Hnry Smashes Away Tax Anxiety With DE-STRESS Wellington Pop-up

Wellington, 3 April 2024 - Surprise tax bills, hunting for lost receipts, and producing piles of paperwork for accountants mean tax season is not usually a time for relaxing, but a new pop-up on Wellington’s waterfront is inviting people to literally smash away the stress from end-of-the-financial-year admin.

Hnry is an award-winning accountancy service for sole traders, offering expert support, a dedicated business account and debit card, and automatic tax calculations and payments - helping sole traders save time and money. Their brand new tax season pop-up at Wellington’s Odlin’s Plaza will see people blow off steam in their ‘wreck room,’ where they can smash plates, cups, computers, and more before they enter the chill zone, featuring a bathtub full of stress balls, a DJ, and more.

The latest Sole Trade Pulse - Hnry’s quarterly independent survey of New Zealand’s sole traders - found nearly a third feel ‘quite stressed’ at the end of the tax year. 38 per cent also say they spend ten hours or more getting ready for tax season, even if they’re using traditional accounting software or working with an accountant.

Nicole Sos is a freelance graphic designer and says neither traditional accounting software nor working with an accountant made filing her tax return any easier.

“One year, I was surprised with a $5,000 tax bill, which was very unexpected and frustrating. Another time, I was due to lodge my GST, but my accountant was on holiday and I had to do it all myself.

“The prep work involved before handing everything over to the accountant took a lot of time. I also had to take the initiative to know the dates of when things were due because my accountant at the time didn’t give me a heads-up. Because it was all physical copies, it felt like things got out of hand,” she says.

James Fuller, Hnry CEO, says sole traders can face a lot of stress at the end of the financial year, which will be heightened this year as they navigate difficult economic conditions.

“Traditional accounting software and working with an accountant are often portrayed as making tax time easier. However, you still need to track down receipts, reconcile transactions, confirm what you can or can’t claim, work out your total income, and hope you’ve set aside enough money for tax.

“You’re rolling the dice - hopefully, you’re okay, but if you owe tax, you need to find the money quickly or go on a payment plan with the IRD. If you’ve put away too much money for tax, that’s great - but you could have used that money earlier - investing it back into the business or to ease the increased cost of living pressures, instead of denying yourself your own money,” he says.

Fuller says with the de-stress experience, they want to show sole traders the end of the financial year can be relaxing.

“Tax season can be stress-free when using Hnry - you literally never have to think about tax again,” he says.

The ‘DE-STRESS with Hnry’ space opens Thursday, 4 April and runs until Sunday, 6 April. You can find out more here.

Around 400,000 Kiwis are sole traders, representing around a fifth of the workforce. This diverse group covers all sectors, including contractors (33 per cent), freelancers (8 per cent), tradies (19 per cent), health and wellness (6 per cent), agriculture (13 per cent) and gig workers (8 per cent).

About Hnry:

Hnry is an accountant and tax automation service, just for sole traders. A world-first service that automatically calculates and pays taxes and offers full financial admin support and a sole trader debit card, Hnry saves tens of thousands of sole traders time, money and stress.

Founded in New Zealand in 2017, Hnry is Australasia’s fastest-growing accountancy service and has won a number of awards, including ‘Emerging Service of the Year’ at the 2019 Wellington Gold Awards, finalist for ‘Hi-Tech Service of the Year’ at the 2019 NZ Hi-Tech Awards, winner ‘Supporting Gold’ at the 2020 Wellington Gold Awards and the RCSA Outstanding Supplier Award for 2022. They also won the People’s Choice (FinTech Organisation of the Year) Award at the 2022 and 2023 Australian Finnies.

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