Busy orchardist advises small businesses start payday filing

A Hawke’s Bay orchardist is advising fellow small businesses to be ahead of the game on payday filing.

This is the mandatory requirement from April next year for employers to file their payroll information to Inland Revenue every time they pay their staff.

Te Mata Figs owner Helen Walker has been paying her five staff fortnightly and sending across their details using the online entry method in myIR.

Inland Revenue Customer Segment Leader Richard Owen says he strongly advises customers to start payday filing as soon as they can.

“The customers who have started early don’t tend to regret the decision and find it far better than leaving everything to the last minute.”

Helen Walker at Te Mata Figs agrees and says compliance tasks are not something you want to put off.

“It took a while to get used to entering our details in the Payroll Returns account in myIR so we’re grateful we got started in July and not during our peak picking season in the late summer.

“The main benefit of adopting early is that there’s plenty of time to resolve issues that pop up.”

Mr Owen says the early adopters are playing a vital role in helping us improve the customer experience on payday filing.

“Helen at Te Mata Figs has been particularly great at highlighting issues and we’ve been happy to send someone along to her orchard to understand her point of view and try to improve the process for her.

Customers are advised to either check with their payroll software provider about when their payday filing solution is likely to be ready or they can follow in the footsteps of Te Mata Figs and start straight away through the online entry method in the Payroll Returns account in myIR.

Helen Walker says Inland Revenue is “humanising” the switch to payday filing by being approachable and responsive in providing all the support she has needed.

“I always prefer the personal contact and the local IR staff have been great to deal with. People shouldn’t feel apprehensive about dealing directly with them if they’re unsure about anything.”

Find out more at www.ird.govt.nz/payday

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