewhere! Have you learned anything interesting through your work at My Two Cents?   Enjoyed learning that clients of MTC l...

Claiming Motor Vehicle Expenses - the need to knows!

Motor vehicle expenses are one of the area’s that IRD have really been focusing on quite a bit over the past few months. It’s also an area that isn’t as clear cut when it comes to the rules for claiming expenses related to business. Generally the rules are:  If your vehicle is purchased and used for business only, all related expenses are 100% claimable for business purposes. If your vehicle is mixed use - part business, part personal then you need to be able to verify the busine...

Meet The Team : Celine Bixley

What do you do at My Two Cents?   I am a Junior Bookkeeper. How long have you been with MTC?   3 months  What do you love about being an all female team?   Everyone is so supportive and happy to help, there is nothing the team can't figure out together  If you weren't doing your current job, what would you like to do?  At the moment, I don't think there is anything I'd rather be doing. I have just...

Meet The Team : Jo Jury

Next up in our Meet The Team series, we have the lovely Jo Jury!What do you do at My Two Cents? I love helping our clients with their day to day bookkeeping and I have a keen focus on improving cashflow through using good debtor management processes and software. How long have you been with MTC?  I started with MTC in February 2020. What do you love about being an all female team? Women understand women!  We have a great team who work well together, understand we all have f...

Meet The Team : Charlotte Hill

What do you do at My Two Cents? Administrator, looking after all the behind the scenes work.  How long have you been with MTC?  6 months (wow, that's gone quick!) What do you love about being an all female team?The laughs..... but more than just that - such a supportive team, I am lucky to be working with a team of amazing ladies who are incredibly clever at what they do. If you weren't doing your current job, what would you like to do?I'd be a Travel Agent again (which I use...

Meet The (ever-expanding) Team: Our Fearless Leader Haley Reyners

The team at My Two Cents has expanded; We are now a crew of 11!  It's also very exciting that the entire team are all women, which is fantastic to see in a male dominated field.  We thought this would be a great time to include some fun -get to know the team- interviews, and of course, what is any team without their leader! So with that, if you have not already met the vivacious Haley Reyners, she is the great mind My Two Cents sprang from. ...

Excise Tax Refunds - could you be due a refund?

With rising fuel costs and financial stresses placed on businesses due to economic uncertainties, we want to make sure that clients are clawing back on costs in any way possible. A lot of you have off-road vehicles, plant or equipment that you fill with petrol. Some of you may not know, but the excise tax paid at the pump can be claimed back!  NZ Petrol refunds is a registered excise tax agency that works directly with businesses to process claims. We would encourage you to get in touch wit...

Do you need help managing your debtors?

Does this scenario sound familiar? We complete a job for a customer or client, invoice it out with agreed payment terms, payment due date rolls around but no payment is received. We send an email or a text to remind the customer - maybe they forgot? It happens. A couple of days later - still no payment. As time goes on, it starts becoming awkward asking for the money we are rightfully owed - what happens now? Unfortunately this scenario is all to common for small businesses, and can result in a ...

Business support under the COVID Protection Framework

Issued from IRD, November 2021: The Minister of Finance has announced a number of changes to the financial support for businesses once New Zealand moves into the COVID Protection Framework at 11.59pm on December 2nd. The changes are as follows: There will be a one-off Transition Payment to acknowledge the restrictions businesses have faced due to the higher Alert Levels in in Auckland, Waikato and Northland. This payment operates in the same way as the Resurgence Support Payments, with the same ...

MTC plans under the new Covid-19 Protection Framework

From 3rd December 2021, the new Covid-19 Protection Framework will be in place.  As we are based in Northland, we will start under the Red Light settings. This limits who we can have in the office and how client meetings will look going forward. We hope that under Orange and Green, we can reassess the measures we have chosen, but at this stage we will have to go forward as detailed below. The decision we have made is to protect our staff, and families. As most of our clients know, our ...

Rental Tax Changes

With the Government's latest legislation changes to remove various tax deductions and previously introducing ring-fencing on rental losses - residential rental properties aren't the great investment that they once were. Property is still a great investment, in that you will nearly always make gains on the sale of the property. Actually being a landlord though, has very little attraction or benefit anymore. The Government previously released draft legislation around the removal of tax deductions ...